Women Inventors: Autoradiographs
Wikimedia CommonsBarbara Askins.
Maybe you’ve never heard of an autoradiograph, but its technology has proven vital in two different fields. This technology, patented by NASA chemist Barbara Askins in 1978, uses radioactive materials to enhance photo negatives.
Assigned the task of improving astronomical photos, Askins used autoradiograph technology to take the invisible elements of photos taken in deep space and make them visible. This technology also made its way into the medical field, bringing clarity to underdeveloped x-rays. As a result, doctors could cut down on the amount of radiation they exposed their patients to when administering x-rays.
NASA used Askins’ technology extensively for its research and development work, and she won the National Inventor of the Year award in 1978. For someone who earned her science degrees after quitting her teaching job and having two children, that’s a pretty good career high.
Dishwasher
Wikimedia CommonsJosephine Cochrane with her dish-washing machine.
Josephine Cochrane wasn’t much for second chances. After servants chipped the 19th century Illinois socialite’s heirloom china while hand-washing it, Cochrane resolved to invent a machine that would do this job for her servants — and do it better. Thus Cochrane designed what we now know as a dishwasher: A machine powered by water pressure, and containing a boiler, wheel, and wire rack.
Cochrane’s husband died in 1883, and left Cochrane with a large debt. In need of revenue, she vigorously marketed her invention to others, creating the final product after much trial and error. “I couldn’t get men to do the things I wanted in my way until they had tried and failed in their own,” she recalled. “And that was costly for me.”
Finally, a mechanic named George Butters constructed Cochran’s dishwasher to her specifications, and by 1886, the patent on the dishwasher made life a little easier for Cochrane’s servants. Her company, Garis-Cochran, held the patent (Garis was Cochrane’s maiden name).
The dishwasher’s initial cost was prohibitive for most housewives, and as a consequence, hotels were the machine’s earliest adopters. Then, in 1916, commercial foodservice business Hobart bought out the Garis-Cochran company, and formed its famous Kitchen-Aid division three years later.
By the 1950s, once Hobart had brought its Kitchen-Aid dishwasher to scale, Cochrane’s invention became a popular household appliance. In 2006, years after Cochrane’s death, the National Inventors Hall of Fame posthumously inducted Cochrane into its hallowed halls.
Beyond these women inventors, many other women in STEM haven’t received the credit they deserved. Get to know such women in this list of female scientists whose names you should know, but don’t. Then, learn the story of female scientist Hypatia of Alexandria.
