Herstory in the Shadows: Reclaiming the Unwritten Genius of Women Who Engineered the World

Mumbai: Let’s be honest, men built this world. Well, this could be right coming from a patriarchal point of view. But then we’d be playing dumb today. Because that’s a statement that can be implied on just a few men. 

Now, a few will definitely negotiate saying that, ‘what are you talking about, haven’t you read history or somethin’?’ However, if people had read history correctly, they’d have known that history was written by men. Women’s contributions were deliberately erased. 

We are not overlooking the fact that men did some of the most important inventions, but not all men. However, we’re just conveying that to keep that train going, women were the ones to keep making the track.

Inventions like cars, computers, phones, and rockets were invented by men somewhere down the road. Nevertheless, those inventions come with hideous facts.

Dumbfounding? Let’s break it out.

Marie Curie –

Marie Curie, AKA née Maria Sklodowska, obtained her Licenciateships in Physics and Mathematical Science. Later on, she met a professor at the School of Physics in 1894 named Pierre Curie. In 1903, she gained her Doctor of Science degree. On May 13, 1906, she was appointed to the professorship that had been left vacant on her husband’s death; she was the first woman to teach in the Sorbonne. She was also appointed Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris, founded in 1914.

She retained her enthusiasm for science throughout her life and did much to establish a radioactivity laboratory in her native city. She was a member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her death, and since 1922, she had been a member of the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations. Her work has been recorded in numerous papers and scientific journals. 

She was awarded a second Nobel Prize, in Chemistry, in 1911, for her research on radioactivity. She was also jointly awarded the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903 with her husband. In 1921, United States President Harding, at the request of the women of America, awarded her a gram of radium in gratitude for her contributions to the service of science. She alone was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize and is the sole female winner of two distinct awards. Marie Curie’s remains were buried in Paris’s Panthéon in 1995; she was the first woman to be so honored for her contributions. Her laboratory and office in the Curie Pavilion of the Radium Institute have been left intact as the Curie Museum.

Rosalind Franklin – 

Rosalind Franklin decoded DNA only to have her work stolen by men. She made a crucial yet often overlooked contribution to the discovery of the DNA double Helix Structure. Her other discoveries, which are overlooked, are X-ray Diffraction, Photo 51. Franklin was an experienced X-ray crystallographer who utilised this method of research to explore the structure of DNA. At King’s College London, Franklin produced “Photo 51,” a clean X-ray diffraction image of DNA.

Her construction of the iconic Photo 51 proved deoxyribonucleic acid’s double-helix structure: the molecule carrying the genetic code for the growth of all living things. Franklin’s research went far beyond DNA, involving studies on viruses, coal, and graphite, proving the wide-ranging scientific interests and abilities of Franklin. However, some still undermined her because even though she discovered DNA, only to have her work stolen by men.

Even if we make Rosalind Franklin’s stolen DNA work an exception and not a rule, there are plenty more examples yet to come by…

Bertha Bez – 

We mentioned cars in the things discovered by men, didn’t we? So, yes, the world’s first car was invented by a man named Karl Benz. However, if it hadn’t been for Bertha’s audacious Sunday spin, that car would’ve gathered dust in the garage faster than you could say “internal combustion.” Let’s face it — had she not taken the wheel (quite literally), dear Karl’s invention might’ve just been a glorified lawn ornament. After all, behind every great man is a woman…dragging his invention out of obscurity and onto the road. In 1888, she took her husband’s Benz Patent-Motorwagen from Mannheim to Pforzheim, a distance of 65 miles (105 km), and demonstrated the usability of the vehicle.

Bertha Benz also played an important part in the evolution of the automobile for other reasons:

• Financial investor: She invested her own money in her husband Karl Benz’s car projects.
• Business partner: She actively participated in the business side of the company, helping to secure the first sales and market the Benz Patent-Motorwagen.
• Problem-solver: During her long-distance drive, she not only drove the car but also solved practical issues like finding fuel and repairing a broken brake lining.

In essence, Bertha Benz was not just a pioneer driver but a key figure in the early development and commercialisation of the automobile.

Bet you didn’t see this one coming. Hard to believe? Didn’t know this? Just wait till you get to the end.

Ada Lovelace –

Ada Lovelace is credited as the world’s first computer programmer. She did not invent a machine, but she wrote the first algorithm for a machine, namely Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a mechanical computer. The algorithm, which appeared in 1843, gave instructions to the machine to compute Bernoulli numbers and is regarded as the first computer program. Even if Babbage’s Analytical Engine were a conceptual, mechanical general-purpose computer, it was never fully built, and let’s be honest, it would have just been a useless thing of metal without Ada Lovelace’s algorithm.

Hedy Lamar –

Ah, Hedy Lamarr — the Hollywood siren who didn’t just turn heads on screen but also helped turn the gears of modern technology off it. While others drooled at her beauty in Samson and Delilah, she was busy cooking up ideas that would outlast a film reel.

Time for a realignment: This glamorous Austrian-American actress helped co-invent frequency-hopping spread spectrum during World War II, a technology that went on to form the bedrock of secure wireless communication. Yes, that’s right — the next time you’re streaming cat videos over Wi-Fi or awkwardly Bluetooth-ing files in a crowded café, remove your hat and tip it in Hedy’s direction.

She collaborated with composer George Antheil to create a system designed to stop the Axis powers from jamming Allied torpedoes (because obviously, movie stars and musical geniuses make the finest tech teams?). Since the U.S. Navy at the time would not have taken seriously a lady wearing lipstick and high heels while experimenting with radio frequencies, they were granted a patent in 1942.

In the present day, her creation serves as the theoretical foundation for technologies such as Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, and even mobile data. But in the past? Let’s just say that her innovative work was less likely to win a Nobel Prize than to be written off as a Hollywood fad.

Hedy wasn’t simply ahead of her time; she practically snagged it. Talk about intelligence and beauty. She was already sending signals through the box while others were stuck thinking inside it.

Indeed, Hedy Lamarr was subtly creating the future while most people just saw her as another attractive face. I’m not sure what else could be considered the most glitzy “mic drop” in tech history.

Come on, even if we don’t go this far, the examples would never lessen. Just stick by;

ISRO has its fair share of lady scientists such as Ritu Karidhal, Nandini Harinath, Anuradha TK, Tessy Thomas, Moumita Datta, Minal Rohit, Nigar Shaji, N. Valarmathi, Mangala Mani, and numerous more. These are the females who made it possible for missions like Mangalyan to be conducted.

In fact, the word scientist itself was coined to describe the first ever woman researcher. Mary Somerville is generally regarded as the first to be called a “scientist,” the first woman to be so called. The word “scientist” was invented for her in the 1830s after a critic of her work employed it to characterise her. Somerville was a Scottish polymath who contributed importantly to mathematics, astronomy, and other sciences, and she was celebrated for her talent for synthesizing and explaining scientific. Her interdisciplinary genius inspired Whewell to coin a playful new term: If an artist creates art, why not call someone who studies science a scientist? What started as a joke has become a powerful term that defines a field.

Now, not going to push the dust under the rug, but it’s true that the percentage of women inventors is relatively lower than that of men inventors.

Ever wondered about the reason why? 

Well, because women have always been excluded from formal education, especially in science. Even if we forget all these inventions, women still contribute to ‘building’ the world by giving birth to children, raising them, and managing households so that men can go out and invent. 

Some patriarchal thoughts would say in reply to this that, ‘Wouldn’t society collapse without men?’ The answer to that question is a question in itself:  ‘And wouldn’t it collapse without women?’ 

Now, we’re not implying that women have built this world; we’re just saying that neither of the genders has built the world alone, and that’s the beginning & end of everything.

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