Women that Have Brought Revolutions in the Technology - Case Study Example

Running Head: Women and Technology Women and Technology [Institute’s Women and Technology Introduction After watching the today’s world, it is quite understandable for anyone to comment, “Humans were born to rule.” Thousands of years ago, human as unique species were born on this planet. However, it is interesting to note that it took centuries for the first human to learn to speak, talk, socialize, form homes, create tools, and protect himself efficiently from the external hazards. However, if we plot this process of development of the humans on a graph, we would find that this growth or development has been happening in a purely an exponential rate or increasing rate (Moussa, 2003). This explains why it has become difficult to predict the human progress even for the next week. However, for long people had the perception that these technological advancements are only and only due to the men and women have not been in the forefront of these technological advancements. However, this statement is so not true. Women have significantly contributed to the process of this technological advancement throughout the human history. The paper is also an attempt to prove the same point by providing some strong examples of women that have brought revolutions in the technology. Discussion Marie Curie is one of the biggest and the most important names that come forward in this regard. “Born in Poland on November 7, 1867, she received two Nobel Prizes for her work in the fields of physics and chemistry” (Moussa, 2003). Moreover, she also holds the distinction of serving as the first women professor at the University of Paris. Her discovery of radioactive elements served as basis for many technological developments and inventions in the future. In fact, her discovery led to the development of a completely new field of radioactive physics and chemistry (Camp, 2004). Experts still consider her as the mother of radioactive physics. Her contributions are still the basis of many modern researches. Moreover, what she provided the world with her limited technology and resources back in 19th century, for that she deserves all the appreciation and credit. Imagine that you are driving on a highway and suddenly it starts raining, what would you do? The obvious answer would be that you would turn on the wiper of you car and it would do the rest of the job. However, it did not use to happen at least before the 1903 (Blashfield, 1996). People used to stop their cars and made the windshield work by their hands. The credit for making our lives easy in this regard goes to Mary Anderson, an American woman from Alabama, who invented this device and had the patent for it for seventeen years. Now her invention is an integral part for any car (Vare & Ptacek, 1993). Lady Augutsa Ada Lovelace (Gattiker, 1994) is the first British women to contribute to the Charles Babbage’s first model of computer. Therefore, she acquired the status of the world’s first programmer since she was the first one to tell the machine that what to do by using punch cards to programme the algebraic patterns that she wanted the machine to follow. Her notes are the first computer program in the history of computers. In fact, she was the founder of computer programming (Gattiker, 1994). Another American woman, Ida Henrietta Hyde, born on September 8, 1857, has the credit of developing a microelectrode that was able to chemically stimulate cells of any living thing and then record the activities and happenings within it (Blashfield, 1996). She was the first women to get a seat at the American Psychological Society and to do research at the Harvard Medical School (Zierdt-Warshaw, Winkler, & Bernstein, 2000). After her research and success in the mid 19th century, she indirectly inspired many other women to follow her footsteps and the world witnessed a wave of women scientists. Another Polish-American woman who is still remembered for her contributions is “Stephanie Louise Kwolek. Born on July 31, 1923 she is the founder of modern polymer chemistry” (Gattiker, 1994). The world still remembers her for her invention of Kevlar, which is used widely today. She invented this material while working for DuPont in 1965 (Wright & University of Connecticut Project on Women and Technology, 1987). She was smart enough to realize that since this new material has the ability to resist heat, lightweightness and is five times stronger than steel, therefore, it would be the next thing big and the same happened (Gattiker, 1994). “Sarah E. Goode was the first African American women to receive a patent from the US patent and trademark office. She got her patent for her folding cabinet bed on July 14, 1885” (Gattiker, 1994). Despite the fact that there is not much known about her, but historians still celebrate her as being the first black women to receive a US patent and lay the foundation of a revolution (Zierdt-Warshaw, Winkler, & Bernstein, 2000). In the footsteps of Goode, many other Black women that contributed to technology but out of those, the names of Marie V. Brittan Brown and Ruane Sharon Jeter stand out of the list (Vare & Ptacek, 1993). Marie was the first women to come up with the idea of a video home security system and she made this true by producing one. It was after her invention that many companies gave attention in this regard and came up with their own modified versions of the same (Altman, 1997). One the other hand, Ruane Sharon Jeter is famous of her invention of toaster (Vare & Ptacek, 1993). Ask yourself, how important is the toaster for you in the morning when you wake up and want something to eat. It was on the April 14, 1987 when she acquired the first patent of toaster (Wright & University of Connecticut Project on Women and Technology, 1987). “Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, a Russian woman, born on March 6, 1937, was the first women to fly in space” (Gattiker, 1994). She started working in a textile factory as an assembly line worker and then as expert parachutist (Wright & University of Connecticut Project on Women and Technology, 1987). More than five hundred expert applicants have applied for this task. However, Valentina witness her selection not only out of these five hundred candidates but also out of the five finalists and became the first lady to fly in space on June 16, 1963 (Zimmerman, 1983). Her achievement is so huge that she is more than icon in Russia with her post stamps, statutes and Valentina as brand name in Russia and all over the world (Moussa, 2003). She is seventy-three years old currently and still active not in engineering, astronomy but also politics. Professor Patricia Berjak from South Africa is one of the most recent names to the list of women scientists and especially African women scientists (Nadasen & Salojee, 2004). She had dedicated all her career to science and research. During all this time, she has been some great work for saving plants from extinction. Moreover, she has also made some progress for finding innovative and creative ways to preserve seeds of these rare plants. Her idea is to keep these seeds in flaks of liquid nitrogen where there would remain safe and useable. She is also journalist and a renowned international speaker. In fact, she also received the award of “women scientist of the year” in South African women science function (Nadasen & Salojee, 2004). Helen Rees was amongst the other women scientists that got appreciation for their work in the South African women science function (Nadasen & Salojee, 2004). Professor Helen Rees has long been working on the topics of Aids and sexual violence in South Africa. Her research has enabled the experts to unfold many hidden aspects of the same. Her contributions are also important because the figures of sexual violence and aids infected people in South Africa are reaching to the extreme these days. Moreover, with her teaching at the University of the Witwatersrand she is also educating and inspiring many other African girls to continue her mission. Both African women have actually come up like a “light of hope” for the African women. They have set an example that it is not about color of the skin, it is not about nationality, it is not your gender, but it is about your determination, hard work, passion, and faith. We can expect many other African women scientists in the near future emerging from the universities where they are currently teaching or from any where in Africa and that would be a true revolution in African and in fact human history as well. Conclusion The conclusion in this regard is quite understandable, that humans throughout the history and even today have been proving the fact that they are not way behind men in this field as well. Despite all the hindrances, societal pressures and difficulties they also have made some great, unforgettable and crucial contributions in the field of science and technology and without them, todays would have been different. Therefore, it is important to recognize the contribution of women and encourage it in the future for a better, healthier, and innovative society. References Altman, L. J. (1997). Women inventors. Facts on File. Blashfield, J. F. (1996). Women Inventors: Margaret Knight, Cynthia Westover, Elizabeth Hazen and Rachel Brown, Ruth Handler. Capstone Press. Braun, S. (2006). Incredible Women Inventors. Second Story Press. Camp, C. A. (2004). American women inventors. Enslow Publishers. Drachman, V. G. (2002). Enterprising women: 250 years of American business. UNC Press. Fox, M. F., Johnson, D. G., & Rosser, S. V. (2006). Women, gender, and technology. University of Illinois Press. Gattiker, U. E. (1994). Women and technology. DIANE Publishing Company. Moussa, F. (2003). Women Inventors Organizations. DIANE Publishing Company. Nadasen, Linley, & Salojee, Imraan. (2004). South Africas women scientists are winners! Retrieved on March 25, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.dst.gov.za/publications-policies/magazine/vol5_html/vol5_6 Vare, E. A., & Ptacek, G. (1993). Women inventors & their discoveries. The Oliver Press, Inc. Wright, B. D., & University of Connecticut Project on Women and Technology. (1987). Women, work, and technology: transformations. University of Michigan Press. Zierdt-Warshaw, L., Winkler, A., & Bernstein, L. (2000). American women in technology: an encyclopedia. The University of Michigan. Zimmerman, J. (1983). The Technological woman: interfacing with tomorrow. Praeger. Read More