| As you sip your morning coffee you probably don't | | | | made moms around the world very happy. |
| give any thought as to how the actual process of | | | | Most people think of Marie Curie as a scientist, but she |
| coffee brewing came to be. If it wasn't for a | | | | was also an inventor, and the only person to win two |
| frustrated housewife in Dresden, Germany, you might | | | | Noble prizes. She invented a chemical process for |
| have to brew your coffee by wrapping loose coffee | | | | extracting radioactive material from ore and she also |
| grounds in a cloth bag and boil water around it. | | | | discovered radium. |
| Suddenly you have a much better appreciation for | | | | Admiral Grace Murray Hopper invented the first |
| Melitta Bentz's invention. | | | | computer compiler, changing the way computer |
| Knowing there had to be a better way, she stuck | | | | software is written. This dramatically changed the way |
| some blotting paper in the bottom of a pot that she | | | | programmers wrote software. They no longer had to |
| had poked holes in. Then she poured the water over it. | | | | write time-consuming instructions for each new |
| This filtered out the bitter taste. She started taking her | | | | software package. She developed COBOL, which is |
| "coffeemakers" around to local fairs. They were a hit. | | | | the first user-friendly computer software program. |
| Melitta Bentz wasn't the only woman who invented a | | | | If you take your lunch to work in a brown paper bag |
| product out of frustration. Marion Donovan was a | | | | you have Martha Knight to thank for it. She invented |
| young mom who spent her days washing, bleaching | | | | the machine that produced them. She was also the |
| and drying cloth baby diapers. She put together some | | | | first woman to fight and win a patent suit after a man |
| padding and a show curtain and came up with a | | | | stole her design and put his name on it. He couldn't |
| prototype. She took her product, "The Boater" around | | | | imagine that a woman could create such a complex |
| to manufacturers who all told her it would be too | | | | machine. She went on to invent several other |
| expensive to make and turned her down. | | | | machines and tools. |
| So she manufactured the product herself and sold | | | | As more women are encouraged to invent, the list of |
| them to department stores. Pretty soon the idea | | | | women inventors grows. But still today less than 10% |
| caught on. Before long, moms everywhere were | | | | of patents belong to women. As they say, "necessity |
| flocking to the stores for the throwaway diaper. Mrs. | | | | is the mother of invention". |
| Donovan sold her company for $1 million dollars and | | | | |