#1 Stephanie Kwolek: Bullet Proof Vests
Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar, a tough durable material now used to make bulletproof vests. For years she'd worked on the process at DuPont and in 1963, she got the polymers or rod-like molecules in fibers to line up in one direction.This made the material stronger than others, where molecules were arranged in bundles. In fact, the new material was as strong as steel! Kwolek's technology also went on to be used for making suspension bridge cables, helmets, brake pads, skis, and camping gear.
#02Bette Nesmith Graham: Liquid Paper
The inventor of "Liquid Paper" or as we may know it, "White-Out" was Betty Nesmith Graham.Graham got an idea she'd seen done by sign painters, which was to add another layer of paint to cover-up mistakes. She used a kitchen blender to mix-up her first batch of substance to cover-up over mistakes made on paper at work. After much experimenting and then being fired for spending so much time distributing her product as a trial, she received a patent in 1958. Wow!
#03Alice H. Parker: The Gas Heating Furnance
Parker was an African-American inventor who in 1919, filed the first U.S. patent for the precursor to a central heating system. The system was able to regulate the temperature of a building and carry heat from room to room.The drawings included for the patent show a heating furnace powered by gas. An entire house required several heating units, each controlled by individual hot air ducts. The ducts directed heat to different parts of a building structure.
Many people now no longer needed to chop or buy wood and coal to stay warm. There's not much more known about Parker's life, but her invention of the heating furnace has revolutionized how we live today.
#04Dr. Maria Telkes: Home Solar Heating System
The biophysicist who invented the first home solar heating system grew up in Hungary and moved to the U.S. in 1925. Telkes became an American citizen and joined Westinghouse Electric as a research engineer in the area of energy conversion, in this case, converting heat energy into electric energy.
