Sunday Quiz women and their inventions
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Born on November 7, 1867, this lady was the first person ever to win the Nobel Prize twice and for achievements in two distinct scientific fields. She discovered two elements that she carried around in her pocket, even enjoying their glow at night, which ultimately led to her death. Which revolutionary scientist was this, whose lab papers are still radioactive and hence stored in lead-lined boxes?
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Born on November 7, 1878, Lise Meitner discovered that nuclear fission can produce enormous amounts of energy. She realised that a certain element split in half released some of its tremendous store of nuclear energy by nuclear fission. This helped pioneer research that lead to the use of nuclear reactors to generate electricity. Although element 109 is named after her, which element did she work on that changed history?
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Mary Kies is believed to be the first woman to receive a U.S. patent when her patent was signed by President James Madison in May 1809. Her technique was a cost-effective way to make a certain item by weaving straw with silk and thread. Her technique led to a huge rise in the industry, earlier reliant on French and English imports. Known as millinery, what was she making?
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In 1812, Tabitha Babbitt was a weaver in a small community and saw people struggling to cut wood. She realised that she could use her spinning wheel to make it a more efficient process. What did Tabitha invent?
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Jeanne Villepreux-Power was a French naturalist, who in 1832 was trying to prove that the argonaut (a type of octopus) does not take discarded shells from other organisms, but grows its own shell. She wanted to observe the creature for an extended period of time; so she built a glass enclosure and published her work in 1839 explaining her research. What had she invented that is now found in many households?
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In 1843, Nancy Johnson lived in Philadelphia and during the hot summers she worked out a way to make a certain treat in a faster and easier way. Her invention contained a hand crank, which spun two boards in a cylinder with holes on the side. This gave a delicious result in half the time as usual, that too without electricity. What item did her invention make, two flavours at the same time?
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Margaret Knight in 1868 designed and built a machine that cut, folded and glued to form a certain article with a flat bottom. This was in response to the previous versions that were weak and narrow, and could not stand on their bases. Her invention produced a version that was sturdier and more useful. A man working in her office stole her idea and patented it first and then claimed women cannot be inventors. Knight fought back with evidence and won. What environment-friendly item is this that we now see everywhere?
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Josephine Cochran was a socialite in Ohio in the mid 1800s. Once after a dinner party, she realised that the clearing and cleaning process was very tiring and also inevitably led to breakage of cutlery. In a shed behind the house, she built a copper boiler with separate compartments on a wheel attached to a motor and fed hot soapy water. She received a patent for this in 1886. What had Josephine invented, which was the first that used water pressure rather than scrubbers?
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Margaret Wilcox was a mechanical engineer in Chicago who invented a combination clothes and dishwashing machine, but at that time it was illegal for women to file patents under their own names. In her 20s she discovered that people who rode in railway cars suffered from icy fingers as the compartments had very poor insulation. She figured she could run a channel to take the hot air from the engine back into the rail car. For this, she received a patent in 1893. What had she invented, which is standard in most cars now?
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Maria Beasley was an entrepreneur and inventor who at the time of her death in 1904 held 15 different patents in the U.S. and two in Great Britain. Some of the inventions were the steam generator for trains, an anti-derailment device for trains, a bread kneader and foot warmers. Her biggest income was from her device that made barrel production faster. Her most valuable one was the improvement of an earlier design of a life-saving device, making it airtight and fireproof. What design did she invent that saved 706 people in 1912 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?