Here’s a throwback post from Samantha Hanson a couple of years ago, we liked it so much we thought we’d bring in back. Thanks Sam!
Happy International Women’s Day! Every year on March 8, we commemorate and encourage the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in history. Very often, these celebrations are centered around celebrating the women we are biologically attached to. It is about mothers, sisters, aunts and daughters. However, this International Women’s Day, I challenge men and women to detach the notion that women are at their most valuable when they are related to others. Women are valuable all on their own. And their advancements in science, engineering, business and so many other sectors affect your life everyday. Here are some of the coolest things women have introduced to our twenty-first-century society.
- Computer software. In 1959, rear admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper helped program the first computers. She was called one of the first “modern programmers”. Dr. Hopper was the first to develop computer languages while she was a rear admiral in the US Navy. She invented COBOL or common business-oriented language. Two decades later, COBOL was the most commonly used computer language in the world and is still used today. She won the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 2016 for her contributions to computer science.
- Kevlar. Stephanie Kwolek, a female engineer, invented a new fiber that was five times stronger than steel. She patented the fiber in 1965, which would later be known as Kevlar. Today, Kevlar is used to manufacture bulletproof vests, military helmets, airplanes and to build bridges. The fiber is used daily and can be credited for saving lives, especially those of police officers and military members. In 1995, Kwolek was the fourth woman to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
- Modern glass. Are you wearing glasses today? Have you taken a picture on your phone lately? Well, you can thank Katharine Blodgett for making sure your vision and Instagram picture isn’t blurry. In 1935, Blodgett was working at General Electric as their first female engineer when she discovered how to transfer thin monomolecular coatings to glass and metals. The new glass eliminated glare and distortion, and ultimately revolutionized cameras, microscopes, eyeglasses, and more.
- Women also invented windshield wipers, dishwashers and the circular saw, to name a few more.
K2 & Company is proud to be a certified women owned business. We are 100 percent owned, controlled and managed by women. We are 100 percent kicking ass.
-Samantha Hanson