Technology is an amazing thing. Sometimes it leaps and bounds forward with spectacular breakthroughs, and sometimes it advances with seemingly simple steps that change our daily life forever. This International Women’s Day, let’s meet four women whose accomplishments left an indelible mark on science, technology, and our day-to-day work, play, and Wordle!

 

Annie Easley was one of just four black employees when she first started at NASA (and one of only a small cohort of women), but her work as both a computer scientist and a proponent for gender and racial diversity in STEM shone a light on her immediately. Her work on the Centaur rocket program laid the groundwork for the space shuttle program that is still alive today.

 

Before John Glenn set off on his mission to orbit the earth, he requested that the countless calculations necessary were made (and rechecked) by hand. When the young mathematician, Katherine Johnson, completed her work, Glenn said, “If she says they’re good, then I’m ready to go.” She spent 33 years at NASA including working on the space shuttle program, and developing a “one-star observation system” that helped the doomed Apollo 13 mission make it home safely.

 

When you hear Hedy Lamarr, you most likely think of the brunette bombshell actress from the 1940s, but did you know she is also considered the inventor of WiFi? During WWII, she co-designed a frequency-hopping system that would interfere with torpedoes’ guidance systems. The patent for this tech would go on to inspire development of Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth decades later.

 

Don’t tell Al Gore! Programmer and engineer Radia Perlman developed the algorithm that served as the foundation to today’s internet, impacting how networks self-organize and how internet traffic flows. Many refer to her as the Mother of the Internet!

 

To meet some more modern women marvels in tech, visit: Top Women in Tech Today