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02 April 2008
Author Ethlie Ann Vare Discusses Women Inventors
Ask America webchat transcript, April 2
Ethlie Ann Vare, author of Mothers of Invention -- From the Bra to the Bomb, Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas, answered questions on women inventors in an April 2 Ask America webchat sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Following is the transcript:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
Ask America Webchat Transcript
America’s Inventive Women: “Cote d’Ivoire”
Guest: Ethlie Ann Vare
Date: April 2, 2008
Time: 12:00 p.m. EDT (16:00 GMT)
Mark Betka: Welcome to our chat! I am today’s moderator and I join you from Washington, D.C. Ethlie Ann Vare joins us from Los Angeles California.
Mark Betka: Ms. Vare will post a few comments about some of the women featured in the slides. After that she will be happy to answer your questions. We will continue to post comments about the women featured in the slides throughout today’s webchat.
Ethlie Ann Vare: Thank you for joining me in this exploration of women who have made great -- but often forgotten -- contributions to science, technology, and everyday living.
When I started studying women inventors, I couldn't name a female inventor "to save my life," as the expression goes. It turns out that women's inventions have quite literally saved my life, and millions of others.
It was a woman, Lady Mary Montagu, who first cured smallpox.
It was a woman, Gladys Hobby, who first purified penicillin.
It was a woman, Gertrude Elion, who cured childhood leukemia.
And it was a woman who invented drip coffee and the dishwasher! Now that's what I call a lifesaver.
Ethlie Ann Vare: My interest in women inventors started when I was writing for a music magazine called ROCK. We were doing a story about a 1960s rock'n'roll band called The Monkees, and it turned out that one of the band members' mother invented "white-out," or Liquid Paper, the typewriter correction fluid.
Here is Bette Nesmith and her son, Michael, who would grow up to play in The Monkees. Bette started bringing little bottles of white paint to work to cover up her typing mistakes, and soon started selling it to the other typists. Before she died, she sold her company for almost 50 million dollars.
Bette and her correction fluid started two years of research which ended up as the book MOTHERS OF INVENTION -- the first book in America written about women inventors. PATENTLY FEMALE is the newest one.
It's time to give credit where credit is due. And to prove to young women everywhere that women are -- and always have been -- inventors and creators.
Mark Betka: Thank you for your questions! Ms. Vare will start answering them now.
Question [kytannie]: Good morning I want to know who is the first woman inventor in the world and her nationality.
Answer [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Well, in 3000 BC, the wife of a Chinese emperor invented silk thread from spider webs. Some of the earliest laboratory instruments were invented by Hypatia of Alexandria.
Mark Betka: I'll be posting more information about the slides to the left. Take a look while we wait for Ms. Vare to answer more of your questions.
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: WHO is the first invent woman?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Excuse putting the wrong question up! I was still talking about early women inventors. Like the women before recorded history who invented the first cosmetics. Or the Indian empress who invented cashmere.
Q [evelyne]: How can you define an inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: An inventor creates a new machine or process or design that solves a problem better than it had been solved before. Today, that can be a genetic hybrid or a computer program. In the past, it was usually a mechanical object.
Q [sira fred]: What kinds of inventions have you made?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I am patenting an improvement to the wheelchair, which is sadly needed today more than ever. I also financed a woman who designed a better bookshelf.
Mark Betka: Thanks for your excellent questions. Ms. Vare is typing as fast as she can!
Q [sira fred]: According to you what is the contribution of a woman inventor in the world?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Women inventors have contributed enormous advances to the world. From everyday items like the screen door to big ideas like solar heating. From cell phones (yes, that was a woman!) to space suits. Women are as inventive as men. We just don't think about them that way as much.
Q [meliane]: do you think that inventor woman can be good housewives?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Yes, Meliane! An inventor can be a wife and a mother and a scientist and an artist and anything else she wants. Lots of great inventors were also mothers. In fact, the woman who invented the modern trash can (with the step-on lid) had 12 children! And she was also a scientist.
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: Is it necessary to have a particular intelligence to become an inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: [The component] of intelligence best suited to invention is curiosity. Like, "why is this like this? Has it always been like this? I wonder if it can be different, or even better?"
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: Actually are there the young inventors?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I discovered lots of young girls who had inventions. Some were as young as 6 years old and 8 years old. And some of them became very rich from their inventions! One invented a better way to cook bacon in a microwave oven. One invented a signal to keep her little sister from getting lost. Another invented writing paper that glows in the dark. And my favorite invented "food tape" so you could hold your sandwich together and then eat the whole thing :-)
Mark Betka: We offer a special online publication for you to review, "Women of Influence" offers a glimpse at how women in one country — the United States — have helped shape their society. View this publication at: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/womeninfln/
Q [sira fred]: can you give us the name of the woman who has invented the first cosmetics?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: The earliest records are credited to two women in Mesopotamia who left written records. One of them was named Tapputi-Belatekallim. They were best known for making perfumes. But cosmetics were probably used even earlier than that.
Q [sira fred]: who has invented a cell phone?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Believe it or not, Sira, the technology behind modern cell phones was invented by the beautiful actress Hedy Lamarr. We have a slide of her. It shows you can be beautiful and smart at the same time! She invented it as a weapon in World War Two.
Q [ouraga carine and tope nancy]: How do you organise your life in house?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I run my own house and I have a son. I set aside time for work and time for my household duties. I enjoy both. Laundry gives me a nice break from the computer! But my work is also enjoyable to me. For me, it is a matter of looking at my day and setting aside time for one task and then time for another. Make sure not to overbook myself. Be realistic about how long things will take. And recognize that I get bored doing the same thing for too long!
Q [kytannie]: what study can we do to be an inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: It is good to study science, especially chemistry and biology for today's inventions. Also engineering. There are many opportunities for women engineers in America, and there are more and more opportunities in other countries as well. But inventors can come from any discipline: art, music, everywhere.
Q [meliane]: what Africa need to have many woman inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Africa is a perfect place for the new inventor of today. The combination of "low tech and high tech" -- like, cell phones that use solar power. Water purification systems that you can fit in a backpack. New types of transportation that don't require gas engines. Wind generators that can be made for little money. Africa is the best testing ground for so many great new ideas!
Q [evelyne]: do you think that it is important that women invent?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: You know, Evelyne, when the biochemist Rosalyn Yalow accepted the Nobel Prize for her invention, she said "the world cannot afford the loss of the talents of half its people if we are to solve the many problems which beset us." That's more true today than ever.
Q [evelyne]: do you think that Africa can product brilliant women inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: YES!
Q [evelyne]: have you meet others inventor women?
Ethlie Ann Vare: Yes, some wonderful ones. Like, Stephanie Kwolek, who invented Kevlar (bulletproof fabric.) And the great medical inventor Getrude Elion. Also I met Ruth Handler, who became very rich from the Barbie doll.
Q [anna]: do you think that a woman who invented can be a good housewife?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Yes, Anna. You can do both. Some great inventors were housewives, and invented things for the house. Like the screen door, and the ironing board, and the automatic dishwasher.
Mark Betka: Try scrolling through the slides!
Q [kytannie]: Women inventors can be consider as men inventors in society? Are there any difference?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Women's inventions were not recognized the way men's inventions were in America until recently, because women did not have the same rights as men. When you can't run the company, or even vote to change the rules, it's hard to be recognized. But if you have a really good idea, and people want to use it, they have to recognize you.
Q [carine, raissa et anna]: how many women are inventors in USA?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: There are at least 250,000 patents by women in the US. More all the time.
Q [kytannie]: my teacher said that nowdays all things had been found. Also do think that it is true? IS IT NECESSERY TO DREAM TO BE INVENTOR?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: That's funny, because in 1899 the head of the patent office in Washington DC said "everything has already been invented." And that was before airplanes, or computers, or pizza! There's always a new idea, or a new problem that requires a new solution.
Today, we need many solutions to pollution, climate change and renewable energy. These are new problems that need new inventions to solve them.
Q [anna]: what is the opinion of men face of women inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: In America, women are now accepted in the workplace. Women are doctors and judges and professors. But it was not always like that. It has only been in the last 50 years that women have achieved this equality. We had to work for it. You have to do the same thing.
But when you have an important idea, something that will help everyone -- they don't mind so much if you're a boy or a girl!
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: why interest for this woman inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: It was interesting to me that I didn't already know about these women. Why weren't they in my schoolbooks? Why didn't everyone already know about them?
Q [evelyne]:[Do] chance and the invention go together?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Yes, Evelyne. Many of these inventions were accidents. Like the chocolate chip cookie, and Scotchguard. But you have to take that chance and pursue it. You have to recognize that something important is happening.
Q [anna]: what is your job
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I am a writer. I write books, and television shows, and magazine articles. That's all I have ever done.
Q [carine, raissa et anna]: why the African women don't invent great things, according to you?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare: I think there are many amazing African women inventors, but we just haven't heard of them yet. I think they are making better products for the kitchen and the laundry and the children every day. They just need the opportunity to commercialize their ideas.
Q [evelyne]: A disable person can be an inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Yes, I think so. One of the women in my book invented a talking wheelchair for her father. But who knows better what disabled people need than the disabled people themselves?
Q [anna]: HAVE YOU MARRIED?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Yes, I am married and have a son.
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN THIS JOB
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I like that I get to learn about different things and meet different people. Like you, for instance :-)
Mark Betka: Some of you are interested in studying in the U.S. Our online booklet "See You in the U.S.A" will answer many of your questions. You can read it here: http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itps/0905/ijpe/ijpe0905.htm
Q [carine, raissa et anna]: IS IT HARD TO A PERSON WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND ENGLISH TO STUDY IN A AMERICAN SCHOOL
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Young people pick up new languages very quickly. When you are surrounded by people speaking English, you will learn English quickly. Especially when you want to ask for some water, or the bathroom!
Q [evelyne]: have you already come in africa
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: No, I want to visit Africa someday. You can all write me more about Africa on my website: www.ethlieannvare.com
Q [meliane]: What are the qualities to be a good inventor?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Persistance. Imagination. Hard work.
Comment [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: you are very beautiful and thank you
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: You are so sweet! Thank you!
Q [carine, raissa et anna]: what advices could you give to young girls to become inventors like the others women
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: Don't leave school - there's always more to learn. Read. Don't let anyone discourage you. Your ideas are as good as anyone else's ideas. And always let your imagination roam free.
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: IS IT NESSESSARY TO DO MANY YEARS OF STUDIES TO BECOME AN INVENTOR?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: No, but in the world of high technology, or medicine, or chemistry, advanced study is necessary. Yes many simple and everyday inventions don't require advanced study at all.
Q [stephanie andree and Nathalie]: WHO IS FOR YOU THE BEST WOMAN INVENTOR?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I think my favorite is the scientist Lise Meitner. She was Jewish and had to flee Nazi Germany. She invented the basis for the atomic bomb, but was so upset at seeing her work turned into a weapon that she resigned from science and became a teacher.
Mark Betka: We're nearing the end of our time for today's webchat. Ms. Vare will be finishing up in just a moment.
Q [evelyne]: I want to become an inventor what advices can you give me?
A [Ethlie Ann Vare]: I think you all should be inventors! I would say: Learn about other inventors, especially women inventors. It's easier to do something or become something when you know you won't have to be the first person in the world who ever did it. You can stand on the shoulders of giants!
Ethlie Ann Vare: I want to thank you all so much for visiting with me today. I enjoyed it. I hope to talk to you again someday.
Mark Betka: We wish to thank Ethlie Ann Vare for joining us today. The webchat is now closed. A full transcript of today's webchat will be published (usually within one business day) to our Ask America (http://www.america.gov/multimedia/askamerica.html) homepage.
(Speakers are chosen for their expertise and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of State.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
