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The pages of history are filled with examples of women making major contributions to society and helping propel humankind into the future. However, some of these examples tend to be glossed over and overlooked by some historians. In fact, The Representation Project claims that women are only represented in 0.5 percent of recorded history.

Wanting to improve all of our understanding of history, Reddit user Dundermifflinhoe urged their fellow redditors to share examples of great women that we may not have heard of. And when you’re done reading through this list and sharing who you personally think some women that often get overlooked in history are, check out Bored Panda’s post about people sharing their female heroes whom they admire right here.

The author of the thread told Bored Panda that they'd turned to Reddit with their question because they're currently working on a paper on the history of women and hysteria for a class in school.

"I realized that I don't know many famous women throughout history. Learning about how so many women who had thoughts or opinions on a subject were deemed crazy put into perspective how little I knew, and I wanted to educate myself more. Hopefully, some other people who were curious about it can benefit as well. I absolutely did not expect it to blow up as big as it did, but I’m happy that so many people are wanting to further educate themselves on the topic as well." Read on for our full interviews with Dundermifflinhoe and with an expert on gender discrimination.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Nellie Bly. She was a 1890s journalist who was given an assignment to investigate the Woman’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island due to accusations of the mistreatment of patients. She got in there by faking insanity and getting herself committed to the asylum, and when she was finally released, she ran an exposé in the New York World called “Ten Days In A Madhouse” that exposed the awful treatment of patients inside the asylum. This was considered a revolution in investigative journalism. Also, she read “Around The World In 80 Days”, basically decided she could do better, and went around the world in 72 days. She was also an inventor, and was one of the primary journalists to cover the suffragette movement. She's one of my favorite historical figures who doesn’t get enough attention!

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Mihran Hovnanian
Mihran Hovnanian
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

+ became CEO of Iron Clad Manufacturing Co after her husband's death + registered engineering patents + WWI reporter on the eastern front.... what more did she need to do to get recognition!!?!?

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#2

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha. She is the Dean of Medicine at Hurley Children's Hospital in Flint, MI. She saw that children were having elevated lead levels (ELLs) outside the normal range. She contacted the Genesee Department of Health, who at first, dismissed her claim, then sent her obfuscated data to make it look like the ELLs were completely within normal trends. She grew frustrated at this, so she called a team of epidemiologists from UVA (her alma mater) to find the source of the lead. Lo and behold, she found that the water in multiple zip codes was contaminated with lead. She informed the Genesee Department of Health Again, who brushed her off. She then said "f**k it" and held a major press conference where she announced on air that the water in Flint wasn't safe and to come to the hospital to get your child tested and to pick up supplies of water and liquid infant formula. She saved thousands of children from the permanent effects of lead poisoning.

MadameBurner , wikipedia Report

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#3

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Grace Hopper. This should so be higher up. Without Grace, programming would have been reserved for scientists only. We probably wouldn't have most of what we have today in regards to software and the advantages we enjoyed because of that.

She was a Motherf**king Legend.

She had a masters in maths in a time when a lot of Universities still didn't allow women to attend.

On her very first Job with a computer, she asked for a manual. They told her there isn't one. A few months later she had written one.

When she suggested the idea of a compiler - a way to write more English like statements to make the whole programming thing easier, faster and more accessible to the masses - she was told not to do it. Scientists firstly didn't believe it could be done, and secondly didn't want it to be done because they were more interested in protecting their "elite" career of programming.

She did it anyway.

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The redditor said that they believe so many women get overlooked in history because they're discriminated again. "They weren’t in a position of power to safely promote their ideas on a certain topic or were told that they were crazy. I think the biggest reason would be that we just aren’t taught about their contributions and after so many decades and centuries, their names just gets lost."

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However, the redditor believes that society is changing for the better and allows better recognition for women. Yet, there's still a long way to go. "We’re still not where we need to be. Continuing to educate ourselves, as well as asking questions, will help pave a way for women to be as equally recognized by men in the future."
#4

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Bessie Coleman. She was a black woman who wanted to learn to fly. No one would teach her. She learned that the French would however, so she moved to France, learned French and how to fly. Then she came back to the states and taught whoever wanted to learn. She was alive same time as Amelia Earhart and got no recognition at the time.

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Clara Knaub
Clara Knaub
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man. We all know Amelia Earhart and no one has heard of Bessie Coleman? It’s so unfair.

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#5

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Marie Tharp; she created the first map of the ocean floor, which led to the discovery of tectonic plates, and the theory of continental drift.

PhantomKitten73 , wikipedia Report

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#6

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Katherine Johnson, one of the first black mathmeticians to work for NASA. She did a lot of work on calculating trajectories for the Apollo missions, but her most important contributions were the backup procedures for the Apollo 13 mission. You've probably heard the famous line, "Houston, we have a problem." Katherine Johnson is responsible for solving that problem by calculating a safe return for the Apollo 13 astronauts.

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Wolfstar
Wolfstar
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a movie about her, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. It's really good, it's called Hidden Figures.

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History is one thing, but what about the challenges that women face in the workplace today? To learn more about them, Bored Panda contacted Elizabeth Arif-Fear, writer and founder of Voice of Salam. Arif-Fear, an expert in topics like gender (in)equality, explained that there are “major obstacles” for women in the workplace. However, to what extent and how this manifests actually varies by profession, location, and the working culture of the company or employer.

“The gender pay gap is of course the most obvious marker of gender inequality in the workplace and is a gross violation of women's rights,” she pointed out the clearest example.
#7

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Claudette Colvin was the person who refused to get up from her bus seat during the Jim Crows in America. But she was a young woman who was pregnant out of wedlock at the time, and the black leaders decided she was not a good image of an activist. So they handpicked Rosa Parks to do the same.

GovMajor , Wikipedia Report

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Mme de Poppadom
Mme de Poppadom
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Everyone keeps missing the bigger picture, was that this was a concerted social justice effort to bring the issue of segregation into the legal system, using the Montgomery Bus System as the vehicle (NPI) to stage the case that would get argued in court. Rosa Parks, a middle-aged seamstress, had less of a scandalous life to detract from character assassination as their test case, unlike the unwed mother, but the prosecutors still tried to smear her moral fitness.

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#8

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Ada Lovelace. She's so awesome. For anyone that doesn't know, she effectively invented the basis for modern computer programming by observing her friend Charles Babbage's work on his Analytical Machine, which was effectively a calculator. She realised that it was possible to do more than just maths with it and thus established the basis for modern computing.

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David K
David K
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This should be higher. I read a few articles about her and she was a brilliant mind. She was also the daughter of the poet lord Byron.

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#9

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) In 1952 Dr. Virginia Apgar developed a quick, easy five-point test that summarizes health of newborns, and determine those needing emergency assistance. The Apgar Score is now given to practically every newborn, and helped save countless young lives, and reduce infant mortality.

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Tiari
Tiari
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well... the test that wears her name and is used all over the world would beg to differ that she is overlooked...

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Looking at the situation in North America and Europe, Arif-Fear sees that the talent of female employees is recognized, however, there are clear obstacles that need to be addressed.

“Discrimination includes women being denied work, in preference for men due to maternity leave allowances. Due to the imbalance between caring for children and housework among male/female partnerships—which is still prevalent across the globe—women are left juggling a high amount of childcare and work which places extra demands on women,” she explained.

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There are ways around this. For instance, employers could offer flexible schedules to allow parents to drop their children off at school in the morning. However, Arif-Fear believes that this isn’t enough. “Practical barriers add an extra burden onto women. Beyond childcare, women in leadership is an area that is evolving but there is still a massive glass ceiling. We need more women in leadership positions,” she added.
#10

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Irena Sendler worked with others to smuggle Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto during WWII.

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Clara Knaub
Clara Knaub
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m reading a book right now about a Jewish child getting out of Luxembourg before the war became too bad! The girl had someone who helped her get out and risked their life for her. This lady here is amazing!

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#11

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Sandra Ford, the drug technician who first brought attention to what would become the AIDS epidemic. She knew something was up when she began receiving unusually high numbers of requests for pentamidine, an antibiotic reserved for treating pneumocystis pneumonia in seriously ill, immuno-compromised patients. The patients it was being requested for were gay men who had been otherwise healthy.

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#12

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Cicely Saunders deserves the reputation Mother Tereasa has. She basically invented hospice care. Before her, doctors used to just abandon incurables to die with no palliative care. Cecily Saunders arguably eliminated more useless suffering than anyone ever.

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Mme de Poppadom
Mme de Poppadom
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No one "deserves" MT's reputation, as I'm sure none of us in a role of providing compassionate care would *encourage* suffering of another because of our personal beliefs, nor deny patients with AIDS to TV watching because their sickness derived from "sin".

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#13

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Rosalind Franklin - Crick & Watson got all the glory, and even the plaque at the Eagle only mentions their name.


Watson and Crick basically stole her research and used it to discover the shape of DNA. They were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery. Once the theft was discovered, and she was given proper credit, she had already died from cancer (her work specialized in Xrays and she had been exposed to too much radiation). The Nobel Committee has acknowledged her contribution to science, but they can't give her an award because they do not give out awards posthumously.

linden_84 , Wikipedia Report

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Mihran Hovnanian
Mihran Hovnanian
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

LIFE STORY: The Race for the Double Helix... Tells the story very well and Rosalind's part in detail... starring Juliet Stevenson and Jeff Goldblum

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#14

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Mary Anning, the first paleontologist. She basically discovered that dinosaurs were a thing, and wasn't recognized for it until 2010 when the royal society of London named her as one of the 10 most influential British woman of science.

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Mommyofboth
Mommyofboth
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I didn't know about her until last year when my daughter brought her history homework out. I was amazed!

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#15

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Madam C. J. Walker developed black hair care products and marketed them through her business she founded which ended up making her the first female self made millionaire.

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Marija Dominyka
Marija Dominyka
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Watch "Self made" on Netflix - it's about her. I absolutely loved it, amazing woman!

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#16

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most prolific artists (Judith Slaying Holofernes is probably her most recognisable painting) of the 17th century at a time when obviously women weren’t encouraged or allowed in the very male-dominated space. She was a pro at only 15, working all over and she was the first woman to be accepted into the Art Academy (forgive the bad English translation but the Italian name escapes me) in Florence. There’s a lot more to this of course but she took her rapist to court & he was found guilty after a seven month long trial. She had no time for female submissiveness which is reflected in her art. Her story is remarkable & her art is utterly compelling.

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lizbetann
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I particularly adore the painting used as her image -- its a self-portait as an allegory of the concept of painting itself. That she felt her own image was important enough to preserve was radical for the time.

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#17

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Mileva Marić Einstein (Albert Einstein's first wife), a brilliant physicist, whose contribution to Albert's work cannot be emphasized enough.

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Cynthia Bonville
Cynthia Bonville
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And there is much evidence she came up with the theory of relativity herself. But that's blasphemous.

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#18

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) The Allied codebreakers at places like Bletchley Park during WWII. They worked incredibly long, tedious, and stressful hours and were a major contributor to the war effort and military intelligence, but their work didn't even receive official recognition from the British government until 2009, 64 years after the war ended.

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M O'Connell
M O'Connell
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The entirety of project Ultra remained classified until 1974, those involved could not even talk about it before then. They were certainly known from the numerous books and documentary films about the project that followed. It was nice that they received a [belated] statement of thanks though.

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#19

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Henrietta Lacks.

She saved millions of lives and made a critical contribution to the world of medicine, but unless you're in the medical field — you've probably never even heard her name.

Henrietta Lacks was a young, black, mother of five when she died in 1951 after being diagnosed with an aggressive cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. Doctor George Gey was working at Hopkins at the time, trying to culture cells in the laboratory. Lacks' cells were among dozens sent to his lab, but they were the first to ever survive and grow. Her cells, a unique and aggressive type, were later described as one in three billion.

Scientists called these resilient cells "HeLa" — taking first two letters of "Henrietta" and "Lacks." HeLa cells were used to test the polio vaccine, develop in vitro fertilization, and several chemotherapy drugs among hundreds of medical advances.

Grown and sold around the world, Lacks' legacy lived on in her cells: they have traveled to space, they have been embedded in a nuclear bomb. But for decades, the Lacks family had no idea.

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Romenriel
Romenriel
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fascinating story. It built up my belief that noone can say value of a person or an impact their life will have.

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#20

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper in 1903. As soon as the patent expired, it became standard in all cars. She attempted to sell it while she had the rights to it, but most manufacturers refused to believe it was a feature of value, and it is likely her being female colored their lack of enthusiasm.

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#21

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Virginia Hall has a building named after her at the CIA. She was an American woman from Baltimore who went to Europe in the 1930s, lost her leg in a shooting accident, then proceeded to become a leader in the French Resistance and master of disguise, all with a wooden leg. The book A Woman of No Importance is about her and came out last year.

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Mme de Poppadom
Mme de Poppadom
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pretty much all stories of those who were in the Resistance during the war are fascinating.... definitely worth a look.

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#22

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Cecilia Payne, discovered what universe is made out of... And don't even get a mention in textbooks

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#23

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Anna Connelly invented the fire escape in 1887.

That same year, Josephine Cochrane invented the dishwasher.

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#24

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Eleanor Marx - Maybe overlooked because of her dad. She played an important role in British Trade Unions which forced the move from a 12 hour working day 6 days a week to an 8 hour day 5 days a weekend. Those extra hours to go on a walk, play Xbox, learn something new or just chill is a pretty big contribution.

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#25

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Inge Lehmann was a Danish seismologist. She discovered P' waves (waves that reflect off of the inner-core), confirming that the earth has a solid inner-core and a liquid outer-core.

Occams_l2azor , Wikipedia Report

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#26

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Dr. Georgeanna Seeger Jones

Dr. Jones singlehandedly organized the field of Gynecological Endocrinology. While at John’s Hopkins with her husband, Dr. Howard Jones and Drs. Roberts and Steptoe, she devised the hypothesis of follicular hyper stimulation, which produced more than one egg per cycle. Her later discoveries led to increases in viability of In Vitro Fertilization.

Per Wikipedia : As a resident at Johns Hopkins, she discovered that the pregnancy hormone hCG was manufactured by the placenta, not the pituitary gland as originally thought. This discovery led to the development of many of the early over-the-counter pregnancy test kits currently available. On 1949, Jones made the first description of Luteal Phase Dysfunction and is credited to be the first in using progesterone to treat women with a history of miscarriages, thus allowing many of them to not only conceive, but to deliver healthy babies

She also served as a Dean of the College of Pontifical Sciences, advising the Vatican of matters of Gynecology and Conception.

Her husband always said “She’s the smarter one.”

She was also a great friend.

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Angela Rickett
Angela Rickett
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you Dr. Georgeanna Seeger Jones. Because of your work, we have our beautiful son, Benjamin!

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#27

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) The Soviet Air Force's 588th Night Bomber Regiment. An all-female bombing wing during WWII that had to make do with a lot of outdated equipment.

However, they were a MAJOR thorn in Germany's side, taking out encampment after encampment. Their secret? They struck by night and cut their engines right before bombing the enemy. This gave them the nickname "Night Witches." Comparatively, I'm pretty sure they had one of the higher survival rates when it came to bombing squadrons.

Sabaton actually based one of their songs off of them in their album "Heroes."

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Evil Little Thing
Evil Little Thing
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

IIRC they had to climb out the plane and throw bombs down by hand, too.

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#28

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Daphne Oram - first ever composer to produce electronic sound. She pioneered electronic music and lead the path for music today. She even wrote a piece called “Still Point” that she was never able to perform live because of sexism by her peers and she never heard it live before she died. But it was performed for the first time in 2018 using a replica of a machine Daphne had created to electronically manipulate a live orchestra.

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Clara Knaub
Clara Knaub
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hate that people wouldn’t let her piece be performed because she was a girl. At least it was performed in 2018.

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#29

Tapputi-Belatekallim, who lived around 1200 B.C. in Babylonia. She is considered the world's first chemist. Her filtering and distillation of various materials is the world's oldest mentioned still.

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#30

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Margaret Hamilton and her team wrote all of the math it took to get to the moon.

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Orillion
Orillion
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They wrote the software to get to the moon, not the math.

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#31

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Sister Rosetta Tharpe

She was super influencial to early rock musicians like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and so many more. Johnny Cash even said that she was his favorite singer and she was also one of the first to play around with heavy distortion on her electric guitar. She's called by some "The Godmother of Rock and Roll" but I guarantee you that the average person has never heard of her.

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Roxy Eastland
Roxy Eastland
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I could see a question about her name, but when I clicked reply it disappeared. To clarify, she was a nun and her music was Christian, but really cool. Once you've seen a video of her (try youtube) you will have no doubt she was the originator of rock 'n' roll.

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#32

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Frances Oldham Kelsey. She stopped thalidomide from getting widespread use in North America, and saved countless children from life-altering birth defects.

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Romenriel
Romenriel
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

She stood her grounds for months while she was belittled and called "stubborn bureaucrat". She had some seriously ingenious intuition.

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#33

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Sonia Greene.

As an immigrant single mother living in New York in the early 1900s, she became a successful publisher of several magazines, but also worked like three other jobs and managed to earn enough to move herself and her daughter into an upper-middle class house.

She eventually married an unemployed weirdo shut-in of a man child named H.P. Lovecraft. And while she financially provided for herself, her daughter, and her husband, she also handled editing, publishing, and distribution of Lovecraft's work through her already successful magazines. She even ghost-wrote some of Lovecraft's stuff. On some occasions, Lovecraft would just lose stories he was working on (because he was a disorganized mess) and she would just rewrite his stories from memory so he could publish them. Sometimes he would come up with ideas that he was too lazy to realize into full stories, so she would write them herself for publication. She was so good at it that there is actual debate over how many of Lovecraft's stories are actually written by Greene, and how many of those may have been her original works published under her husband's name.

This chick had like three overlapping successful careers while raising a kid, and then just decided to raise Lovecraft and manage his career too, just for fun.

Sonia Greene is arguably more responsible for the success of H.P. Lovecraft than Lovecraft himself.

Without Greene, Lovecraft is just some weird loner, buried in a pauper's grave, leaving behind a bunch of unremembered, half-finished, handwritten ideas for spooky tales. Instead, his name is basically synonymous with an entire genre of cosmic horror fiction.

ShallowBasketcase , Wikipedia Report

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Cynthia Bonville
Cynthia Bonville
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4 years ago

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But is she the reason he was a racist or was that old H.P. himself?

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#34

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Henrietta Leavitt. She was an astronomer at Harvard and discovered a type of star called a Cepheid. Cepheid stars all pulse at the same rate. That lets us know how far away they are. Because of her, we were able to determine how big the universe is along with many, many more things concerning its properties.

Rexsparce Report

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Giles McArdell
Giles McArdell
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fascinating, I never quite grasped how Cepheid's helped us know the distance, I had somehow missed the fact they all pulse at the same rate.

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#35

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Clara Barton - Helped with getting medical supplies during the Civil War and then founded the American Red Cross. A legend in my books.

Danielk0926 , Wikipedia Report

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#36

Bertha Benz, wife of Karl Benz (Mercedes-Benz) was his first investor, first product tester and the first person to take a real road trip— during which the brakes were acting up, so she stopped in at a shoemaker’s shop, asked him to cut and fit some pieces of leather, and thus became the inventor of brake pads.

nullagravida Report

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#37

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Harriet Beecher Stowe is an integral character in American history, she wrote Uncle Tom's cabin, exposing the cruel reality of slavery to the American public.

AutomatonComplex Report

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#38

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Astronomer here! The foundations for modern astrophysics and what we understand about the universe did not come from the pre-eminent astronomers of the 19th century, but rather a group of women called the Harvard computers. This is because at the time only men were allowed to use the telescopes and Harvard was experimenting with the first astrophotography, and they hired women to look at those first images, and it then became the women who made the first discoveries about things like the hydrogen line in stars, spectral binaries (two stars orbiting each other so close you can’t see them by eye), and half a million variable stars, some of which were used as “standard candles” to determine the size of the universe. All years before real computers of even electricity! (Oh and two of the women were deaf.)

Among my favorites I want to shout out to Williamina Fleming who ran the group of women- she started out as a single mom maid to the observatory director, who got mad at his (male) students’ analysis of the images and proclaimed “my maid could do better!” And she did! She not only ran the group and discovered many variable stars and nebulae, she discovered a supernova (SN 1895B) that I studied in my own research published this year! Good science never dies! (Oh and in her spare time she made dolls as a hobby and was friends with Andrew Carnegie’s family and gave one to Carnegie’s daughter.)

Trust me these are amazing astronomers! I could go on all day about them and all they discovered!

Andromeda321 , Wikipedia Report

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#39

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Big Mama Thornton.

She sang the hit "Hound Dog" a few years before Elvis Presley made it popular, but I believe because of the color of her skin, she couldn't get as much recognition. I still prefer her version over Elvis.

docobv77 , Wikipedia Report

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Andrew Gibb
Andrew Gibb
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When some reporter came to talk to her in '77 when Elvis died, and asked her how she felt about him having made millions and her only $100 for this song. Her comment, which was pure Winnie Mae Thornton, was "I'm still here to spend my hundred bucks."

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#40

Stephanie Kwolek, the woman who invented the Kevlar bullet-proof vest. She began working on Kevlar technology in 1964, and perfected it by 1971.

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#41

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Carol Kaye, the First Lady of bass playing. She played over 10,000 sessions, including albums from Frank Sinatra, Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, and the Monkees. I can thank the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the subreddit for educating me about her.

Cerrida82 Report

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Becca Gizmo the Squirrel
Becca Gizmo the Squirrel
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember watching reruns of "the monkees" tv show mid '80's as a kid. Loved Davy Jones.

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#42

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Queen Tamara of Georgia. She now represents the Georgian nation in Civilization VI, but before that, not a lot of people knew about her. And whenever she is mentioned, she is mentioned as queen, but she was given the title of KING because she was recognized as an equal monarch (her husbands didn't have any royal titles). This is an undisputed fact in Georgian historiography, IDK about western scholars, but whenever she is mentioned on the internet or mainstream, would it be Wikipedia or a video game, like CIV VI, she is denied her lawful title and that just pisses me off!

Sabunia Report

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#43

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Dolores Huerta cofounder of the United Farmworkers Union with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. She was a civil rights activist and advocated for immigrant worker rights by boycotting white grape owners. Farmworkers we’re exposed to insidious pesticides, poor working conditions and awful pay. Her determination has changed the landscape of working rights and influenced many to stand up against unfair treatment and discrimination. She has historically lived in the shadow of Chavez, but now can have some recognition because of her involvement in countless social justice movements. She is a civil rights icon and should get the credit she deserves .

krosbubble , Wikipedia Report

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Mme de Poppadom
Mme de Poppadom
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugh, syntax, people! Is it white grapes, or white owners? DOWN WITH RIESILING!

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#44

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Agent 355

We still don't know her true identity to this day, but that was the code name of one of the first American spies. Some historians dispute whether it was an actual person or just code for when a woman presented useful information. If that's the case then Agent 355 could be multiple women that had a huge influence on history during the birth of America.

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BusLady
BusLady
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It takes a lot of courage to do that kind of work. I salute you, Agent(s) 355.

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#45

Globally? Perhaps Kate Sheppard, who was the leader of the Women's Suffrage Movement in New Zealand when New Zealand became the first country in the world to give Women the right to vote.

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#46

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Mary Todd Lincoln. I know she went absolutely mad, which wasn't all her fault, but she was the one who really pushed her husband (Abraham Lincoln for those not from America) to keep moving up the political ladder, and ultimately shaped what the first lady of the U.S is. Not sure he would have become president without her influence. She had a lot more ambition than he did. Fun fact- she also liked to bake! Look up her recipes, guys. Her almond cake sounded delicious and it was supposedly one of her husband's favorite desserts.

Klaudiapotter , Wikipedia Report

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#47

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Michele Mouton:

It's just auto racing, not super important in the grand scheme of things but holy [crap]! She was probably the best rally driver and hill climber of her era and one of the best ever.

She was also very involved in innovating All-Wheel-Drive racing and safety standards.

And she raced in the Group B class which takes a level of skill, guts, and complete disregard for safety that has never been, and never will be matched.

SplodyPants , Wikipedia Report

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M O'Connell
M O'Connell
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Group B was some pretty insane stuff. There are tons of videos of the 1982 to 1986 Group B Rally races online, watch a few of them :)

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#48

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Jane Addams

She was a major reformer in the early 1900’s and is the founder of social work. She established settlement houses, most famously Hull House in Chicago. Instrumental to women’s rights and the roles they play that helped lead to women’s right to vote. She really focused on ways that women could be central to community building and many of her ideas have been influential even today.

ello_mehry , Wikipedia Report

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#49

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Mary Leakey - palaeoanthropology 1913-1966 She discovered the Laetoli Site and Footprints. Discovered 15 species of animals. While working with her husband full time on a day he was sick she went out in the field and discovered the first Proconsul skull. She also was the reason for a while new Genus discovery and naming. Zinjanthropus; aka The Nutcracker man. Her husband and son always get a ton of credit, but she was the driving force.

Ekecede , Wikipedia Report

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#50

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Constance Markievicz

Constance Georgine Markievicz, known as Countess Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, the first woman elected to the Westminster Parliament, and was elected Minister for Labour in the First Dáil, becoming the first female cabinet minister in Europe.

Constance fought in the 1916 Rising in Dublin, where on the first day of fighting she shot a Dublin Metropolitan Police officer dead at St Stephen’s Green. Markievicz was arrested and quickly sentenced to death by the British authorities. But her sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment on account of her gender. She famously told her captors: “I do wish your lot had the decency to shoot me”.

Fashion advice attributed to her was: "Dress suitably in short skirts and strong boots, leave your jewels in the bank and buy a revolver."

Blackd0pe , Wikipedia Report

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Roxy Eastland
Roxy Eastland
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm going to guess that short skirts in her day were not quite the same as what we'd consider a short skirt now, and her advice was more about not having skirts long enough to tangle around your ankles while you were getting up to shenanigans.

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#51

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Livia. She was Augustus’ wife and considered by many to be the main power behind the throne, as well as the reason why the Roman Principate formed as it did, which shaped history for the next 1000 years

David_Bolarius , Wikipedia Report

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Jaded Queen
Jaded Queen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ah! This is so true for a lot of kings and kingdom sy. Either the wife or the mother is the driving force and real brains of the operation. It can never be proven or isnt documented on paper. But if u look hard enough there will examples like this all over even if just in fables and speculation. U can't silence an entire half of the population. Even when the husband didn't knew some badass women in power pulled a lot of strings behind the scenes and people were just too stupid to comprehend what was happening

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#52

Belva Lockwood - one of the first female lawyers in the US and ran for president in the 1880s.

dangerphilosophical Report

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#53

People Are Listing The Women That Got Overlooked In History Along With Their Important Achievements (30 Pics) Hetty Green

She might’ve been a bit overboard on the whole “frugal” thing (even messing up her own family) but she helped a lot of people. Even though she was known as The Witch of Wall Street.

youwankstain , Wikipedia Report

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