Women Inventors of 1990s Rice

Happy Women's History Month! March has a number of interesting national days and dedications, but women's history is among the most prominent, and perhaps even important.

This blog celebrates some of the leading women in Rice's early(-ish*) history of patents and inventors. Rice's first surge in patenting university research/inventions took place in the 1990s. While there is definitely a direct relationship to the work of Dr. Smalley, several women made their own significant contributions. 

First, Dr. Alemka Kisic, formerly of the Biosciences department. She is the first woman inventor credited on a Rice-assigned patent, in 1990. She, along with three others, invented US 4,897,475: Process for synthesis of 5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3/β-ol-15-one and other 15-oxygenated sterols. 

Molecular diagrams from US Patent 4,897,475

Dr. Kisic was even more influential outside her role as inventor. Rice annually awards the Dr. Alemka Kisic Distinguished Staff Service Award from the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology "in recognition of exceptional leadership and devoted service" to two department members. 

Dr. Linda Torczon is the second woman on a Rice-assigned patent. She and three others invented US 5,249,295: Digital computer register allocation and code spilling using interference graph coloring.

Process flowchart from US Patent 5,249,295

In addition, Dr. Torczon earned all three of her degrees from Rice during the 1980s, and has been a part of the computer science department since 1985. Dr. Torczon's impressive dedication and loyalty to Rice computer science is paired with her outreach efforts focused on increasing the representation and presence of women and underrepresented minorities in science, especially computer sciences.  

The third woman credited on a Rice-owned patent is Dr. Laura Suggs, who worked on a Rice-owned patent while studying for her Ph.D. in chemical engineering, which was awarded in 1998. She was the lead inventor on US 5,644,005: Method of making poly(propylene fumarate-coethylene oxide). 

Molecular diagrams from US Patent 5,644,005

Presently, Dr. Suggs holds UT's biomedical engineering department's Zarrow Centennial Professorship in Engineering. She is a credited inventor on other patents, such as US 6,355,755, granted in 2002.

The last female inventor on a Rice-owned patent from the 1990s is Dr. Yildiz Bayazitoglu, lead inventor of US 5,887,018: Longitudinal electromagnetic levitator. 

Schematic representation of magnetic flux density from US Patent 5,887,018

Dr. Bayazitoglu was the inventor on an earlier patent, US 5,527,136: Mono-tripod platform, but it is assigned to the Halliburton Company. She also is credited as an inventor on two later patents issued to Rice, US 7,323,136 and US 8,034,134, which can be found in the Digital Scholarship Archive patent repository. 

She is still Rice's Harry S. Cameron Professor in Mechanical Engineering.

Happy 200th birthday to Eunice Foote, hidden climate science pioneer

Inventor and suffragist Eunice Foote held patents for non-squeaking shoes and improved paper mills. She was also the first to explain the concept of global warming. Her experiments in the 1850s demonstrated the thermal effects of carbon-dioxide-rich air when exposed to sunlight. 

 

Although Foote published the results of her experiments, she was not properly credited with this discovery. A male colleague had to present her findings at the 1856 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the society omitted her work in their annual report. No further recognition and no complete report of Foote’s findings appeared until the latter part of the 20th century. Foote shifted her focus to invention and innovation, receiving her two patents in 1860 and 1864. 

 

Learn more about Foote’s work in #climate science from the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

: https://bit.ly/3uwM8A1

Women's History Month -- Valiant Women of the Vote: Bellie Bly

Investigative journalist Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known by her pseudonym Nellie Bly, held two U.S. patents in manufacturing. 

 

Following her lauded expose on brutality and neglect in late nineteenth-century mental health asylums and her record-breaking seventy-two day trip around the world, Bly had a second career as an industrialist. With her husband’s health failing, Bly took over as the head of Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. around the turn of the twentieth century. Bly invented and received patents for a novel milk can (patent number 697,553) and a stacking garbage can (patent number 703,711). Although the company’s financial issues led to its eventual bankruptcy, Iron Clad’s lasting legacy can be seen in the 55-gallon oil drum still used widely today, modeled on a popular steel barrel manufactured during Bly’s tenure. 

 

Bly eventually returned to journalism. She covered the 1913 Women’s Suffrage Procession, the first suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. and the first large, organized political march on the nation’s capital. In her article, bluntly entitled “Suffragists Are Men’s Superiors,” she predicted correctly that it would be 1920 before women were able to vote in national elections. 

 

Learn more about Nellie Bly and her interdisciplinary career: http://bit.ly/30zOv8h #WomensHistoryMonth #ValiantWomenOfTheVote

 

 

U.S. Patent no. 697,553

Title: Milk Can

Patented: April 15, 1902

 

U.S. Patent no. 703,711

Title: Garbage or Refuse Can

Patented: July 1, 1902

Women's History Month -- Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low’s trefoil design has become an American classic. More than a century after she received her patent, Girl Scouts proudly wear their trefoil badges as symbols of a commitment to the organization and mission.

 

Learn more about Low in our latest installment of

#JourneysOfInnovation: http://bit.ly/3kAE8u3 #WomensHistoryMonth #ExpandingAmericanInnovation

 

 

U.S. Patent no. D45,234

Title: Badge

Patented February 10, 1914

Women's History Month -- Valiant Women of the Vote: Blanche Ames

Artist, activist, and inventor Blanche Ames, well-known for her drawings and research in botanicals, held patents in three different fields of innovation.

Ames had a talent and a passion for art in a variety of mediums. In the early 1910s, she illustrated a number of her husband’s publications on botany, including pen and ink drawings of orchids. Around the same time, Ames and her brother developed an extensive color notation system that allowed artists to map out the most realistic colors for their paintings. The Ames siblings received U.S. patent number 1,612,791 in 1927.

Blanche Ames also used her artistic talents to promote the cause of women’s suffrage through a number of political cartoons. Born into a political family, Ames valued civic participation throughout her life. She lobbied extensively for women’s suffrage in her home state of Massachusetts, and was involved in a number of initiatives surrounding women’s health.

Ames also holds patents for an antipollution toilet design and a propeller snare that could trip up enemy planes, which she designed during World War II. 

Learn more about Ames: http://bit.ly/3sNDtbw #WomensHistoryMonth #ValiantWomenOfTheVote

 

U.S. Patent no. 1,612,791

Title: System of Color Standards

Patented: January 4, 1927

U.S. Patent no. 2,374,261

Title: Propeller Snare

Patented: April 24, 1945

 

U.S. Patent no. 3,488,780

Title: Apparatus for Antipollution of Sewage Systems at Toilet Source

Patented: January 13, 1970

 

Patents source from: https://brendapolendey.wordpress.com/cultural-research/4-technology-blanche-ames-inventions/