1. Spread spectrum technology
   The aircraft carrier
2. The submarine
   A new type of bullet

Actress Hedy Lamarr, together with music composer George Antheil, improbably created spread spectrum technology, using knowledge each had obtained during other pursuits. This technology helped encrypt control signals for torpedoes so they could not be jammed.

1. AZT
   A throat lozenge
2. A protein smoothie
   An herb-based drink

AZT was the first medicine developed to fight HIV and stop it from becoming full-blown AIDS. Its creator, Nobel Prize winner Gertrude Elion, was an American pharmacologist and biochemist. She was also responsible for many other medical discoveries, including the first immunosuppressive drug used in organ transplants.

1. COBOL computer language
   Mouse
2. Disk drive
   Monitor

Grace Hopper, a mathematician and U.S. Navy rear admiral, was responsible for a number of discoveries. She invented the first programming compiler in the mid-1950s and went on to co-invent the COBOL programming language later in her life. She's known as the Mother of COBOL.

1. Push-button telephone
   Lightbulb
2. Flat-bottomed paper bag
   Machine gun

In 1868, Margaret E. Knight devised a machine that first folded and then glued paper to form flat-bottomed paper bags. Charles Annan, who learned about her machine, stole the design and tried to patent it. After a court battle, which Knight won, she applied for the patent in her own name.

1. Stick blender
   Smoothie maker
2. Electric mixer
   Mechanical dishwasher

Josephine Cochrane earned a patent for a mechanical dishwasher in 1886. She came up with the idea because her precious heirloom dishes were getting chipped when washed. After her husband died, she put her idea into practice, first selling to hotels and restaurants. Such dishwashers didn't start to become common in homes until the 1950s.

1. Barrel making machine
   Teapot
2. Crate
   Coffee percolator

Maria Beasley was a prolific inventor. Her barrel making machine alone made her approximately $20,000 per year, which would equal nearly half a million annually in today's dollars.

1. Car lights
   Windshield wipers
2. Treaded tires
   Window defogger

A rancher and real estate developer, Mary Anderson visited New York in the early 1900s, where she observed drivers having to stick their heads out of their windows to see during falling sleet. Once she returned to her home in Alabama, she came up with a working model of a windshield wiper that was operated by a lever. Unfortunately, car manufacturers were skeptical, imagining that the wipers would distract drivers. Anderson's patent expired before she could convince anyone to use her invention.

1. Hair products for African American women
   TV dinners
2. Satellite television
   Electric knife

Working as a laundress, Sarah Breedlove noticed that her hair suffered from the harsh ingredients in regular hair products. She devised her own range of hair-care products for African Americans under the name Madam C. J. Walker. She even set up a school to train fellow African American woman in hair care, helping to create jobs for thousands of people.

1. Frying pan
   Matches
2. Coffee filter
   Lemon juicer

Filtering was not an exact science during Melitta Bentz's lifetime, and she was determined to find a way to do it effectively. So, starting with blotting paper, Bentz tried a range of papers before she eventually perfected the perfect filter. And every morning, we thank her for it.

1. Instant coffee
   A typewriter that produced four identical copies
2. Whiteout
   Nail polish

With over 110 inventions and close to 50 patents, Beulah Louise Henry was known as "Lady Edison." Her ''protograph" could produce four identical pages of typing. Pretty useful in a time without photocopiers or scanners!

1. Sugar
   Chocolate chip cookies
2. Milk
   Crumpets

In the 1930s, Ruth Graves Wakefield added pieces of semi-sweet chocolate to cookie dough, because she was out of her usual baker's chocolate. And aren't we glad she did, because that's how chocolate chip cookies were born!

1. Plastic bathtubs
   Child thermometer
2. Disposable diaper
   Pacifier

After noticing leakage from cloth diapers, Marion Donovan tried to devise a way to use waterproof material to prevent this. Her early attempts didn't work, but she persisted and eventually created what she called the "Boater." She then went on to invent the disposable diaper – and parents around the world have been thankful ever since.

1. Flippers
   The aquarium
2. Diving bell
   Submarine

Jeanne Villepreux-Power, a naturalist, is credited with devising the first aquarium in 1832. She did so in order to observe marine creatures more closely.

1. A rocket fuel called Hydyne
   The Sputnik satellite
2. The lunar rover
   An on-board computer

Mary Sherman Morgan invented the rocket fuel that launched the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, into space in 1958. Her work only came to light in her later life when her son found out more about what his mother had achieved.

1. Revolver
   Bulletproof vest
2. Home security system
   Deadbolt lock

Because she worked as a nurse and returned home at different times, Marie Van Brittan Brown often didn't feel safe home alone. Together with her husband, she developed an early home security system with a camera, a two-way communication device and a simple door opening procedure.

1. Shotgun
   Kevlar
2. Helmet
   Siren

A chemist by trade, Stephanie Kwolek was trying to find a replacement for the steel in a radial tire when she instead invented Kevlar in 1965. Five times stronger than steel, Kevlar in bulletproof vests has helped save many lives.

1. Space "bumper" to absorb impacts from debris
   Space shuttle
2. Astronaut boots
   Alarm system

Objects in space can travel at high speeds; if debris connects with a satellite, it can destroy it. Jeanne L. Crews created a "bumper" from Nextel, a ceramic fabric. Lighter than aluminum, the fabric absorbs energy from a piece of space debris when hit.

1. Reading glasses
   A laser to remove cataracts on the eyes
2. Contact lenses
   Blu-ray

In 1986, Patricia Bath applied for and received a patent for a laser called the Laserphaco Probe. It helped to remove cataracts and cleaned the eye, making the insertion of a replacement lens easier.

1. Thermal underwear
   Life raft
2. A solar light source which is inflatable and waterproof
   Instant water purification

Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta knew that a light source that could be folded and kept until needed would be a great help to rescue workers and relief teams. They invented the LuminAID Solar Light. It takes up very little space in relief kits, needs just three hours of sunlight for up to six hours of light, and is waterproof.

1. A cast iron wood splitter
   A scissor sheath
2. Climbing ropes
   A waterproof flare

Ayla Hutchinson, a teenager from New Zealand, decided to create a safety device after she saw her mother injure her finger while chopping wood for kindling. Her invention is called the Kindling Cracker. Wood is inserted into the cast iron device, then it is hit with a rubber mallet or another piece of wood, and this causes the wood to split. Much safer, indeed.

1. Fire truck
   Fire escape
2. Elevator
   Fire extinguisher

Anna Connelly patented an early fire escape in 1887 – essentially a bridge that would connect two buildings at the roof line. Since then, fire escapes have become a mandatory part of building safety codes throughout the United States.

1. Monopoly
   Trivial Pursuit
2. Pictionary
   Scrabble

Although it wasn't called Monopoly at the time, Elizabeth Magie put together the principles for the board game in 1903 in something called The Landlord's Game. She hoped that her game would teach people about the evils of capitalism.

1. Preventing hair loss from cancer treatment
   Isolating human stem cells
2. Blood transfusions
   Anti-nausea medication

Ann Tsukamoto was awarded a patent in 1991 for work in the field of human stem cell research. Her work means that we have a better understanding of how blood systems in cancer patients work and one day could lead to a cure.

1. A cement mixer
   Plastic bricks
2. An indestructible plaster
   Kevlar

Artist Patricia Billings wanted a way to strengthen her sculptures. In coming up with Geobond®, she developed a plaster that was not only indestructible, but fire resistant as well.

1. Scissors
   Liquid Paper
2. Pencil sharpener
   Photocopier

Although electronic typewriters were faster than their manual counterparts, one mistake and everything had to be retyped. Bette Nesmith Graham overcame this problem by using white water-based tempera paint. She originally called it Mistake Out and soon began to market it to other secretaries. The rest, as they say, is history! By the way, she is also the mother of musician and Monkee Michael Nesmith.

1. Branding iron
   Feed trough
2. Center-track cattle restraint
   Electric fence

Despite her autism, Dr. Temple Grandin is a prolific inventor. Not only did she devise the center-track cattle restraint system but she also invented livestock handling pens that prevent cattle from getting hurt.

1. Barbie
   Cabbage Patch Kids
2. Furby
   Raggedy Ann

Not only did Ruth Handler come up with the most loved doll in the world, Barbie, but she also co-founded the famous toy company, Mattel. Barbie and Ken were named after Handler's daughter and son.

1. The modern bra
   A walking stick
2. Crutches
   A feminine-looking wallet

Before Mary Phelps Jacob came along, bras were cumbersome, heavy and made with whalebone, which had a tendency to stick into the skin. By combining two silk handkerchiefs and connecting them with pink ribbon, she invented the modern bra, which she called the "Backless Brassiere."

1. Disposable diapers
   The Snugli Baby Carrier
2. Baby pacifier
   A nursing bra

While working as a Peace Corps relief worker in Africa, Ann Moore noticed how mothers tied their babies to their backs in fabric slings. Upon her return to the United States, she devised her own carrier, which eventually morphed into the Snugli.

1. Hair brush
   Loofah
2. Hot curling iron
   Toothbrush

In the late 1890s, Lyda Newman improved the hairbrush by doing away with animal hair bristles and using synthetic bristles. Her new brush was also much easier to clean and far more hygienic.

1. Vulcanized rubber
   Latex
2. Scotchgard
   Clear nail polish

It was while working for 3M, trying to devise a new form of rubber for jet fuel lines, that Patsy Sherman invented Scotchgard. A colleague knocked over a beaker of synthetic latex she had made, splashing it onto her white canvas shoes. She couldn't remove the latex from her shoes, but soon she noticed that they repelled water, oil and practically anything else. And so Scotchgard was born!

1. Circular saw
   Scissors
2. Laser cutter
   Hedge trimmer

Realizing that a spinning round blade would cut through logs effectively, Tabitha Babbitt invented the circular saw in the early 1810s. She is also said to have invented improvements for false teeth but, due to her Shaker beliefs, she never patented any of her inventions.

1. In-flight earphones
   An engine muffler
2. Padded cabins
   A quieter engine

Aircraft were pretty noisy in the early days of aviation. Eldorado Jones helped solve the problem by creating a muffler for engines that reduced sound but not power. She was also an early feminist, employing only women over 40 at her company, Eldorado Inventions.

1. Washing machine
   Ironing board
2. Fabric softener
   Coat hanger

Sarah Boone was given a patent for the ironing board back in 1892. Before its invention, people used to iron on a piece of wood, usually secured between two chairs.

1. Syringe
   Defibrillator
2. Oxygen cylinder
   Thermometer

Letitia Mumford Geer, a nurse, was granted a patent for the one-hand syringe in 1899. It is the forerunner of the modern syringes we use today.