Inventions and Discoveries by Women That Were Credited to Men

Throughout history, many women have made breakthroughs in science and technology, only to remain uncredited or overshadowed by their male counterparts due to prevailing sexist attitudes. 

This article shines a light on several remarkable women whose inventions and discoveries have had a lasting impact, yet were attributed to men.

Ada Lovelace 

In the mid-1800s, Ada wrote what is considered the first computer program, an astounding feat of intellectual prowess. However, the credit often went to Charles Babbage, the inventor of the machine for which her program was designed.

Katherine Johnson’s

 Katherine’s invention story gained some recognition thanks to the 2017 film “Hidden Figures.” Known as “Computer” for her formidable calculating skills, Johnson played a role in plotting the trajectory for the Freedom 7 mission in 1961 and Apollo 11’s moon landing in 1969. Despite her contributions, she faced both racial and gender discrimination.

Elizabeth Magie Phillips,

In 1903 Elizabeth created a board game called The Landlord’s Game to illustrate the downsides of monopolism, targeting figures like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.

Charles Darrow later rebranded her invention as Monopoly and sold it to Parker Brothers, who recognized him instead of Phillips as the game’s originator.

Nettie Stevens

Nettie made groundbreaking discoveries regarding the correlation between chromosomes and sex determination. Regrettably, her mentor E.B. Wilson, who published papers on the topic before her, received the credit.

 Hedy Lamarr 

Hedy was a hollywood star who co-invented “frequency hopping” during World War II, a technology crucial to modern wireless communication. Unfortunately, her contribution was overlooked by the U.S. Navy at the time, only gaining recognition decades later.

Marion Donovan

She was the inventor of the disposable diaper, innovated out of necessity, using shower curtains and later parachute cloth to create a more hygienic diaper. Despite her patent, her invention was initially ignored by diaper companies.

Alice Ball 

a talented chemist developed a revolutionary treatment for leprosy by making chaulmoogra oil injectable. Her untimely death in 1916 left her work to be credited posthumously, overshadowed by others like Arthur Dean who continued her research.

Esther Lederberg

Her work in microbial genetics was essential in understanding genetic regulation and RNA synthesis. Despite discovering the lambda phage, her husband, Joshua Lederberg, received the Nobel Prize in 1958 for this and related discoveries, overshadowing her critical role.