Penelope’s Loom

 She was, quite simply, glorious. ...and today, she is largely forgotten, by just about everyone.   She was, most prominently, an anti-lynching activist, and an advocate f6or civil rights--not just for African Americans, but for all women in this country. She was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi in July, 18 1862. Unfortunately, her early life was mired in tragedy, as a yellow fever epidemic destroyed both her parents, and one of their six children.  What she did next, is to cement her in my mind as one of the best women I've ever learned about.  She made it a point to keep the whole family together...and mostly succeeded.  She began a fairly brief teaching career, as a way to support her siblings, educating in schools around her home.  At length, Ida moved to Memphis, with two younger siblings (leaving the rest of the children at the home of a grandparent) to stay with an aunt, and went to take a teaching post in a small hamlet, Woodstock.  Ther...

 She was the last queen of Hawaii. Born in the mid nineteenth century, Liliuokalani was the child of the Alii--the large royal family of the islands.  From an early age, she was educated by American protestant missionaries who came to Hawaii in order to 'civilize' the natives.  Imagine the arrogance.  Unfortunately, this was a common practice--to spread the word of a white Christian god, and then proceed in the assimilation of the natives to white culture (which of course white Americans viewed as superior. Gag.).  This is the process of "re-socialization" of the Alii children--teaching the women, in particular, to adopt the demeanor of ideal American womanhood--the so-called Angel of the House.  Look at Liliuo in fairly native dress:  and, then, the after... Oh dear. This was not an isolated practice--it was common for people who called themselves both christians and reformers, to "remake" the person or persons of color in the image of the white man, ...

 She was one of the earliest 'glitterati' of Calculus, right up there with Sir Isaac Newton.  She was one of the first to write an important text in the subject, and was even more notable, in my humble opinion, because she was a woman of the eighteenth century. ok, so she is not exactly Hedy Lamarr, but who cares? "Her innovation was an equation known as "the witch of Agnesi."  Now, I cannot add two and two (which clearly equals 2,234), so I am going to quote from a better source than my mathematically challenged brain: The "witch of Agnesi" is a curve studied by Maria Agnesi in 1748 in her book  Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana  (the first surviving mathematical work written by a woman). The curve is also known as cubique d'Agnesi or agnésienne, and had been studied earlier by Fermat and Guido Grandi in 1703. The name "witch" derives from a mistranslation of the term  averisera  ("versed sine curve," from t...

 Would you expect Heddy Lamarr? No, seriously! A film star from Hollywood's Golden Age, whose external life defied convention.  Today, she is called the "mother of wi-fi," but for years her accomplishments were largely forgotten. OK.  So what exactly did she do?  It was one of the more important scientific innovations of World War II.  Lamarr, with composer George Antheil, developed something called "frequency hopping spread spectrum technology."   Uh. ????????? It is repeated switching of an object's carrier frequency during any radio transmission, with the purpose of reduced interference, and to avoid detection (and interception). ? Think torpedoes.  This technology made it very difficult for the enemy to detect the trajectory of the weapon.  I'm sure that you can appreciate the value of their invention in a time of war.  But, what were other practical applications? Electronic eavesdropping (not wiretaps, per se).  Jamming multipl...

Well, who was she? Well, for one, she is touted for being one of the first astronomers in the United States.   She was the third of ten children, and belonged to a Quaker family--now, this is important, because this faith had an unusual (for the time) view of women.  For this group, women could actually speak in the church service, and perhaps offer their interpretations of the scripture.  From this background, a daughter could theoretically gain an education far ahead of other women who belonged to more traditional families. Her education veered towards the scientific, because her father was also an astronomer.  She also was more formally educated at a nearby school, where she specialized in both math and science. She was also a distant cousin to Benjamin Franklin! Now, while it was not exactly an honor to be vaguely related to a man who couldn't keep his dick in his pants, it is obvious that scientific curiosity does sometimes run in families.  As early a...

 My first exposure to this extraordinary woman, was a ridiculous/wondrously watchable film, starring Greer Garson as Marie, and Walter Pigeon as Pierre Curie (gag). movie . I loved that bloody movie.  But, as science and historical fact, ummmmmmm, no. It strikes me as completely disturbing, that this woman is largely forgotten today. Her work in the field of chemistry, in particular, was beyond brilliant, in my humble opinion.  In the late nineteenth century, in the male wonderland of the Sorbonne, she entered that cloistered world with the energy of a supernova. So, who was she? Well, here she is: OK.  So, she isn't Marilyn Monroe. So what.  Just look at this fascinating face! So...who was this woman? Well, Dear Reader, I am going to tell you about her now. Marie Sklodowska was born on November 7, 1867.  She was the daughter of teacher in the local equivalent of high school. Oddly enough, given the constricted time in which she lived, she was given a liber...