Sunday, March 9, 2008

Some Random Information

from The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (see link for books for girls)

* The US Patent Act of 1790 allowed anyone to protect his or her invention with a patent. However, because in many states woman could not legally own property independent of their husbands, many women inventors didn't apply for patents, or only did so under their husbands' names.

* 1999 Eye Surgeon Dr. Patricia Bath becomes the first African American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical invention: a device that removes cataracts with a fiber optic laser.

*In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first woman to earn an international pilot's license, and the first black woman to earn an aviator's license. One of thirteen children, Coleman discovered airplanes after graduating from high school, but she couldn't find an aviation school that would teach a black woman to fly. She went to Paris, where she was able to train and earn her license.

* 2007 Eighteen-year-old Samantha Larson became the youngest American to climb Mt. Everest and also the youngest person to climb the Seven Summits.

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