Women, huh? Who knew?

[Scuba]

Just got off the phone with my very wise and very liberal sister, who made me aware of the accomplishments of two women. I was not surprised that women were responsible for these achievements, nor was I suprised that the accomplishments of these women were not widely known.

Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr



During her film career, Lamarr co-invented the technology for spread spectrum and frequency hopping communications. This new technology became important to America's military during World War II because it was used in controlling torpedoes. Those inventions have more recently been incorporated into Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology, and led to her being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Perkins

During her term as Secretary of Labor, Perkins championed[vague] many aspects of the New Deal, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration and its successor the Federal Works Agency, and the labor portion of the National Industrial Recovery Act. With the Social Security Act she established unemployment benefits, pensions for the many uncovered elderly Americans, and welfare for the poorest Americans. She pushed to reduce workplace accidents and helped craft laws against child labor. Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, she established the first minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers, and defined the standard forty-hour work week. She formed governmental policy for working with labor unions and helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service, Perkins resisted having American women be drafted to serve the military in World War II so that they could enter the civilian workforce in greatly expanded numbers.

[azmom]

1. Frances Perkins is an alumni of

Mount Holyoke college where my daughter is attending. She was the first woman to hold a cabinet position. Mount Holyoke embodies her spirit to this day. The women there are smart, ambitious, kind and dedicated.

[CTyankee]

2. Hey my daughter is a MHC alum!

Interesting because her name is Hadley. She got some comments about that when she got there...she was a legacy of her aunt and wanted to attend a all woman college. But her daughters have zero interest in a women only school! We've tried to tell them about the 5 college consortium and how that works with co-ed schools but they were skeptical...

[kimmylavin]

10. I went to UMass.

And the five college system was great!

Took classes at other schools, met new people, and the bus between them was free!
Had friends at Mount Holyoke, and in general, they liked the all-female environment.
Plus, western Mass is beautiful in general, but South Hadley was just the most charming place.

[azmom]

14. My daughter loves it. The all female environment

Has really empowered her. I can't wait to see what kind of life she creates for herself.

[azmom]

13. Very cool. Your daughter must

Be awesome then.

It was my idea that my daughter apply to MHC and although she was reluctant at first, once she visited the campus she was sold.

[niyad]

3. frances perkins was an eyewitness to the triangle shirtwaist fire, which was part of

the impetus for her work as sec. of labor.

[The Blue Flower]

4. She also travelled through Appalachia for FDR

She was tasked by FDR with finding out about poverty in the US during the Great Depression, so she got in a car and travelled throughout Appalachia. She bore witness to the most abject poverty, illness, hunger, illiteracy, and deprivation you could ever find anywhere. There's a great section about her and what she accomplished in America Between Two Wars.

[niyad]

6. thank you. adding that to my list.

[mountain grammy]

5. I knew. My mom told me..

thanks, Scuba.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. There Was A History Channel Show About The Lamarr Contribution

It was really interesting. Really inventive mind.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

8. I love the smell of enlightenment in the morning!

[JDPriestly]

9. K&R.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

11. I like reading this, especially after the GOP "slut twitterer".

Thanks I needed this.

[longship]

12. Hedy Lamarr, inventor of spread spectrum technology.

No, for Christ sakes, not Hedley!

It's the actress and brilliant inventor, Hedy Lammar!

Read about spread spectrum

[iandhr]

15. It's not Hedy It's Hedley!

Couldn't resist.


Two amazing women though