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The bottom of a skateboard bearing the words, “girl is not a 4 letter word.” The word “girl” is gold in a pink heart and the “o” in “word” is a drawing of a skull. The other words are black with a strikethrough the word “not.” Cindy Whitehead’s signature is on the tail of the board.

Prototype “Girl is Not a 4 Letter Word” skateboard, created by Cindy Whitehead, 2013. © Smithsonian Institution; photo JN2014-5042 by Jaclyn Nash

Masthead illustration for The Woman Inventor, 1890, depicting women at work in drafting, agriculture, and industry

Inventive Minds: Women Inventors

April 18, 2019 by Joyce Bedi

The word “inventor” may conjure images of men like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, but the history of women inventors is as long as that of their male counterparts.

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Inventive Minds is a changing exhibition gallery that introduces museum visitors to the Lemelson Center’s mission to foster an appreciation for the central role of invention and innovation in the history of the United States. In our ongoing work to document American inventors and increase our understanding of the inventive process, the Lemelson Center works with the museum's archivists and curators to collect, preserve, and share the historical records of inventors and innovators from all segments of American society. 

Through first-person videos, artifacts, and archival materials, visitors to Inventive Minds learn about the traits that successful inventors share—insatiable curiosity, keen problem-solving skills, tenacity, and flexibility in the face of failure—and explore the creative spirit of American invention.

From September 2018 through December 2019, the Inventive Minds gallery features a selection of stories illustrating the creativity of women inventors over more than a century. The exhibition will be updated with new inventors' stories in April and August 2019, so we invite you to check back often.

Click on the links to the right to learn more about Inventive Minds: Women Inventors.

  • Continue To Patricia Bath
  • About the Inventive Minds Gallery
  • Patricia Bath
  • Theresa Dankovich
  • Marion O’Brien Donovan
  • Marilyn Hamilton
  • Grace Hopper
  • Marjorie Stewart Joyner
  • Margaret Knight
  • Stephanie Kwolek
  • Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, & Polly Palmer Smith
  • Amy Prieto
  • Sharon Rogone
  • Charlotte Cramer Sachs
  • Laura Shepherd
  • Madam C. J. Walker
  • Cindy Whitehead
  • Woman’s Building, 1893 World’s Fair

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  • Women inventors (Relevance: 36%)

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What do you think about the story ?

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Found 2681 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.1100335695636%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.6020141738157%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.9839612085043%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.0585602387169%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2734054457292%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.5878403580753%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.2450578142484%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4688549048862%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.413651622529%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.5807534502051%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4688549048862%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.3569563595673%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.0585602387169%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.2823573293547%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.8560238716897%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.0212607236106%)
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