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Montage of photos of 8 women inventors

Top row: Marion O'Brien Donovan, Tara Astigarraga, Madison Maxey, Marilyn Hamilton. Bottom row: Michelle Khine, Marjorie Stewart Joyner, Alexis Lewis, Ellen Ochoa

Bdeir standing behind table with littleBits components displayed

Ayah Bdeir

March 22, 2021 by Joyce Bedi

Throughout American history, women with diverse backgrounds and interests created inventions that change our lives every day.

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“I am inspired by empowering people to invent.”

Ayah Bdeir

inventors-bdeir-ayah-ayah-bdeir-8456b-c-ayah-bdeir-750-inline-edit.jpg

Ayah Bdeir sitting on floor, surrounded by littleBits

Ayah Bdeir with littleBits. Photo by Mike Senese for Make Magazine. Courtesy of Ayah Bdeir

Ayah Bdeir grew up in Lebanon. As a child, she often took apart (and reassembled) her family’s electronic equipment so she could understand how it worked. After earning an engineering degree in Beirut, Bdeir moved to the United States for graduate study at the MIT Media Lab. She began an “experiment to make engineering and inventing more fun.” Her prototypes became littleBits, a system of color-coded, magnetic, electronic building blocks. Bdeir says her littleBits blur the boundary between a toy and a tool kit, so makers of all ages can explore the connections between art and engineering through invention.

inventors-bdeir-ayah-prototype-composite-750-inline-edit.jpg

Composite image showing 2 views of small piece of cardboard with battery and wiring

Prototype of littleBits module. Courtesy of Ayah Bdeir

inventors-bdeir-ayah-led-matrix-littlebits-code-kit-c-ayah-bdeir-750-inline-edit.jpg

Three hands holding up connected littleBits

littleBits LED Matrix Code Kit. Courtesy of Ayah Bdeir


Source for quote above: “Ayah Bdeir: Innovation, Invention from Mouths and Hands of Babes | CFI.Co,” accessed August 17, 2020, https://cfi.co/editors-picks/2020/05/ayah-bdeir-innovation-invention-from-mouths-and-hands-of-babes/.

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  • Introduction
  • Exhibitions
  • Tara Astigarraga
  • Patricia Bath
  • Ayah Bdeir
  • Cynthia Breazeal
  • Theresa Dankovich
  • Marion O’Brien Donovan
  • Marilyn Hamilton
  • Grace Hopper
  • Marjorie Stewart Joyner
  • Michelle Khine
  • Margaret Knight
  • Stephanie Kwolek
  • Alexis Lewis
  • Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, & Polly Palmer Smith
  • Madison Maxey
  • Ellen Ochoa
  • Amy Prieto
  • Sharon Rogone
  • Charlotte Cramer Sachs
  • Laura Shepherd
  • Kavita Shukla
  • Mária Telkes
  • Madam C. J. Walker
  • Cindy Whitehead
  • Woman’s Building, 1893 World’s Fair

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  • Women inventors (Relevance: 38%)
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