---
title: "List of inventions and discoveries by women"
chunk: 8/8
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventions_and_discoveries_by_women"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:51:34.164784+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

== Wireless transmission ==
Torpedoes Radio guidance device
Austrian-American Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr, together with musician and author George Antheil, developed a mechanism for radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Though the US Navy did not adopt frequency-hopping until the 1960s, the principles of it are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology.

== Food and food appliances ==
Chocolate-chip cookies
Invented by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938.
Pizza saver
Patented in 1985 by Carmela Vitale of Dix Hills, New York.
Mint chocolate chip
Invented by Marilyn Ricketts in 1973.
Ice cream maker
Invented by Nancy M. Johnson in 1843.
Coffee filter
Invented by Melitta Bentz, 1908.

== Biology ==
DNA structure
Rosalind Franklin was a British molecular biologist who was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1951. At King's College London where she applied X-ray diffraction to the study of biological materials, she performed several X-ray radiographs of the DNA.
Sex chromosomes
Nettie Maria Stevens is credited with the discovery of sex chromosomes.
The Cori cycle (lactic acid cycle)
Gerty Cori, together with Carl Ferdinand Cori, discovered the Cori cycle, the metabolic pathway in which lactate produced by anaerobic glycolysis in the muscles moves to the liver and is converted to glucose, which then returns to the muscles and is metabolized back to lactate.
Radioimmunoassay
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow developed the radioimmunoassay, an immunoassay that uses radiolabeled molecules in a stepwise formation of immune complexes at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, New York. This technique is used to accurately measure levels of substances such as hormones which are found in small concentrations in the body.
Transposable elements
Barbara McClintock discovered transposable elements (also known as transposons and jumping genes), DNA sequences which change their position within the genome. Transposons make up a large fraction of the DNA in eukaryotic cells (44% of the human genome and 90% of the maize genome) and play an important role in genome function and evolution. In Oxytricha, which has a unique genetic system, these elements play a critical role in development.
Nerve growth factor
Rita Levi-Montalcini and colleague Stanley Cohen discovered nerve growth factor, a neurotrophic factor and neuropeptide primarily involved in the regulation of growth, maintenance, proliferation, and survival of certain target neurons. This discovery was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986.
Gap genes
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and colleague Eric Wieschaus were the first to describe gap genes, genes involved in the development of segmentation in Drosophila embryogenesis. This work was foundational to our understanding of the genetic control of embryonic development.
Telomerase
Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak co-discovered the enzyme telomerase, which replenishes the telomere, a structure found at the ends of chromosomes which protects the DNA in the rest of the chromosome from damage.

Grid cells
May-Britt Moser, together with Edvard Moser and their students Torkel Hafting, Marianne Fyhn and Sturla Molden, discovered grid cells, cells which contribute to the brain's positioning and navigation system. The grid cells of a freely moving animal fire when the animal is near the vertices of a hexagonal grid in the environment.
CRISPR gene editing
CRISPR/cas9 invented by Jennifer Anne Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier

== Psychology ==
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Psychologist Marsha Linehan developed DBT in the 1980s in order to treat patients with personality disorders and suicidality. In the modern day, it has been shown to be effective against a variety of mental illnesses. A skills-based therapy drawing from Buddhism, DBT teaches the four key components of distress tolerance, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation.
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers invented this psychological test, where participants answer an introspective self-report questionnaire. The result takes the form of 16 types, indicating the psychological preferences of the participant.
Strange Situation Procedure
The strange situation is a procedure devised by Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s to observe attachment in children, that is relationships between a caregiver and child. The procedure played an important role in the development of attachment theory.

== See also ==
Women in science
Women's history
List of women's firsts
History of women in engineering

== References ==