Mothers of Invention: From the Bra to the Bomb: Forgotten Women and Their Unforgettable Ideas

After centuries of oversight, several unheralded female inventors are here chronicled by Vare (freelance journalist/biographer) and Ptacek (former editor of Rock magazine). Over 100 brief biographies sketch the conditions prompting certain discoveries: for example, serendipity factored in the creation of toll-house cookies. The specter of scandal pervades this collection as, for one, Eli Whitney is exposed for defrauding Catherine Littlefield Greene of fame and fortune as designer of the cotton gin. Other inspirational accounts range from the development of household gadgets (Margaret Knight's brown paper bags), to industrial and scientific discoveries (Lise Meitner's theory of nuclear fission). This ""herstory'' refutes the historical contention that the abstract ``. . . is not the province of women.'' Three appendixes provide additional information about patents. Photos not seen by PW. (January 20)