Random women who deserve to be noticed

[Rolodex]

19 years old!!!

Oregon teen rushed to save baby when she saw 3 people die after sliding into downed power line

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/weather/or ... rcna134655

[RTH10260]

‘Showing the world what’s possible’: St Paul makes history with first all-woman city council
Last fall, all seven city council seats were up for grabs and all were won by female candidates below the age of 40

Erum Salam
Sat 20 Jan 2024 13.00 CET

When Rebecca Noecker first decided to enter politics in 2016, she was a young mom with two kids and many questions. She had a background in education but no knowledge of how to run for office.

“There were so many systems that I saw around me that just felt broken and people were in pain and I wanted to do something about that,” Noecker, 39, said. “And it felt like politics was a way to do it.”

She found a teacher in the only woman on her city council in St Paul, Minnesota.

“She would walk around the lake with her constituents and called them ‘lake laps.’ I went on a lake lap with her, and I was just so struck by how authentic and genuine she was,” Noecker said of her mentor, former council member Amy Brendmoen.

“She had three children and talked a lot about how despite the fact that you make sacrifices and you’re not necessarily home every night, your kids have this remarkable opportunity to see you in leadership and see what a difference you can make.”

Today, Noecker, who represents the second ward, is St Paul’s longest serving member on the council. But she is far from the only woman.

Last fall, all seven city council seats were up for grabs. On 7 November, after a campaign season packed with candidates, Minnesota’s capital city elected its new city council – comprised entirely of women. Last week marked the group’s inauguration.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ty-council

[Mrich]

Girls, ages 13 and 14, save tourists from riptide in Barbados
(gift link)

https://wapo.st/3u2SZ9M

[Suranis]

Saw this today. I make no claims to it's historical accuracy or whatever. I imagine there is at least a bit of historical exaggeration and storytelling in there but still its interesting, and there is probably more than a few rocks of Truth in there.

https://www.ranker.com/list/life-of-khu ... aura-allan

Genghis Khan's Great-Great-Granddaughter Was Just As Fascinating As He Was
Updated September 24, 2021

Most people have heard of Genghis Khan and his destructive, bloodthirsty ways. But few people know Genghis Khan's great-great-granddaughter was just as hardcore as he was, maybe even more so. Khutulun proved, throughout her life, she had been born with her ancestor's fighting spirit. She may have had many brothers, and may have been the youngest, but she was known as a fierce and formidable warrior. At one point, she was even poised to take over as chief. Historians still debate as to why she was never placed in charge, and a working theory states murder may have been involved.

When it comes to Khutulun facts, it's hard to tell what's real and what's legend, similar to the various stories surrounding Genghis Khan. For one thing, many facts have just been lost or covered up over time, such as whether or not she was married. This warrior princess may not get her own Netflix special, but she was noteworthy enough to be included in the Marco Polo series.

Khutulun's clan held a fighting spirit and physical prowess in high regard. If you could hold your own in a hand-to-hand battle, you gained the respect of everyone around you. Her clan would continuously bet on these battles, and if you were able to come out on top, (and win some money for your backers) you were considered to be gifted by the gods. In a story collected by Marco Polo, and corroborated by historians, Khutulun was apparently undefeated when it came to wrestling men of all ages and sizes.

Her father had been attempting to find her a suitor for a long time, but Khutulun wasn't enthralled by the idea of marriage. She made a deal with her father, however, that if a man were able to best her in combat, she would marry him. However, if they lost, they would have to surrender 100 horses over to her. At the end of this combat period, "She ended up with 10,000 horses and no husband." Some suitors even showed up with 1,000 horses, because they were so confident they could beat her.

One of the reasons we know as much as we do about Khutulun is she absolutely captivated famed explorer, Marco Polo. He wrote at length about her, from the way she appeared in combat, to her physical features. He was traveling across Central Asia and documenting his exploration, when he crossed paths with Kaidu, and his daughter. Upon meeting her, Marco Polo called her "Aiyurg," a term that meant "Moon Light" in Turkish, rather than her Mongolian Hotol Tsagaan name, which meant "All White."

He then cataloged her fighting ability, her wrestling, her relationship with her father, and all her accolades in battle. His account of her history - written from personal experience - contains most of the (albeit little) historical evidence we have left of her.

When her father grew ill from dysentery, (due to some bad medication he'd been given) he called his children to his bedside, including his beloved daughter. When they gathered around, some accounts say he informed them he'd chosen a successor to be the next Great Khan. He'd decided Khutulun would become their new leader, even if she was a woman.

Unfortunately, this decision wasn't exactly a popular one. Her many brothers all voiced their frustration and concerns with their father's choice. Other dissenters were vocal about it, stating she had no place in politics. Her brothers did get a say in the decision, and they firmly decided they did not want her to be leader. Luckily, some sources say she didn't really want to be leader anyway. She said she would instead back one of her brothers, as long as she was allowed to continue on as a military leader. Her brother, Orus, ended up taking over, while she continued to be leader of the military, where she was more comfortable.

If you think the story of Khutulun sounds unusual, you're not alone, the Mongolian people shared this sentiment as well. Many people were not fond of the warrior princess, nor the fact she seemed to act so boyishly. Some writings of her speak about her actions as if they are wrong, and that her father doting on her was a sign of his weakness, especially when he had so many other sons to choose from. Some said she was becoming romantically involved with her cousin, and would someday go live like a proper Muslim woman in Persia, but that never happened. Some even went further with their rumors.

For a time, her critics began to say she was having an incestuous relationship with her father. They said this was why she refused to marry, and was why her father seemed to shower her with more attention than his sons. Khutulin didn't seem bothered by most rumors, but in this case, she allegedly went out and got married shortly afterwards, perhaps hoping to shut up her detractors once and for all. There's no way of knowing whether or not this story holds any water, the details on her marital status have been lost in time.

When Khutulun was born in 1260 (or so), she was born into a pretty large family. At the time of her birth, her father Kaidu already had 14 sons, many of whom were skilled fighters and horsemen. But shockingly, Kaidu paid most of his attention to his youngest child, and only daughter. This wasn't just a case of a doting father spoiling his child. Instead, he made sure she was well trained, and knowledgeable in the ways of animals, politics, and battle.

She received stricter training than the boys in the family. When she grew up, if Kaidu had a question, he would turn to her as advisor every time, rather than to one of his sons. It became obvious she was the favorite, and most trusted child of Kaidu, a fact that made many people angry, especially her brothers.

Khutulun was not the only warrior woman of the Mongol people, but she was one of the only ones known for her military mind, in addition to her fighting ability. Her father would frequently ask her to help plan attacks, in hopes she could make their often diminutive army seem more powerful.

On one particular campaign, Kaidu actually used deception in order to achieve victory. The father-daughter pair lit fires in the night in several locations, trying to make it seem like their army was bigger than it had been, and that the Kaidu army had gained reinforcements. Then, they took Kaidu's troops and withdrew, and waited to see if the opposing army of Kublai Khan would take the bait. The opposing forces were suspicious, but felt they may be outnumbered, so they fled, basically handing Kaidu a victory.

Khutulun didn't have a long and illustrious life like her ancestors. Instead, she passed away at the young age of 45 in 1306. The circumstances of her death are still quite hazy, seeing as many stories contain conflicting details.

In one version, she was killed during battle, having never suffered a defeat before then. While this does seem reasonable, considering how often she went out to fight, there is another more sinister theory. Rumors were still swirling about Khutulun and her father, and it didn't help that she guarded his tomb for years following his death. Overall, It didn't look very good for Kaidu's family, and many people scorned her for her boyish behavior and involvement in politics, including her brothers. In some stories, she was assassinated, and it has been suggested one of her brothers may have been behind the murder. We may never know what really happened.

The Mongolian people were quite dependent on horses for their way of life, and because of that, they were brought up learning to ride from a very young age. And girls were taught how to use weapons, as they would be expected to defend children and their animals once they got older. They would be taught to shoot arrows from horseback, and fight, no matter their gender, and Khutulun was no exception.

However, Marco Polo made it a point to dictate throughout his accounts that she was a cut above the rest. During battle, she would take her horse and charge the opposing line. Then, she'd grab another soldier from horseback, ripping him away and dragging him back to her father as a trophy. This was hugely demoralizing for opposing forces, and it also showed the level of ease she had when it came to horsemanship. Marco Polo wrote:

Sometimes she would quit her father’s side, and make a dash at the host of the enemy, and seize some man thereout, as deftly as a hawk pounces on a bird, and carry him to her father; and this she did many a time.

It was not common for women to hold positions of power in politics or the military, but Khutulun was a rare exception. She traveled with her father into battle, no matter where he went, and was always seen at his side when the fighting began. In this way, she acted as his general, and she had the war badge to prove it. In Mongolian culture, there was a large medallion called a "Gergee" that was given as a sign of holding office and authority.

Kaidu gave his warrior daughter one of these, which she wore around her neck on a chain, and it indicated to all that the wearer had the power of the Khans under the will of the Eternal Blue Sky. Even Mongolian queens did not carry these medallions, and it's mentioned that Khutulun was the only woman to hold one in ancient Mongolian history.

While Khutulun's legacy lives on through oral tradition and the writings of Marco Polo, it may also live on through a fairly well known opera titled Turandot.

The original story of Turandot came out in 1710, written by Francuis Petis de La Croix, and was included in a biography of Genghis Khan. The story was likely based on Khutulun, as the name Turandot translates to "Turkish Daughter." However, the story was cleaned up a lot in this version from the messy wrestling it originally featured. Instead, Turandot would challenge her suitors with riddles, and if they failed, they were killed.

After it was made into an Italian opera by Giacomo Puccin, the end of the story showed Turandot eventually falling in love, relaxing her rules and choosing a suitor she truly cares about. It's not exactly what happened with Khutulun, but her legend will continue, both in this version, and in the tales told by the Mongolian people.

[Suranis]

So, I was reading this blog on the views of Robert E Howard on Women. Howard was a writer in the 1920s and 1930s who is most famous for bringing us the character of Conan the Barbarian. He was asked to respond to a letter by another writer who seems to have been deliberately provocative (that is, he was deliberately trolling Howard by talking about how awful Women are) Howard's response shows feelings which were far more complicated than you might think for a guy who is popularly seen as a Swords and Bikinis pulp writer. But it's interesting here as he lists a load of great women whom most people would probably have ever heard of.

And bear in mind that this was written in 1928, for good, and for ill.

https://skullsinthestars.com/2011/03/28 ... -of-women/

Salaam:

You’re right; women are great actors. But I can’t agree with you in your statement that the great women can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Men have sat at the feet of women down the ages and our civilization, bad or good, we owe to the influence of women.

Let us look at the records of the great women.

Sappho: doubtless the greatest woman poet who ever lived; certainly one of the greatest of all time. The direct incentive of the lyric age of Greece, the age that for pure beauty, surpasses all others. How shall a pen like mine sing of the beauties of Sappho, of the golden streams which flowed from her pen, of her voice which was fairer than the song of a dark star, of the fragrance of her hair and shimmering loveliness of her body? Has it been proved that she was a Lesbian in the generally accepted sense of the word? Who ever accused her but the early Christians– ignorant monks and monastery swine who were set on breaking all the old golden idols; and Daudet, a libertine, a grovelling ape who could see no good in anything; Mure, a drunkard and a blatant braggart, whose word I hold of less weight than a feather drifting before a south wind. May the saints preserve Comparetti, who was man enough to uphold pure womanhood, and scholar enough to prove what he said. No prude was Sappho, but a full-blooded woman, passionate and open-hearted, with a golden song and a soul large enough to enfold the whole world. Listen:

Lo, Love once more my soul within me rends
Like wind that on the mountain oak descends.

And again she sings:

Lo, Love once more, the limb-dissolving king,
Wild-beast-like rends me with fierce quivering.

Again:

Earl uprose the golden-sandalled-Dawn.

What male poet has achieved a finer imagery?

Again:

The moon has left the sky:
Lost is the Pleiad’s light;
It is midnight
And time slips by;
But on my couch along I lie.

And again:

From the sound of cool waters heard through the green boughs
Of the fruit-bearing trees,
And the rustling breeze,
Deep sleep, as a trance, down over me flows.

Of the rainbow she speaks:

Rainbow shot with a thousand hues.

Of the night she speaks:

And dark-eyed Sleep, child of Night.

The translation is weak and pallid in comparison with the “winged words” of the original Greek. But even so, we catch the haunting melody, the wistful yet powerful, almost overcoming, beauty of the songs of Sappho. God be with her– gone to the dust twenty-five hundred years ago– more than two thousand years ago. Let us sigh with Swinburne:

I, Sappho, shall be one with all these things,
With all things high forever; and my face
Seen once, my songs once heard in a strange place
Cleave to men’s lives, and waste the days thereof,
In gladness and much sadness and long love.

And what of Elpinice, who antedated woman suffrage by two thousand years and who plead so strongly for her brother Cimon that Pericles spared his life and later recalled him from exile? Polynnotus immortalized her for the ages in the fresco of the Stoa Poikile.

No philosopher among women? You forget the greatest philosopher of all times: Aspasia of Athens, a pupil of Thargelia of Miletus, who was the mainstay of the Great King of Persia, and who married a king of Thessaly, Aspasia came to Athens in her early girlhood, and being debarred from Athenian citizenship because of the abominable custom which relegated wives to the position of slaves, and cultured women to the status of harlots, Aspasia gathered about herself a group which for pure culture and artistic ability, has never been equalled in the history of the world. She was the true inspiration from the famed Golden Age. Pericles left his wife and took Aspasia into his home. As she was not an Athenian he was unable to legally marry her, but she was his wife in all but the name and they were true to each other. She was the torch that lit the Periclean fire which flings its pure and vibrant shadow down to the ages to light the drabness of the present day. She was Pericles’ teacher in rhetoric, it is said, and even wrote many of the speeches for which he is famed. Plato was proud to sit at her feet. To her for advice and counsel came Xenophon, Phidias, Herodotus, Anaxagoras, Sophocles, Euripides, Thucydides, Alcibiades, Aristophanes, and all the other geniuses who made up Athens’ gold galaxy. A hetaera– aye, but only because of the man-made customs of the day. And men forget– when the leaders of freedom are mentioned, who speaks Aspasia’s name? Yet more than all the radicals of her day, she stood for freedom of action and thought.

And returning to poets among women: Sappho, first of the Terrestial Nine muses, as they were called: Erinna of Telos, Myrtis of Thebes, instructor of Pindar of Thebes, and Corinna, who defeated Pindar five times in contests, and who instructed him in regard to the soul of his work which he was prone to neglect in favor of the the style; Telesilla of Argos who was a poet like the rest and also led her tribeswomen to victory over the whole Spartan army; Praxilla of Sicyon who is given a place beside Anacreon; Nocsis of Locris, Italy; Anyte of Tegea and Moero of Byzantium.

And there were the Pythagorean Women, philosophers and poets, fifteen in number all of whom equalled any male philosopher of the time. And those of the Grecian Academy– some hundreds. And the Cynics and Epicureans– but the list is endless. I could name all day, those women I deem great in Greece alone and the records would scarcely be complete.

And what of Joan of Arc and Emma Goldman? Kate Richards O’Hare and Sarah Bernhardt? Katherine the Great and Elizabeth Barrett Browning? H.D. and Sara Teasdale? Isabella of Spain who paned her gems that Columbus might sail, and Edna St. Vincent Millay? And that queen, Marie, I think her name was, of some small province– Hungary I believe– who fought Prussia and Russia so long and bitterly. And Rome– oh, the list is endless there, also– most of them were glorified harlots, but better be a glorified harlot than a drab and moral drone, such as the textbooks teach us women should be.

Women have always been the inspiration for men, and just as there are thousands of unknown great ones among men, there have been countless women whose names have never been blazoned across the stars, but who have inspired men on to glory. And as for their fickleness– as long as men write the literature of the world, they will rant about the unfaithfulness of the fair sex, forgetting their own infidelities. Men are as fickle as women. Women have been kept in servitude so long that if they lack in discernment and intellect it is scarcely their fault.

[AndyinPA]

[Sam the Centipede]

A British sketch show The Fast Show[/i ]played several "invisible woman" sketches in its run, here's one:

[John Thomas8]

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

ASPASIA!!!!!!

[Suranis]

A Daily Dose of History

Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Cochrane was living in Pittsburgh when the local newspaper published an article titled “What Girls are Good For” (having babies and keeping house was the answer, according to the article). The article displeased Elizabeth enough that she wrote an anonymous rebuttal, which in turned so impressed the paper’s editor that he ran an ad, asking the writer to identify herself. When Elizabeth contacted him, he hired her on the spot. It was customary at the time for female reporters to use pen names, so the editor gave her one that he took from a Stephen Foster song. It was the name under which she would become famous—Nellie Bly.

Bly’s passion was investigative reporting, but the paper usually assigned her to more “feminine” subjects—such as theater and fashion. After writing a controversial series of articles exposing the working conditions of female factory workers, and after again being relegated to reporting on society functions and women’s hobbies, at age 21 Bly left for Mexico on a dangerous and unprecedented (for a woman) assignment to report of the conditions of the working-class people there. After her reporting got her in trouble with the local authorities, she fled the country and later published her dispatches into a popular book.

At age 23, having established a reputation as a daring and provocative reporter, Bly was hired by Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and there she began the undercover project that made her famous. In order to investigate the conditions inside New York’s “Women’s Lunatic Asylum,” Bly took on a fake identity, checked into a women’s boarding house, and faked insanity—so convincingly that she soon found herself committed to the asylum. The report she published of her ten days there was a sensation and led to important reforms in the treatment of the mentally ill.

The following year Bly undertook her most sensational assignment yet: a solo trip around the world inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. With only two days’ notice, Bly set out on November 14, 1889, carrying a travel bag with her toiletries and a change of underwear, and her purse tied around her neck. Pulitzer’s competitor, the New York Cosmopolitan, immediately sent out one of its reporters—Elizabeth Bisland—to race Bly, traveling in the opposite direction. As Pulitzer had hoped, the stunt was a publicity bonanza, as readers eagerly followed news on Bly’s journey and the paper sponsoring a contest for readers to guess the exact time of Bly’s return (with the correct guess winning an expense-paid trip to Europe).

Seventy-two days later, Bly made her triumphant return (four and half days ahead of Bisland), having circumnavigated the globe, traveling alone almost the entire time. It was the fastest any human had ever made the journey. Nellie Bly was an international celebrity.

At age 31 Bly married industrialist Robert Seaman, a 73-year-old millionaire, leaving behind her journalism career and her pen name. As Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman she helped run the family business. She patented two inventions during her time as an industrialist, but business was not her really in her skillset and under her leadership the company went bankrupt. When World War I broke out, she returned to journalism, becoming one of the first women reporters to work in an active war zone.

Nellie Bly’s remarkable life ended on January 27, 1922, one hundred two years ago today, when she died of pneumonia in New York at age 57.

The photos below are a publicity shot taken before departing on her round-the-world trip and a photo taken a couple of years later, before her marriage.

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[Suranis]

Ancient Epigraphy Archaeology

The World’s First Known Female Author, Enhedu’anna.⁣
⁣
This ancient clay tablet from Babylonia is inscribed in Sumerian cuneiform and dates to the 20th-17th centuries BC. It mentions King Sargon’s daughter Enhedu'anna as the author of a hymn to the goddess Inanna.⁣
⁣
The tablet has lines written first by the teacher in the first column, with 2 students repeating the hymn in columns 2 and 3. Enhedu’anna was the daughter of King Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BC), founder of the first documented empire in Asia. Enhedu’anna emerges as a genuine creative talent, a poetess as well as a princess, a priestess and a prophetess. She is, in fact, the first named, non-legendary author in history. As such she has found her way into contemporary anthologies, especially of women’s literature.⁣
Credit: @archaeologyart

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Sorry for all these examples of great Women in history that should be know about. I cant help appreciating them because I hate Women so much.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

I love this thread!

[AndyinPA]

[Suranis]

This is a video about the first Female owner of a Sports team to win a professional championship, Marge Schott. Unfortunately, she was pretty much a flaming dumpster toilet of a human being. C'est la vie. Go to 1.01 to skip the sponsor ad.

[AndyinPA]

Unfortunately, I remember her well.

[qbawl]

I had friends that often cut across the lot of one of her dealerships on their way to / from school if she was there she would come out and chase them. Wonder what she would have done if she caught one? Auntie Marge a Cincy institution.

[RVInit]

A different kind of story. Violet Jessop survived the sinking of the Titanic, Britannic, and Olympic, sister ships of the White Line Cruise Line.

[Volkonski]

Er, the Olympic didn't sink. After many years of service it was scrapped.

[Suranis]

Er, the Olympic didn't sink. After many years of service it was scrapped.

Correct. It ran into a Submarine (I think) and was damaged, but went back into service. That's the basis of a conspiracy theory that the Olympic was swapped with Titanic and then deliberately sunk rather than pay the costs for refitting Her.

That Nurse was on Olympic at the time she rammed the Submarine, so it kind of counts as "bad thing happening to sister ship of Titanic while Nurse was on it, and she surviving."

Olympic, by the way, was converted into a Merchant Warship during WW1 and holds the distinction of being the only one to actually sink a true warship. It shot a U boat and sunk it.

[Suranis]

Women In World History · Follow
·
AT AROUND NOON on the 5 September 1936, a pair of fisherman came across a woman floundering her way through a bog in in Cape Breton, on the eastern shores of Nova Scotia. In the background somewhere was her single-engined Percival Vega Gull aircraft, its nose buried deep in the moss and the peat and its tail sticking in the air. Blood streamed down the woman’s face and black peat went up to the waist of her formerly white overalls: ‘I’m Mrs Markham,’ she told them. ‘I’ve just flown from England.’

Taken to a local farmhouse, the aviator asked for a cup of tea and for a phone. She was directed to ‘a little cubicle that housed an ancient telephone’ built on the rocks, ‘put there in case of shipwrecks,’ she recalled. Over the line she told the operator: ‘I would like the airport notified and could you also ask someone to send a taxi for me?’

Beryl Markham, 33, had just succeeded in becoming the first person to fly non-stop, solo, from Europe to North America. She was also the first woman to fly east-west non-stop, solo across the Atlantic. Heading against the wind and into uncertain weather, it was an audacious achievement, but because she had not reached her intended destination – New York City – she initially considered herself a failure.

Within hours, however, she realised that the world saw it differently. The feat placed her alongside the greats of the golden age of aviation, not least Charles Lindbergh – the first person to fly the Atlantic solo – or Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly the Atlantic (she went east-west, like Lindburgh, with the prevailing winds) or indeed Britain’s Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930.

Congratulations flooded in from around the world. Earhart told the New York Times: ‘I’m delighted beyond words that Mrs Markham should have succeeded in her exploit and has conquered the Atlantic. It was a great flight.’ And a day later Markham arrived in New York where she was feted and given a hero’s welcome – including a motorcade through the city and a suite at the Ritz-Carlton. ‘America,’ she pronounced, ‘is jolly grand.’

aviator02.jpg (206.9 KiB) Viewed 281 times

[Suranis]

https://www.ranker.com/list/powerful-re ... homas-west?

We Can’t Believe How Much Power These Renaissance-Era Women Were Able To Wield

Louise Of Savoy Ruled As Regent Of France For Her Son, Francois I

The 15th century was a particularly unsettled time in France, particularly since King Francis I was very often at war with the various other powers of Europe (most notably the Holy Roman Emperor). Fortunately for him, he had been raised by a very powerful and determined woman, Louise of Savoy. Throughout her son’s reign, she proved just as skilled as he was in the treacherous and dangerous world of politics.

During her lifetime, Louise was widely lauded by many for her perspicacity; no less a person than Charles Brandon, best friend of England’s Henry VIII, had many good things to say about her. For his part, Francois repeatedly demonstrated his faith in his mother’s abilities, leaving the realm in her hands on several notable occasions, including when he was captured and held prisoner. While regent, Louise not only managed to negotiate his release but also ably defended the entire realm and her own position, demonstrating his wisdom in leaving the realm in her capable hands.

Margaret Tudor Showed A Rebellious Spirit Against Both Her Brother, Henry VIII, And The Scottish Lords

Like the other members of her family–she was the sister of Henry VIII and the daughter of Henry VII, both of whom led very eventful lives–Margaret Tudor was someone who didn’t want to obey the rules. When her husband, James IV, died, she moved quickly to take up the regency of the Kingdom of Scotland. This came to an end when she married Archibald Douglas, the Earl of Angus, but Margaret wasn't deterred from trying to exercise power in her own right.

For the rest of her life, Margaret was determined to live life on her own terms. She managed to secure a divorce from her second husband and married yet again. Her third husband was Henry Stewart, the 1st Lord of Methven.

Margaret also worked tirelessly to forge stronger bonds between her native England and her adopted Scotland, despite the long-standing animosity between the two nations. These efforts, and her desire to wield power, often put her at odds with both her brother and with the lords of Scotland.

Amina, Queen Of Zazzau Expanded The Borders Of Her Kingdom

Though some historians question her existence, it seems likely Anima, the Queen of the Kingdom of Zazzau (located in modern-day Nigeria) ruled during the 16th century. Like her European counterparts–such as, most notably, Isabella of Castile, Amina was a formidable warrior. In the records which have come down to the present, she is presented as a powerful woman determined to extend the boundaries of her kingdom.

She is particularly noted for her cavalry skills. As a result of her efforts, she not only expanded her domains but also came to dominate several notable trade routes. To this day, she is regarded as a historical hero and several statues of her still exist.

Christina Of Denmark Became A Duchess Twice - And Made A Snarky Remark To Henry VIII

Christina of Denmark was born into a nexus of important family relations, being both the niece of the Holy Roman Emperor and the daughter of the King of Denmark (though the latter was overthrown shortly after her birth, and she would never return to her homeland). Given her exalted status, she played a key role in her marriages. She first became a duchess when she was married to Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan. After his death, and several aborted alliances, she remarried, this time to Francis, Duke of Bar. After the latter’s death, she served for some time as the regent of Lorraine.

Christina would also earn a place in the history books for a remark she made regarding Henry VIII. By the late 1530s, the English king’s marital troubles were the talk of Europe (Anne Boleyn had been executed in 1536). When a marriage between Henry and Catherine was proposed–her portrait was even painted by the noted portraitist Hans Holbein–Christina is supposed to have said: “If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England’s disposal.”

Catherine Of Aragon Led English Forces To Battle Against The Scots - And Won

Raised by the redoubtable Isabella of Castile, Catherine of Aragon was raised with a strong sense of her own importance and royal dignity. She was also primed for an illustrious marriage, which took place when she was wed to Arthur, the heir to Henry VII of England and, after his premature death, to his younger brother, the future Henry VIII. From the beginning, Catherine showed she was her mother’s daughter, with a shrewd political mind and a natural charisma that endeared her to the English people.

Catherine also proved her mettle when it came to defending England from the depredations of the Scots. When Henry departed for war in France, Catherine was left in charge of England as regent. When the Scottish king decided to invade, the queen took matters into her own hands, actively working for the defense of her adopted realm.

Though she probably didn’t lead her troops into battle–despite some popular culture representations–she nevertheless showed how much she was her mother’s daughter. Thanks in part to Catherine’s efforts, the English were overwhelmingly victorious at the Battle of Flodden.

Margaret Of Austria Served As A Capable Regent In The Netherlands And Was A Canny Negotiator

During the 15th century, Margaret of Austria was one of the century’s most eligible and desirable brides. Her regency of the Netherlands, however, would earn her fame among her contemporaries. After spending time in France as a potential bride for the dauphin, Margaret married Juan, Prince of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne. After his death, she married Philibert II, Duke of Savoy.

The death of Philibert II prompted Margaret's father, Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor, to give her control of the Low Countries on behalf of her young nephew. In the position, she not only managed to raise her young nieces and nephews but also skilfully negotiated with other European powers, particularly England. She arguably achieved her greatest fame with the Treaty of Cambrai which, because it was hammered out with Louise of Savoy, became known as the Ladies’ Peace.

Queen Anna Nzinga Became A Noted Diplomat In Her Brother's Court And Later Became Ruler In Her Own Right

The African queen Anna Nzinga was one of the most formidable women of Renaissance Africa. Born in the later 16th century in the Kingdom of Ndongo (in modern-day Angola), she would become a key part of her brother the king’s court. In fact, he appointed her to a mission to the Portuguese, who were making incursions into the kingdom.

After her brother’s death–possibly by suicide, though Anna might have had a role in it–she ascended to the position of queen in her own right. She would continue to fight against European incursions into her territory, with only limited success. After being forced to flee her own kingdom, she would later assume control of the neighboring realm of Mataba. To the end of her life–she would live to be in her 80s–she never stopped fighting against those who would conquer her people.

Nurbana Sultan Hid Her Husband's Body In A Chest Until Her Son Could Return To Take The Throne

Though the women of Renaissance Europe tend to take up much of the space in the history books, there were also a number of other women in other regions who were able to wield significant influence. In the Ottoman Empire, for example, the various wives of the sultan had long managed to exert their power behind the scenes, as they attempted to get their sons ahead in the line of succession. Of particular note in this regard was Nurbana Sultan, a Venetian woman who became the consort of Sultan Selim.

She bore her husband several children, including his heir, Murad. When her husband died, she hid his body in an ice chest, giving her son time to return to the Empire and claim the throne. She would leverage her position in his court, becoming one of his chief counselors. She would even go on to correspond with some of the other formidable women of the age, including Catherine de Medici of France.

Catherine De Medici Probably Approved The Assassination Of One Of Her Most Notable Enemies

When she first came to the French court, few would have suspected Catherine de Medici would become one of the savviest political strategists of her generation. When her husband, King Henry II of France, died she quickly showed her true mettle. She wielded significant influence over her young sons as they each came to the throne.

Most notably, she is widely believed to have been responsible–or at least complicit–in the attempted assassination of Gaspard de Coligny, one of the leading Protestants in France. When this effort failed, Catherine, along with other Catholic nobles, decided the threat from the angered Protestants (known as Huguenots) was too great to ignore and thus ordered the death of Coligny and many of his supporters. This event would thereafter be known as the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.

Isabella d'Este Was A Canny Ruler And Also Established Her Own Art Space

Born into the ducal family of Ferrara, Isabella d’Este was no stranger to wealth and power and privilege. In fact, her home city was renowned for its sophistication, boasting one of the most respected universities in Europe. However, like many women of the age, she was also fated to be a pawn on the marriage market. She was ultimately married to Francesco II Gonzaga, Marchese of Mantua. Very soon, demonstrated her political acumen, becoming one of husband’s key advisers.

Just as importantly, however, she also proved to be a true “Renaissance woman.” She was interested in numerous spheres of knowledge, and she maintained an extensive correspondence with numerous other leaders. What’s more, she also managed to accumulate an impressive art collection, and she is believed to be the first European woman to have her own personal gallery space.

Marguerite De Navarre Was A Patron Of The Arts, And Even Composed Her Own Works, Including 'The Heptameron'

Marguerite de Navarre, like many of the women of her era, led a very eventful life. Born to Louise of Savoy and Charles de Valois, she was the sister of Francois, who would go on to become King of France. She would play a key part in the politics of the age, marrying firstly Charles IV of Alençon and then, after his death, Henry II of Navarre. She also became one of her brother’s advisers, and he was known to follow her advice on several key issues.

Gradually, however, Marguerite would become known as one of the most educated women of the age. She surrounded herself with the most learned writers and thinkers of the age, and she repeatedly showed herself willing to engage with the task of reforming the Catholic Church. Not content to simply read voraciously, she also embarked on a remarkable writing career. These included her most famous works, the religious poem Mirror of the Sinful Soul and The Heptameron, a collection of short stories, which remained unfinished at her death.

Mary, Queen Of Scots Escaped From Captivity And Raised Her Own Army

Few Renaissance figures led quite as tragic a life as Mary, Queen of Scots. After being forced to flee her native Scotland at a young age, she spent many years at the French court as the wife of the dauphin, Francois. After his premature death, Mary returned to Scotland, where she took up her reign. However, she fell afoul of her lords who, at one point, even managed to have her imprisoned on the island castle of Loch Leven.

Ever resourceful, Mary managed to cozen her gaolers into helping her escape, after which she managed to raise an army. While they were ultimately defeated–forcing Mary to flee to England, where she would spend the rest of her life as a prisoner of her cousin, Elizabeth I. Mary had an indomitable spirit and a willingness to fight for her crown to the very end.

Isabella Of Castile Unified Spain - But Was Ruthless To Jews And Muslims

Isabella of Castile has gone down in history as one of the most formidable women of the Renaissance. Along with her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, she managed to forge Spain into a unified country. Most notably, she was key to the conquering of the peninsula in the process which would become known by historians as the Reconquista. What’s more, Isabella was also one of the key sponsors of Christopher Columbus and his voyages to the Americas.

However, there was a darker side to Isabella’s reign. During her time on the throne, the Inquisition became a formidable presence in Spanish, and Muslims and Jews in particular suffered, as did those who had recently converted to Catholicism. Particularly notable in this regard was the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, a decision that would come to have significant political ramifications for the country in the future.

The list also included Elizabeth and Mary Tudor, but those are pretty well known so I didn't copy them over.

[Reddog]

Ava Helen Pauling
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Ava Helen Pauling (born Miller; December 24, 1903 – December 7, 1981) was an American human rights activist. Throughout her life, she was involved in various social movements including women's rights, racial equality, and international peace.

Ava Helen Pauling

Ava Helen Pauling, Pasadena, California (1948)
Born
Ava Helen Miller
December 24, 1903
Beavercreek, Oregon, U.S.
Died
December 7, 1981 (aged 77)
Known for
Humanitarian achievements
Spouse
Linus Carl Pauling ​(m. 1923)​
Children
4
An avid New Dealer, Ava Helen Pauling was heavily interested in American politics and social reforms. She is credited with introducing her husband, Linus Pauling, to the field of peace studies, for which he received the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. Most prominent among the various causes she supported was the issue of ending nuclear proliferation. Ava Helen Pauling worked with her husband, advocating a stop to the production and use of nuclear arms. Their campaigning helped lead to the Limited Test Ban Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, effectively ending the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons.

[Suranis]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... invent-gps

Gladys West: the hidden figure who helped invent GPS

Growing up on a farm in Virginia during segregation, West knew education would be her means of escape. But she didn’t know her quiet work on a naval base would change lives around the world
by Aamna Mohdin
Thu 19 Nov 2020 07.00 CET

Gladys West knew from a young age that she didn’t want to be a farmer. But the mathematician, born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, still had to help harvest crops on her family’s small farm. The hard work started before daybreak and lasted well into the blistering heat of the afternoon. She hated the dirt but, while she worked, she kept her mind on the building behind the trees at the end of the farm. It was her school, and even then she knew it would be her ticket to freedom.

“I was gonna get an education and I was going to get out of there. I wasn’t going to be stuck there all my life,” West, 89, says firmly, on Zoom in her home in Virginia.

What she could not have guessed was that this focus would shatter the perceptions of black women of the time and even lead to the invention of one of our most widely used inventions – GPS, the global positioning system.

The red schoolhouse, as West’s elementary school was known, was a three-mile walk away, through the woods and over streams. The seven year groups, who were all black, were taught in one room, but West quickly stood out.

Her parents tried to save some money to send her to college, but unexpected bills kept hitting the fund. If West was going to go to college, she needed to find a way to pay for it herself. She tried to put money aside, but became frustrated at how little progress she was making. Then a teacher announced that the state was going to give a college scholarship to the two top students from her year. It was her golden opportunity.

“I started doing everything so that I would be at the top,” West says. “And sure enough, when I graduated from high school, I got one.” The scholarship allowed West to attend Virginia State College, a historically black university.

She didn’t have much time to celebrate. While her tuition was paid, she needed money for room and board. Her parents could help for the first year, but she would need to find funding for the others. She confided in her maths teacher who, after seeing her potential, offered her a part-time job babysitting.

She quickly learned that, while she had been the best in her rural school, she had to put in work to keep up with students from bigger cities. “I was so dedicated that I didn’t care about missing the fun. But now I look back and I should have,” she says before laughing.

She decided to major in mathematics because it was a well-respected subject. It was largely studied by men, but she didn’t take much notice of them. “I knew deep in my heart that nothing was getting in my way.”

After graduating, she became a teacher, saving money for graduate school. She returned to the university a few years later and earned a master’s in mathematics. She briefly took on another teaching position after graduating. Then she was offered a job at a naval base in Dahlgren, Virginia. This made her only the second black woman to be hired to work as a programmer at the base. And she was one of only four black employees.

When she started her job, the navy was bringing in computers. She was hired to do programming and coding for the huge machines. She felt proud that she got the job, but knew the hard work had just begun. Despite her intellectual abilities and career success, West had long wrestled with the feeling that she was inferior. It was this feeling, deeply ingrained and felt, she thinks, by many African Americans, that drove her to work as hard as she could.

She still remembers her first day. The military base was grey, and people were mingling before starting work, laughing and drinking coffee. She met the man who would become her husband, Ira West – but refused to be distracted and at first largely ignored him. “I just got there and I was a serious woman. I didn’t have time to be playing around,” she says.

Her white colleagues were friendly and respectful, but initially didn’t socialise with her outside the office – something she tried not to let get to her. “You know how you know that kind of thing is going on, but you won’t let it take advantage of you? I started to think to myself that I’ll be a role model as the black me, as West, to be the best I can be, doing my work and getting recognition for my work,” she says.

The naval base was its own world, so it felt isolating at times. While West’s office was not racially segregated, a fierce civil-rights battle was unfolding across the country, particularly in the south, partly focusing on segregation. Outside the base, there were sit-ins to desegregate restaurants and places of transport. Her friends from college were deeply involved. West and her husband “supported what they were doing … and kept our eyes on what was developing”.

West was conflicted. She supported the peaceful protests, but was told that she couldn’t participate because of her government work. So she decided to focus on a quieter revolution, one she could continue inside the base. She visited the demonstrations and came back determined to commit herself to her work. She hoped that, by doing it to the best of her ability, she could chip away at the stigma black people faced. “They hadn’t worked with us, they don’t know [black people] except to work in the homes and yards, and so you gotta show them who you really are,” she explains. “We tried to do our part by being a role model as a black person: be respectful, do your work and contribute while all this is going on.”

West did just that. She quickly climbed the ranks and gained the admiration and respect of her colleagues. The work was hard and she had to deal with large datasets. “You had to be particular. You can learn the process, but then you have to really make sure you create the process just right, so everything would come out all right,” she says.

In the early 60s, West took part in an award-winning study that proved “the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune”, according to a 2018 press release by the US air force. In 1979, she received a commendation for her hard work from her departmental head. She then became project manager for the Seasat radar altimetry project; Seasat was the first satellite that could monitor the oceans. She oversaw a team of five people. She programmed an IBM 7030 Stretch computer, which was significantly faster than other machines at the time, to provide calculations for an accurate geodetic Earth model. This detailed mathematical model of the shape of the Earth was a building block for what would become the GPS orbit.

While her team laid the groundwork for GPS, West took every opportunity the base gave her. She went to classes in the evening and gained another master’s degree in public administration, this time from the University of Oklahoma.

In 1998, aged 68, after spending more than four decades at the base, West knew it was time to retire, but she was terrified at the thought of not working. So after retirement she intended to focus on her PhD. But then she had a stroke.

“I was just sitting there working on the computer and all of a sudden I started spinning around,” West says. As soon as she left hospital, she started working on her recovery. “I never stopped one moment just to feel sorry for myself and say: ‘Oh boy, I’d never make it.’ I just said: ‘What’s next?’”

She would eventually finish her dissertation and gain her PhD in public administration and policy affairs in 2000 at the age of 70.

Looking back, West says she didn’t know she was revolutionising technology across the world. “You never think that anything you are doing militarily is going to be that exciting. We never thought about it being transferred to civilian life, so that was a pleasant surprise.”

West’s contributions went unrecognised not just by herself, but others too. Her 42-year career at the navy base was largely unremarked. But years later, she sent a short autobiography to a sorority function. To her surprise, her sorority sisters were blown away. “I just thought it was my work, and we’d never talk to our friends about work. I just never thought about it. I didn’t brag about what I was working on,” West says. “But to see other people so excited about it, that was amazing.”

Her sorority sisters weren’t the only ones that were excited. West soon started to get recognition as one of the “hidden figures” for her contribution to the development of GPS. In 2018, West was inducted into the US air force hall of fame. Her work has at last been written into history. She knows it’s a feat that is rare for black women.

“We always get pushed to the back because we are not usually the ones that are writing the book of the past. It was always them writing and they wrote about people they thought were acceptable. And now we’re getting a little bit more desire to pull up everyone else that’s made a difference.”

When West watched the film Hidden Figures, a drama about a trio of African American female mathematicians working for Nasa, she finally felt seen. “I really loved the movie and I didn’t know that that was going on with them. But they were doing something similar,” she says. It made her realise there were probably many hidden groups of black women making important scientific contributions across the world.

“I felt proud of myself as a woman, knowing that I can do what I can do. But as a black woman, that’s another level where you have to prove to a society that hasn’t accepted you for what you are. What I did was keep trying to prove that I was as good as you are,” she said. “There is no difference in the work we can do.”

She is appreciative of all the protesters that have come together in recent months to march for Black Lives Matter. “I’m hoping that, from that, we become better people, closer to the reality of who we really are, and the world becomes more united than it is now,” West says.

She hopes the call for justice on the street translates into concrete proposals that support more women and black people in science and mathematics. She wants more to be done to encourage underrepresented groups through scholarships and tailored training programmes.

But while West is incredibly proud of the work she did in helping develop GPS, she doesn’t use it herself – preferring to stick to paper maps. “I’m a doer, hands-on kind of person. If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure.”

[keith]

In the early 60s, West took part in an award-winning study that proved “the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune”, according to a 2018 press release by the US air force. In 1979, she received a commendation for her hard work from her departmental head. She then became project manager for the Seasat radar altimetry project; Seasat was the first satellite that could monitor the oceans. She oversaw a team of five people. She programmed an IBM 7030 Stretch computer, which was significantly faster than other machines at the time, to provide calculations for an accurate geodetic Earth model. This detailed mathematical model of the shape of the Earth was a building block for what would become the GPS orbit.

There is something completely wrong there.

The IBM 7030 Stretch may have been 'significantly faster than other machines' in 1961, but absolutely NOT in 1979.

The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was IBM's first transistorized supercomputer. It was the fastest computer in the world from 1961 until the first CDC 6600 became operational in 1964.

ETA: It could just be the author's grossly inaccurate implied timeline or just complete bullpoo, but something is absolutely wrong.

[RTH10260]

Your smartphone would not be with you without her

Susie Armstrong

Qualcomm, Incorporated
Senior Vice President, Engineering
San Diego, CA

Biography

Susie Armstrong started her career as a software/systems engineer at Xerox Systems Development Department, the branch of the Palo Alto Research Center that collaborated and commercialized PARC extensive inventions in the computing and communications industry. She worked on the first 10Mbps Ethernet driver and Xerox’s network systems transport and routing protocols, and wrote Xerox’s implementation of TCP/IP, one of only a handful of independent implementations of these protocols. She participated in the standards work for IEEE 802 standards based on Ethernet and developed high speed document handling protocols at the Xerox Webster Research Center.

Armstrong joined Qualcomm in 1994, at the time when the company was working on CDMA and did systems and software work on both the base station group and the mobile phone and chipset groups. With her background in computer communications and Internet protocols, she invented a simple and efficient way to connect a cellular phone to the internet, resulting in the first web surfing on a cellular phone at the CTIA ’97 industry show. That invention was commercialized and adopted by major infrastructure and phone makers within a year, creating a communications platform for Qualcomm’s early work on downloading and running apps from apps stores – the first smartphones.

In the late 90’s, Armstrong moved to the new semiconductor division, leading the software/firmware group that develops the millions of lines of code that drives the semiconductors and implements the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G interoperability standards. She subsequently created and led the worldwide engineering group who works with Qualcomm’s customers to integrate our semiconductors and software/firmware in their devices, a 6 – 12-month process for every new chipset. Armstrong opened Qualcomm’s first chip software development office in Hyderabad, India in 2004, and has spent extensive time in Japan, Korea and China working with device engineers.


https://www.pli.edu/faculty/susie--armstrong-i2042061

she does not have a Wikipedia entry