12 Important Things That We Probably Wouldn't Have If It Wasn't For These Women

Back in the '30s, Ruth ran the Toll House Inn with her husband and had noticed that customers were enjoying the butterscotch nut cookie, so she tried to create something different. She originally wanted to melt the chocolate into the dough, but was in a rush and ended up crushing a Nestlé bar with an ice pick – and the choc chip cookie was born.

Melitta was a housewife in Dresden, Germany who was annoyed by coffee grounds ruining her morning brew. Through trial and error, she came up with the ingenious idea to filter the coffee through a sheet of paper from her son's school book, and in 1908, she filed a patent for her invention.

Born in 1912, a time where women were mainly using rags during their period, Mary developed a game-changing adjustable belt with a built-in pocket.

The company that was initially interested in the belt rejected it once they realised Mary was black, and she had to wait 30 years before it was patented in 1956. Mary's ingenious invention most definitely paved the way for the innovation in period products we have today.

Hedy moved to the US from Austria, and in 1940 she worked with composer George Antheil to develop a device that would help defend against German attacks. The invention allowed radio communication to hop between frequencies and remain undetected by the Nazis. She didn't receive any money from her patent, but the invention led to the development of the WiFi and Bluetooth technology we use today.

Known as "the Godmother of rock and roll," Rosetta was a one of the first-ever recording artists to use heavy distortion on the electric guitar (think Marty Mcfly in Back to the Future), and she wrote deep and soulful lyrics.

Until recently, her talent went wildly uncredited, despite the fact that she clearly influenced many musicians, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. Without Sister Rosetta Tharpe, 20th century music would probably have been very different.

In 1919, natural gas was used for industrial heating purposes, but it hadn't been considered for use in homes. Not until Alice – an African American woman living from New Jersey – stepped in. She had the inspired idea of using a centrally located heat source that would use pipes to spread heat through homes, and changed the way we warm our houses forever.

Marsha, a gender non-conforming drag queen, was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and a central figure in the 1969 Stonewall Riots. She continued to be an advocate for people living with AIDS until her untimely death in 1992. All of Marsha’s hard work undoubtedly paved the way for LGBTQ+ rights, and her legacy is remembered in countless documentaries.

Lizzie was an American writer and game designer who invented a realty and taxation game called The Landlord's Game in 1904, which involved players creating wealth and forming monopolies. A direct inspiration for Monopoly, Lizzie is basically responsible for millions of family game-night arguments.

Living in New York in the 1960s, Marie was frustrated at how long it took for the police to show up in her neighbourhood. She wanted to feel safer in her apartment, and so created a closed-circuit security unit that monitored visitors through a camera and projection system. She was granted her patent in 1969, and it was the first of its kind.

The mother and daughter duo had the shared goal of enabling people to grow through an understanding of individual differences and personalities. Isabel was home-schooled by her mother and the two of them studied the works of Carl Jung. Through their studies and observations they developed the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator –which is one of the most well-known personality test.

Not only did Agnes Marshall found a popular cookery in central London, she did groundbreaking things to the ice cream world – her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for "cornets with cones" and is arguably the first publication of its type.

Way back in 1902, real estate developer Mary Anderson noticed that it became tricky to see past her windshield while driving through New York City on a snowy day. When she returned to her home, she developed a hand-operated tool to keep the windshield clear. In 1903 she was granted a patent for her invention, and the rest is history.