491: Yao Niang Court Dancer c. 10th Century AD, China Niang was a concubine living in the Tang Dynasty of Ancient China. While her story is widely accepted as part of the mythos of foot binding (as you’ll read below) any other details about Yao’s life are noticeably missing. It is said her graceful dancing…
490: McKenna Dahl Paralympian Rifle Shooter Born: 1 May 1996, Seattle, Washington, United States of America McKenna served as the Junior Ambassador to the National Rifle Association in 2012. She competed in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, earning a bronze medal. McKenna was the first American woman to earn a medal at…
489: Margaret Floy Washburn The First Woman to Earn a PhD in Psychology Born: 25 July 1871, New York City, New York, United States of America Died: 29 October 1939, Poughkeepsie, New York, United States of America Sources differ on where she earned her degree from. Psychology’s Feminist Voices and the National Women’s History Museum…
488: Mary Whiton Calkins The First Woman Elected President of the American Psychological Association & the American Philosophical Association Born: 30 March 1863, Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America Died: 26 February 1930, Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States of America Mary earned her degree from Harvard but even now they refuse to grant her the degree…
487: Maud Wagner The First Female Tattoo Artist in the United States Born: 12 February 1877, Lyon County, Kansas, United States of America Died: 30 January 1961, Lawton, Oklahoma, United States of America Maud was a circus performer who did aerial tricks and a contortionist act. She and her husband were both tattoo artists and…
486: Lauren Holiday Retired Olympic Soccer Player Born: 30 September 1987, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America Lauren has two Olympic Gold Medals. In 2016, she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor while pregnant and had to undergo surgery and induce labor early; luckily Mom and Baby are both fine. Sources: https://www.today.com/health/olympic-soccer-star-lauren-holiday-shares-first-photo-herself-after-t111611 https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/philadelphia-76ers/jrue-holiday-taking-leave-2-time-olympian-wife-lauren-holidays-brain-surgery
These are the entries born on the various islands that make up the Philippines today. Entries: Florence Finch, Allied Spy During World War II Imelda Marcos, Former First Lady of the Philippines Josefina Guerrero, The Leper Spy of World War II Whang od-Oggay, The World’s Oldest Mababatok Tattoo Artist
485: Whang-od Oggay The World’s Oldest Tattoo Artist Born: 17 February 1917, Tinglayan, Philippines She has long been considered the last of the Mambabatoks (meaning tattoo master in the Kalinga Culture). Her style of tattooing uses thorns, soot, and a bamboo hammer instead of the now more traditional, western, style of electric machine guns and…
484: Margaret Hamilton NASA Computer Code Writer Born: 17 August 1936, Paoli, Indiana, United States of America Margaret was also a systems engineer and business owner. She popularized the term software engineering. Margaret worked as Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory which worked to make onboard software for the NASA…
483: Irma Eckler The Wife of August Landmesser—the German Man Who Famously Refused to Do the Nazi Salute in a Photograph Born: 12 May 1913, Hamburg, Germany Died: 28 April 1942, Bernberg, Germany When she and August got engaged, they were denied a marriage license because she was technically Jewish. I use the word technically…