Hidden Heroes

This series of messages focus on individuals who make advances to society in a number of different areas. Some of the hidden heroes were unknown at the time of their innovations. Others did receive recognition at the time, but are virtually unknown today. In some cases, others took credit for the innovations made by the hidden heroes. The messages are broken down into the following categories:

  • Bertha Ringer: 67 Miles That Made History

    C. Bertha Ringer was born in 1849 to wealthy parents in Germany. As was the custom of the time, her future was to be a wife and mother. There was no need for her to get an education, but she was fascinated with natural sciences and the workings of locomotives. When...

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  • Dr. Sidney Farber: The Father of Chemotherapy

    Sidney Farber was born in Buffalo, NY in 1903. He was child number 3 out of 14 born to his parents. After graduating from SUNY Buffalo, he had hoped to go to medical school, but it was difficult for a person of Jewish heritage to gain admission to a U.S. medical...

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  • Alice Dunnigan: Asking Tough Questions

    Alice Dunnigan was born in Kentucky in 1906. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother took in laundry. She was raised in a strict family that valued education. She had learned to read before entering the first grade. Since the local schools only provided 10 years...

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  • Laura Bassi: The First Woman with a Science Ph.D.

    Laura Bassi was born in 1711 in Bologna, Italy. She came from a prosperous and well-connected family. She was privately educated. Beginning at age 5, she learned Latin and mathematics. Later she would learn science and philosophy. The Archbishop of Bologna was...

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  • Edith Payne

    Edith Payne was born in Chicago in 1911. Both of her parents were descendants of former slaves. She went to an integrated school but had few African-American classmates. She was inspired to pursue a writing career by one of her teachers. She studied journalism at...

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  • Dr. Dorothy Andersen: Cystic Fibrosis Pioneer

    Dorothy Andersen was born in North Carolina in 1901. When her father died when she was 13, she took over the care of her invalid mother. She went to college while caring for her mother. She graduated from Mount Holyoke with two degrees in Zoology and Chemistry. She...

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  • Alexandrine Pommery

    Jeanne Alexandrine Louis (Mélin) Pommery was born in France in 1819. She is a little-known heroine of this time of year when we celebrate the end of one year and usher in the beginning of a new year. She married Alexandre Pommery in 1839. He was the owner of a wool...

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  • Alice Marble: Athlete, Spy, Civil Rights Advocate

    She won 5 Grand Slam Tennis tournaments. She helped the Allies infiltrate the Nazi finances. And she helped desegregate tennis so that people of color could compete on a world stage. With all of these accomplishments, you would think we would know her name. But Alice...

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  • Judith Cohen: Saving Apollo 13

    Apollo 13 kept the world on edge when an oxygen bank ruptured in the service module. Life support systems were disabled. The solution was to use the backup systems on the lunar module. Millions of people rejoiced when Apollo 13 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, and...

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  • Margaret McFarland: A Neighborhood Genius

    Margaret McFarland was born near Pittsburgh in 1905. Her father died when she was 5 and her mother never remarried, and she had a lifelong regret for a lack of fathering growing up. Her mother however did provide inspiration for her future interests in child...

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