Buzz
There’s much to be said about the persistent biases surrounding gender roles in our society. Yet, it’s clear that sexism and misogyny were far more widespread in the past, resulting in the contributions of one gender being minimized or disregarded. From influential historical figures to pop culture icons, women have been outshining their male counterparts for centuries, yet their achievements often go unrecognized.
10. Paul Revere vs. Sybil Ludington
Paul Revere is one of the most celebrated figures of the American Revolution, known for his midnight ride warning locals of the British troops’ advance before the battles of Lexington and Concord. While he didn’t fully complete his mission, as he was detained by the British soon after leaving Lexington, his young companion, Samuel Prescott, managed to escape and reach Concord. Prescott’s role was crucial, but what Sybil Ludington accomplished two years later was even more remarkable.
At just 16 years old, Ludington learned that the British were attacking the nearby town of Danbury. Without wasting any time, she mounted her horse and rode off into the night to alert the local militia. Galloping from farm to farm, she knocked on doors with a long stick, ensuring she could rouse people without dismounting. She declined all offers of rest or food, riding straight into the dark night without hesitation.
Ludington covered about 65 kilometers (40 miles) that night, making her ride more than twice the distance of Revere’s. Moreover, she was never captured and successfully rallied 400 militiamen, who later fought the British at Ridgefield. Her efforts were so remarkable that George Washington personally thanked her, and she continued her service as a messenger throughout the war.
9. Blackbeard vs. Sayyida Al-Hurra
Although Blackbeard’s reign as a pirate captain lasted less than a year, he has earned a reputation as the most notorious pirate in history. Operating from his base in the Bahamas, Blackbeard, whose real name was Edward Teach, struck fear across the Caribbean with apparent impunity, until he met a dramatic end in a fierce battle with pirate hunters sent to capture him. Despite his demise, Blackbeard lived on in folklore, inspiring the creation of many fierce fictional pirates.
Far less is known about the life of Sayyida al-Hurra, the “Pirate Queen,” despite her being far more powerful and influential than Blackbeard, who never commanded more than two ships and a small crew. As a child, Sayyida’s family was forced to flee Spain after the Muslim kingdom of Granada was conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella. In Morocco, Sayyida rose to power as the ruler of Tetouan, transforming it into a hub for pirate raids on Christian Spain and Portugal. One of her most notable achievements was forging an alliance with the Ottoman pirate Barbarossa, who controlled the eastern seas, while she dominated the west. Her pirates launched numerous raids on Spain, capturing the wealthy for ransom and enslaving others.
In 1541, Sayyida married the Sultan of Morocco, who had long sought her hand from his court in Fez. In an unprecedented move, the Sultan left his capital and traveled to Tetouan for their wedding. Sayyida continued to rule Tetouan until her son-in-law deposed her, ending her 30-year reign of power.
8. Babe Ruth vs. Jackie Mitchell
Jackie Mitchell made history in 1931 by becoming one of the first professional female baseball players when she signed with the minor league Chattanooga Lookouts. Though her time on the team was brief—her contract was canceled after only a few days, likely due to baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who deemed women playing baseball a disgraceful “burlesque”—Mitchell still left her mark by striking out two of the greatest players in baseball history in the same game.
In April 1931, the Lookouts were set to play an exhibition match against the New York Yankees, featuring the iconic Babe Ruth. The press were intrigued by the idea of the Bambino facing a female pitcher, but they largely mocked Jackie, making comments like “the curves won’t be all on the ball” and “she has a swell change of pace and swings a mean lipstick.” However, when the game began, Jackie stunned everyone by striking Babe out, causing the legendary hitter to throw his bat to the ground in frustration. As if that wasn’t enough, Jackie then faced Babe’s equally legendary teammate, Lou Gehrig, and struck him out too.
Jackie undeniably struck out two of the greatest players in baseball history, but the magnitude of her accomplishment has led some to wonder if Ruth and Gehrig didn’t intentionally allow themselves to be struck out as a publicity stunt. Neither man ever confirmed this, even though it would have allowed them to save face. Some of the Yankees players have stated that there was no official plan to let Jackie get her strikes, but they couldn’t rule out the possibility of Ruth and Gehrig making an agreement between themselves. Jackie, who went on to tour with the famous House of David religious baseball teams, dismissed this notion, proudly asserting, “they were trying, damn right. Hell, better hitters than them couldn’t hit me. Why should they’ve been any different?”
7. Jocelyn Bell Burnell vs. Anthony Hewish
In 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge, made a groundbreaking discovery when she became the first to confirm the existence of Little Green Men. Well, sort of. Using a telescope she helped build, Burnell was monitoring signals from distant quasars when she detected a series of mysterious, regular radio pulses. She shared her findings with her advisor, Anthony Hewish, and together they assembled a team to investigate the pulses, which they humorously named LGM (“Little Green Men”) because aliens seemed to be the most plausible explanation at the time.
The team eventually discovered that the mysterious pulses originated from a new type of rotating neutron star, which was later named pulsars. This discovery marked a monumental advancement in astrophysics, and Anthony Hewish and Martin Ryle were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. However, the Nobel committee did not extend this honor to Bell, despite her being the first to detect the pulses and playing a pivotal role in confirming their existence. This omission sparked significant controversy, with prominent astronomers like Sir Fred Hoyle publicly criticizing the decision.
Bell, however, chose not to make a scene, expressing that she was simply happy to have contributed to the first Nobel awarded for astrophysics. She later remarked that she believed her exclusion had more to do with her status as a student than her gender. She also mentioned that, at the time, her primary concern was navigating her career after the birth of her first child, which was quite unconventional in the ’70s.
6. F. Scott Fitzgerald vs. Zelda Fitzgerald
While married couples are meant to support one another, the famous writer F. Scott Fitzgerald was just as well-known during his lifetime for “drawing inspiration” from his wife, Zelda. Scott would carry around pieces of paper to jot down her witty remarks for use in his books. He even directly took a passage from her journal and included it in one of his own novels.
To make matters worse, their marriage was far from happy. Scott insisted on fidelity from Zelda, yet regularly had affairs of his own. He even had the audacity to invite his mistress and her mother to visit. Scott would often compare the two women, mocking Zelda for lacking ambition, while preventing her from pursuing her own passions. When a publisher expressed interest in publishing Zelda’s journals, Scott blocked the deal in anger. Even while stealing her work, he made sure to paint her as mentally unstable to family friends, perhaps to discredit her if she spoke out. A passage in his diary suggests he actively tried to push her toward a nervous breakdown.
This, however, did not silence Zelda. She even wrote a review of one of Scott’s books, humorously stating, “Mr. Fitzgerald—I believe that is how he spells his name—seems to believe that plagiarism begins at home.” Despite Zelda’s sharp wit, Scott would eventually be remembered as one of the great American novelists, while her brilliance remains largely overlooked.
5. Rosalind Franklin vs. Maurice Wilkins
In 1951, Rosalind Franklin was a researcher in chemistry at King’s College London when she used X-ray diffraction to capture extraordinarily clear images of DNA fibers. These images, made possible by the techniques Franklin pioneered, played a pivotal role in uncovering the structure of DNA. Unfortunately, Franklin had a deeply strained relationship with her colleague Maurice Wilkins, which often turned into mutual disdain. In 1953, Wilkins secretly showed one of Franklin’s images to James Watson and Francis Crick, who were astounded and used the image to build their renowned DNA model.
The breakthrough was published in the journal Nature, which included contributions from Crick and Watson, Wilkins, and Franklin. However, Franklin’s article was placed last, and it didn’t emphasize how her work had influenced Crick and Watson (she may not have known that Wilkins had shared the image with them). Franklin harbored no ill will toward Crick and Watson (she later developed a close friendship with Crick), but the episode strained her relationship with Wilkins. Eventually, she left King’s College for Birkbeck College, where she made significant advances in studying the structure of RNA.
In 1962, Crick, Watson, and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Tragically, Franklin had passed away from ovarian cancer in 1958, at just 37 years old. The Nobel Committee does not issue posthumous awards.
4. Yoko Ono vs. John Lennon
Before anyone rushes to toss their computers in frustration, let’s be clear—we’re not debating their music. While it's tough to quantify who was the better composer, it's fair to say public opinion tends to regard John Lennon as one of the most influential musicians of modern times, whereas Yoko’s music has often been likened to the sound of a computer being hurled into a trash compactor.
However, when it comes to their activism, it’s clear that Yoko had a greater influence on John than the other way around. Seven years older than him, Yoko carried strong memories of World War II and the rise of pacifist movements in Japan during the 1950s. This led her to embrace the Dadaist movement, which aimed to shock the world into recognizing the futility of war through unconventional and eccentric art. Her pacifist beliefs were behind some of their most famous stunts, like the “bed-in for peace” and their billboards declaring “War Is Over! If You Want It.”
Yoko was always more politically active than John, and her activism gave Lennon a sense of purpose as he grew tired and disillusioned with the Beatles. She deserves more respect than to be the punchline for those who blamed her marriage for “breaking up the Beatles.”
3. Every Male Journalist vs. Anne Royall
At a time when female journalists weren’t taken seriously, a hero emerged to change the game in the most audacious way possible. One of the first female journalists, Anne Royall started her own Washington newspaper in 1831 at the age of 62. She quickly gained a reputation as an unrelenting critic of corruption and government misconduct, exposing a dishonest official in the House of Representatives. During her earlier career as a travel writer, Anne was such a thorn in the side of the authorities that an old law was revived to prosecute her as a “common scold.”
Anne’s crowning moment came when she stumbled upon President John Quincy Adams swimming nude in the Potomac River. Though it’s well-known that Adams enjoyed a brisk morning swim, it caught Anne off guard. According to a possibly exaggerated tale, she took full advantage of the moment by sitting on the president’s clothes and refusing to move until he agreed to an interview. However it happened, what’s certain is that Anne became the first woman to interview a sitting president. And she didn’t stop there—Anne went on to interview every sitting president from Quincy Adams to Franklin Pierce, including a young Abraham Lincoln, who was just a congressman at the time.
2. Ada Lovelace vs. Charles Babbage
Ada Lovelace didn’t set out to become the world’s first computer programmer. In fact, she probably didn’t even realize what she had achieved until after it was finished. Lovelace, the daughter of the infamous poet Lord Byron, was encouraged by her mother to pursue mathematics, believing it would keep her from inheriting any poetic tendencies from her father. As an adult, she became close friends with Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first programmable computer. In 1842, Babbage asked her to translate an Italian lecture on his Analytical Engine. Lovelace spent nine months working on the translation and added extensive notes, which were three times longer than the lecture itself, and which earned her recognition as the mother of computer programming.
While no one would deny Babbage’s groundbreaking work in creating the concept of the computer, it’s clear that Lovelace had a greater grasp of the potential of his invention. Babbage envisioned his machines as tools for solving mathematical problems, but Lovelace was the first to understand that computers could process any data that could be expressed numerically, predicting modern computing. She also wrote the algorithm for the Analytical Engine, which is now recognized as the first computer program. Tragically, Lovelace passed away young, while Babbage struggled to build his engines, delaying the field of computing for many years.
1. Elizabeth Magie vs. Charles Darrow
The number of overlooked women in history is vast, and it even extends to the fascinating world of board game creators. Take, for instance, the case of Charles Darrow and Elizabeth Magie, whose roles in shaping one of the most iconic board games are more complex than many realize. Elizabeth Magie, an American stenographer and journalist, filed a patent for her game, ‘Landlord’s Game,’ in 1903, about 30 years before Charles Darrow patented the game we now know as ‘Monopoly.’
Magie designed her game as an educational tool based on the progressive economic ideas of Henry George, who advocated that individuals should own the products of their labor, but natural resources like land should be shared. As a result, her game included two sets of rules: one that encouraged all players to generate wealth and another, a ‘monopolist’ version, where the goal was to bankrupt all the other players. It also introduced elements that would become synonymous with the game, such as fake money and the ‘Go To Jail’ space.
Magie’s game gained a following among college students and Quakers but failed to achieve widespread commercial success. Years later, during the Great Depression, Charles Darrow, a struggling salesman, came across Magie’s game and modified it to create his own version. He then sold it to Parker Brothers, who, realizing its potential, contacted Magie and purchased her patent for a modest sum.
Overjoyed, Magie wrote to George Parker expressing her hopes that her game would become a success and suggested two other game ideas she thought the company might want to explore. Unfortunately, her excitement was quickly deflated when the Parkers ignored her and instead promoted a sensational tale of Darrow rescuing his family from financial ruin by creating the game from scratch. Heartbroken, Magie gave an interview to the Washington Post, where she publicly criticized the Parkers and asserted her rightful claim to the game. Despite her efforts, her story failed to capture public attention, and she was largely forgotten until a lawsuit in the 1970s brought her pivotal role in the creation of one of the most famous board games back to light.
