1.  Doctor Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist from New York, was living in Los Angeles when she received her first patent, becoming the first African American female doctor to patent a medical invention.

2.  Ada Lovelace wrote a scientific paper in 1843 that anticipated the development of computer software, artificial intelligence and computer music.

3.  Edith Flanigen is one of the most inventive chemists of all time. She had a 42-year career at Union Carbide. In 1956, Edith Flanigen began to work on the emerging technology of "molecular sieves," crystalline structures that contain molecule-sized pores.

4.  Virginia Apgar was one of Columbia University's first female M.D.s. She was one of the first American women to specialize in surgery. She invented the Newborn Scoring System, also called the Apgar Score, in 1949.

5.  Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) was a businesswoman, hair care entrepreneur and a philanthropist. Sarah Breedlove developed a conditioning system for straightening hair, and marketed a hugely successful line of hair care products.

6.  George Edward Alcorn earned a Master of Science in Nuclear Physics in 1963 from Howard University, after nine months of study. He was involved with the computer analysis of launch trajectories and orbital mechanics for Rockwell missiles.

7.  Benjamin Banneker was a self-educated scientist, astronomer, inventor, writer, and antislavery publicist. He built a striking clock entirely from wood, published a Farmers' Almanac, and actively campaigned against slavery.

8.  Born in Columbus, Ohio, in April 23, 1856, Granville T Woods dedicated his life to developing a variety of inventions relating to the railroad industry

9.  From Buck Rogers to 007, the jetpack has fueled our greatest personal-technology fantasies. For Juan Lozano, it has inspired a lifelong obsession.

10.  Luis E. Miramontes invented the birth control pill on October 15, 1951.