I agree with Scott Berkun: “A disturbing element of history is its unfairness to women. The majority of our most famous inventors and discoverers are men in large part because women were denied the education and opportunity required to make similar achievements. It’s hard to identify a singular cause but there’s evidence the shift to monotheism changed what had been a more balanced view of gender power, when there was still respect for male and female roles, into masculine centric cultures. Even by the time of the Western Enlightenment, women were still given few opportunities to study, work in pioneering fields or to receive acclaim for their work. This is a subject well beyond the scope of this post.”
Even the ancient Greeks, who were progressive on many fronts, had few female philosophers and scholars, although there were some. Among the better known is Hypatia, but few works from the time survived and it’s hard to know how much influence she had.
Nancy Johnson is one of the greatest inventors throughout history. In 1843, she invented the hand-cranked ice-cream maker, which is 
still used to this day. By filing her patent No. 3254, in September of 1846, Johnson brought ice cream to the masses. With that patent, an ice cream revolution began. Little is known about the woman who gave us so much, other than the fact that we love her.
She was a housewife, probably living in Philadelphia and she was a game changer. Her simple hand-cranked ice cream churn launched a “disruptive technology” that made it possible for everyone to make quality ice cream.
We don’t know what more to say other than thank you, Nancy Johnson, thank you.
To learn more about her and her work, please click here.
Photo: Thomas Firak/Getty Images
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TakePart is the digital news and lifestyle magazine from Participant Media, the company behind such acclaimed documentaries as CITIZENFOUR, An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc. and feature films including Lincoln and Spotlight.