The writer, Nelle Harper Lee is a true Alabama gem and the author of one of the most compassionate and hard-hitting novels of our lifetime — To Kill a Mockingbird. She was born and raised in Monroeville, Alabama. She also helped her childhood friend and neighbor, Truman Capote, write In Cold Blood.
The true story of the invention of windshield wipers is a prime example of brilliant women not being taken seriously. Mary Anderson had traveled to New York City from her home in Alabama and was riding on a trolley. She noticed that the sleet was impairing the driver’s vision so much, that he drove with both front windows open. Innovative Alabama woman got home, hired a designer, and the windshield wiper was born. However, when Anderson tried to pitch her invention to a firm in Canada, she was told that it was a frivolous idea. Her patent eventually expired, and the windshield wiper was then picked up by someone else. Say no more.
Though he didn’t invent the actual record, nor vinyl, in 1926, Waldo Semon, an Alabamian invented a way of plasticizing vinyl so that it could be made into a record. Semon, a man from Demopolis, Alabama, invented more innovative gadgets and was inducted into the Invention Hall of Fame.
Auburn University graduate, George F. Kirchoff, was a member of the group who invented the airbag safety feature.
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