Her Half of History

Plenty of women have been rich. Most of them inherited their
wealth. Plenty of women have earned money, even in antiquity, but without leaving us detailed records about how much. Madam CJ Walker is different. She made a lot of money, we know exactly how much, and she didn’t inherit any of it.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

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Ada Lovelace wrote the world's first computer program before computers existed. Her friend, Charles Babbage, was inventing an Analytical Thinking Machine, even if he all he had at the moment was a small demo model. Ada thought through what such a machine could do for humanity. Her ideas were grand and far-reaching, and in one case, extremely detailed: she published a paper on exactly how to use such a machine to calculate Bernoulli numbers. But few would recognize her work as groundbreaking until a century later when a real thinking machine (i.e., a computer) needed to be programmed in exactly that way.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.
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Caroline Herschel and her brother William are sometimes called the discoverers of the universe. In the 18th century, they observed and catalogued the heavens. They were not the first astronomers, but they started with catalogues of hundreds of stars and expanded it into thousands. Caroline in particular was famous as a discoverer of comets. Along the way she was the first woman to have a scientific paper published by a major scientific entity. She also drew her own salary from the British crown.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.
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Jeanne Baret circumnavigated the globe by disguising herself as a man and working as a servant on a French scientific mission. Along the way, she collected and preserved an incredible array of botanic specimens, many of whom are named after ... the man she was working for.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shakespeare wrote every word of his plays with the firm
expectation that the female parts would be acted by men or boys. No female was allowed to act in a public theater. That would be shockingly indecent.

In England, that expectation was dashed in a 1660 production of Othello. We know for sure that Desdemona was played by a woman. We're just not sure which woman it was. This episode explains how English theater came to accept women on the stage.

Visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠ (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

This show survives on the support of listeners like you. Support the show on my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon page⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and polls. Or make a one-time donation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Me a Coffee⁠⁠. Your support helps me keep bring the stories of past women into the present.

Join ⁠⁠⁠Into History⁠⁠⁠ for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit ⁠⁠⁠Evergreen Podcasts⁠⁠⁠ to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠ as Her Half of History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices