Stephanie Kwolek - Wonderful Woman No. 147

Stephanie Kwolek - Born 1923
American Chemist

I added Stephanie Kwolek to the Wonderful Women Facebook album in February last year, I had been listening to an interview with British inventor, Trevor Baylis on BBC Radio 4. During the interview Mr Baylis talked at length about how the achievements of female scientists are often less celebrated than those of men, a fact highlighted in numerous previous blog-posts here, such as Rosalind Franklin - Wonderful Woman No. 69 and Gertrude Elion - Wonderful Woman No. 86, his case in point was today's Wonderful Woman, of whom I was previously unaware but thanks to Mr Baylis felt inspired by on that particular February day.

After earning a degree in Chemistry from Margaret Morrison Carnegie College of Carnegie Mellon University, USA in 1946, Stephanie began to work as a chemist for DuPont, during this time there was a high demand for female scientists as many men had served in World War II and were unavailble for work. It was here that her great work took shape, in 1965 following the worry of a gasoline shortage in the USA, Stephanie developed poly-paraphenylene terephtalamide, more commonly known as Kevlar.

Kevlar, a high-strength material began commercial use in racing car tyres in the early 1970s. Spun into ropes or fabric sheets that can be used in this form or as an ingredient in composite material components, Kevlar has a high strength-to-weight ratio making it 5 times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis. Kevlar continues to be used in many products from tyres, to racing sails and even in body armour.

Stephanie's career as a research scientist spanned over forty years, during which time she filed an indeterminable number of patents. Over the years, she has received a great many honours in her field, including being only the fourth woman to be added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, USA.

Though she may not be a household name, I imagine there are few households who will not, at some time, have benefitted from Stephanie's most renowned invention. She truly is a Wonderful Woman and one I rather wish more of us knew about.

I feel very humble. I feel very lucky. So many people work all their lives and they don't have a big break or make any big discovery that's of benefit to other people.
Stephanie Kwolek

Ella Fitzgerald - Wonderful Woman No. 146

Ella Fitzgerald - 1917-1996
American Singer, Songwriter and Actress

Added to the album by Sandy, A Wonderful Woman

Man, Woman and Child. Ella Fitzgerald was the greatest.
Bing Crosby

Happy new year everyone! I hope many more of you will suggest additions to the Wonderful Women album in the coming year, I'm sure many great ladies will become known to us during the next twelve months.

The first Wonderful Woman subject this year is the inimitable Ella Fitzgerald, who always reminds me of another very Wonderful Woman, my lovely Grandma, June Smith, who introduced me to the joy of jazz as a child - a gift I will never be able to thank her enough for.

Like too many of the Wonderful Women featured before her, Ella's early years were traumatic, after the death of her mother when she was fourteen, Ella suffered abuse at the hands of her step-father. She had a number of brushes with the law, before being homed in an orphanage, she was later homeless for a period.

Ella's singing career began in New York when she was 17, she was soon recruited to join a band, with whom she recorded a number of records, after the death of the band's leader, the group became known as Ella and her Famous Orchestra. In 1942, Ella went solo and signed to Decca Records. Over the next fifty years of her life, Ella went on to record somewhere in the region of 90 albums (including, in my opinion, the best Christmas album ever recorded), win 13 Grammy awards (as well as a plethora of other industry accolades) and be awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She worked alongside some of jazz musics most loved artists, such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and rightfully became known as the Queen of Jazz.

Ella also appeared in film and on television, perhaps most famously in the 1955 jazz, gangster film Pete Kelly's Blues.

Her apparent equanimity and her clear pronunciation, which transcended race, ethnicity, class and age, made her a voice of profound reassurance and hope.
The New York Times

An unmistakable voice, the sultry scat sounds, the smooth coupled with such a subtle gravelly quality. Meloncholy but also beautifully joyful... Ella's sound was (and is) perfection.

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald

Honor Blackman - Wonderful Woman No. 145

Honor Blackman - Born 1925
British Actress and Political Activist

Apologies for the length of time between this and the last blog post, it's been a hectic month for so many reasons and finding the time to sit down and write has been impossible... I hope to have more time to do so in the coming year but real life does sometimes get in the way.

Today, we celebrate Honor Blackman, a fine British actress who has played some iconic roles through her lengthy career. I've always been a fan of the James Bond films, although Bond himself has been a rogue and a cad, where women are

concerned, the films often contain strong, intelligent, female characters (as previously noted in the blog post for Grace Jones - Wonderful Woman No. 50) and it is really her Bond Girl appearance as Pussy Galore in the 1954 film Goldfinger that prompted my inclusion of Honor in the Wonderful Women photograph album.

After training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Honor landed her first film-role in Fame is the Spur (1947), though this was a non-scripted role she went on to have a hugely successful career, making over forty films including Jason and the Argonauts, Bridget Jones' Diary and, of course, Goldfinger.

As well as film, Honor has made her name in both television and theatre. Her stage roles have included appearances in popular shows such as The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. On television, she is best remembered as Cathy Gale in The Avengers, a role she played from 1962 to 1964. She has appeared in some of British television's most loved shows, including Coronation Street and Dr. Who, she also did a six year stint in the comedy series The Upper Hand during the 1990s. Honor is also a decent singer, she has released a number of records, including the 1964 hit Kinky Boots.

Honor has a keen interest in politics and is an activist for republicanism in the United Kingdom, she strongly believes that her country should have an elected Head of State, indeed she declined the Queen's honour of becoming a CBE in 2002.

Her career has spanned seven decades, she has had successes in multiple fields, in her youth, she portrayed strong, brave, feisty women and in her latter years has been the embodiment of grace and elegance, she continues to work, to champion her political ideals and to hold the affection of the British public. A very Wonderful Woman.

Really, in a way, I took over the male role.
Honor Blackman

Elizabeth Fraser - Wonderful Woman No. 144

Elizabeth Fraser - Born 1963
British Singer and Songwriter

Added to the album by Sandy, A Wonderful Woman

Elizabeth is one of Britain's finest singers, and not a week goes by without me sticking one or the other Cocteau Twins album on... I have many memories of lying on my bed as a teenager and Liz could always soothe my troubles. And now, still, when I feel low, she can put a smile on my face. A voice of an angel...
Sandy

So many times since I began writing this blog has it been evident that other women are able to soothe us, to transport us to another place, to make us feel that someone else out there feels what we feel, hurts the way we hurt, loves the way we love, there is a woman out there with lyrics and a voice that prove somebody truly understands. Catharsis is a wonderful thing.

In 1981, aged just 17, Elizabeth Fraser became one of the founding members of the band Cocteau Twins. During the 1980s, the band were among the leading recording artists on the alternative music scene. Elizabeth sang lead vocals in soprano style, often using undecipherable lyrics, her own language, words that had to be felt rather than linguistically understood. The band released nine albums between 1982 and 1996, with a great deal of critical acclaim and praise.

Cocteau Twins disbanded in 1998. Though Elizabeth has never released a solo album she has created numerous solo tracks and contributed to film soundtracks. Moreover, she has worked collaboratively with a plethora of artists, such as Peter Gabriel, The Future Sound of London and Massive Attack. She still contiues to do live performances, for instance, at this year's Meltdown Festival.

Like many of our Wonderful Women, Elizbeth has had her share of the hard times, a nervous breakdown, addiction, lost love... she came through them though and her talent never suffered for the moments of woe.

For many, Elizabeth's voice and the music of Cocteau Twins defines the alternative, post-punk sound and feeling in the 1980s, they have been influential to countless other artists such as Prince, Annie Lennox and My Bloody Valentine (to name only a few). And decades later, the voice is still haunting, enchanting and filled with emotion.

Perhaps the word that most springs to mind when I think of Elizabeth is enigmatic... and wonderful, of course.

I made my declaration.
Elizabeth Fraser

Maude Chardin - Wonderful Woman No. 143

Maude Chardin - Played by Ruth Gordon in the 1971 film Harold and Maude
Fictional American Pensioner

Added to the album by Melanie, A Wonderful Woman

A total inspiration... I LOVE her.
Melanie

I must say, it is a little difficult to write about a character in a film you have never seen. That said, in research for writing this blog post, I've read a lot of reviews of Harold and Maude and have spent the last hour watching clips on YouTube... having done so, I have decided that I must watch the whole film very soon.

The film is centred around the relationship between 79 year old Maude and young Harold, who entertains himself by attending funerals (along with some other rather macabre passtimes). The pair meet at a funeral of a man neither of them have ever met and then become close.

Maude is a wild free-spirited woman, full of youth, despite her advanced years. She is a seize-the-day-type of woman, keen to experience new things, take on adventures and live her life to the extreme. There is no mention of her past in the film, other than a Nazi concentration camp tattoo on her arm... all we see is an aging woman, still intent on having new experiences, meeting new people and living (and dying) at her own pace, in her own way and with absolute vigour and joyful abandon.

To have the strength of mind to accept such freedom of mind is definitely a wonderful thing.

A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they are not dead, really. They're just backing away from life. Reach out. Take a chance. Get hurt even. But play as well as you can. Go team, go! Give me an L. Give me an I. Give me a V. Give me an E. L-I-V-E. LIVE!
Maude

Polly Jean Harvey - Wonderful Woman No. 142

Polly Jean Harvey - Born 1969
British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Composer and Actress

Added to the album by Gemma, A Wonderful Woman

I love her cos she's a zeitgeist defying, individual who has the confidence to change her voice, sound, image on her own terms and still sounds (and looks) amazing! She does whatever she wants and I love her for it!
Gemma

I have written many times in this blog about the wonderfulness of being unique, of not yielding to conformity, of remaining true to your own identity. I think Gemma's addition of PJ Harvey is another fine example of a true individual. And, of course, a great talent.

Polly's love of music stemmed from her parents. She began learning to play the saxophone as a teenager and went on to master playing guitar, piano, bass, harmonica and autoharp. Whilst still an adolescent, she played in a number of bands.

From 1988 to 1991, Polly was a member of the band Automatic Dlamini before leaving to form the PJ Harvey Trio (with Rob Ellis and Ian Olliver, also formally of Automatic Dlamini). The band's debut single Dress, released in October 1991, was championed by BBC Radio One's John Peel. The band released two studio albums, which received acceptional critical acclaim and praise from the likes of Kurt Cobain. They disbanded in 1993, shortly before Polly began her career as a solo artist.

She's not, quite honestly, that interested in success. She's not driven in any way by commercial imperatives. Really she's working to satisfy herself.
Paul McGuinness, Manager

Interested in success or not, Polly has released twelve albums and collaborated with some of the world's most respected artists. Her latest album, Let England Shake won this year's Ivor Novello award for best album. She is also twice a Mercury Prize winner and last year received an NME Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

Her musical style continues to evolve and change, not with fashion but with her own life's passage of time.

Ever the artist, Polly has worked on numerous other projects away from the music charts. In 2009, she made her mark as a composer, creating the music for a theatre production Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. She has also appeared as an actress in a number of films.

PJ Harvey is a true creative artist, an individual and a real musician with a real passion for music. She is into the fourth decade of her career but showing no signs of sitting back on her back-catalogue... she is almost certain to be someone who continues to create, every single day of her life. A raw talent, an individual, a Wonderful Woman.

Making me into a role model is placing too much importance on what I see as a work in progress.
P J Harvey

Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze - Wonderful Woman No. 141

Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze - 1758–1836
French Chemist

Added to the album by Kieran, A Wonderful Man

If it wasn't for her, we probably wouldn't be where we are today as soon as we were.
Kieran

Researching and writing about the women of science who are added to the Wonderful Women album is always a particular joy. Firstly, it is a subject I am fascinated by, but also, so often it is astounding how much these women have endured, overcome and achieved. Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze is another fine example of this.

Married at thirteen years old, Marie-Anne became the laboratory assistant of her husband, celebrated French nobleman and scientist Antoine Lavoisier - "The Father of Modern Science", who named both oxygen (1778) and hydrogen(1783) and predicted silicon, as well as creating the first extensive periodic table of elements. During her time working in her husband's laboratory, her passion for chemistry evolved, she received formal training and, over time, came to work side-by-side on research in the laboratory rather than simply assisting. She was trained also by an artist in order for her to create detailed illustrations of experiments and apparatus, her sketches are said to be some of the greatest in existence and are helpful in dating scientific equipment and techniques. Furthermore, she translated scientific reports from English to French (she was fluent in English and Latin, as well as her native French), a task which proved pivitol for the couple's discoveries and allowed them to disprove many of the theories in print and ultimately to discover oxygen gas.

In 1794, Antoine Lavoisier was beheaded by French revolutionaries. Following his death, Marie-Anne retrieved their laboratory notes (which has been seized during his arrest) and published the final documentation of his work Mémoires de Chimi, a memoir which demonstrated new principles in chemistry. Without her husband, Marie-Anne ran her own scientific laboratory and continued to dedicate her life to science.

All those years ago, Marie-Anne's contribution was little acknowledged, she was known only as the wife of the great scientist. Now though, it is clear that she was an equal in contributing to some of chemistry's most important discoveries, it doesn't get more wonderful than that.

Minds have no sex and that if the minds of women were cultivated like those of men, and that if as much time and energy were used to instruct the minds of the former, they would equal those of the latter. The life of Marie-Anne Lavoisier proves this statement to be true.
Marie Meurdrac, Chemist