Marian Croak: Let’s start with an innovation you are probably very grateful for right now, even if you don’t know what it is: Voice over Internet Protocol. Looks sexy, doesn’t it? As Vice President of Engineering at Google, Marion Croke is credited with initiating and further developing VOIP. The technology allows people to communicate via audio and/or video over the Internet. Croc is a credit developer for most of the features of VOIP that lead to its almost universal acceptance.
Alice H. Parker: Don’t enjoy being chilled to death in the winter? Ah, I see you are a fan of Alice H.Parker. Shortly after World War I, Parker found a way to keep homes warm without actually lighting a fire in the room you were staying in. On December 23, 1919, he filed a patent for a central heating furnace using air ducts to dissipate heat from a central furnace burning natural gas around the house. Its system allows you to control the amount of heat it generates in different areas of the building and paves the way for the central heating systems we use.
Lisa Gelobter: We know you’ve used a GIF to indicate your reaction to something or giggle like a madman who falls on someone and hits their crutch on some railing. You don’t pretend to be better than that. Okay, thanks to Lisa Jellobutter for you. Computer scientist Gelobter laid the groundwork for GIF in CompuServe, developing the animation used to create the Internet’s favorite way to communicate.
Gladys West: If you are ever asked, “How did you get here?” By an elderly relative and replied, “I followed Sat Nav” You gave the mathematician Gladys West a great time for a very dull conversation about the road. After a college education where he was overwhelmed by men, he began working at the West Naval Surface Warfare Center, where he was one of only four black employees. She analyzed satellite data and put together models of Earth sizes, eventually programming an IBM computer to create more precise calculations of Earth sizes. The data became the basis of GPS.
