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Shakuntala Devi “The Human Computer”
She could compute large roots and factorials mentally.
On 18 June 1980 she multiplied two randomly chosen 13‑digit numbers in 28 seconds at Imperial College, London. That performance was listed in the 1982 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
She also authored The World of Numbers and The World of Homosexuals in 1977.
The former was used as a teaching tool with her hope of making math easier for everyone, especially to make it more accessible to girls (while it is often seen as a elite male dominated field).
The latter is about her experience being married to a homosexual man. She saw same‑sex attraction as a natural variation of human sexuality and advocated for tolerance, which was well ahead of the times in the 70s.
Just an all around good person.
Didn’t know about her! Wicked smart , inclusive… Icon.
I appreciate Taylor Swifts achievements, but come on guys… Catherine_the_Great
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Seized Power with Surgical Precision: Orchestrated a coup against her unpopular husband Peter III by winning over the military and elites. He was dead within days and she ruled unchallenged for 34 years.
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Mastered Identity Politics: German-born, she rebranded herself as Russian: converted to Orthodoxy and learned the language and then used it to rally national pride and loyalty.
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Talked Enlightenment, Ruled Autocracy: She courted philosophers like Voltaire and Diderot, published liberal-sounding reforms (Nakaz), and branded herself as a “philosopher queen”, while keeping tight control and strengthening the nobility.
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Turned lovers into loyal lieutenants — military commanders, diplomats, advisors — then replaced them when they weren’t useful anymore.
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Expanded Without Overextending: Catherine outmaneuvered rivals in wars and diplomacy: took Crimea through influence, took parts of Poland through alliances, beat the Ottomans by maneuvering.
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Taylor is very low on this ladder, like really low
Marie Curie killed herself slowly with radiation so she could do science.
Fuck Taylor Swift if she thinks she is bad ass for an album.
To give credit where credit is due, Taylor Swift has done a lot to push against the ridiculous of the intellectual property rights artists didn’t have, and production agencies did have. She broke that and paved a way for future artists. Did she also suck up so much air in the room that it leaves very little space for new artists to breathe, yes. Does she use the same legal system that gave her artistic freedom to crush competition, also yes. She isn’t a bad ass just because she drops albums, she’s a badass cause she’s a ruthless business woman.
To give credit where credit is due, Taylor Swift has done a lot to push against the ridiculous of the intellectual property rights artists didn’t have
hmmmm for what I have read (and a admit it has all been very little as I couldn’t care less about Taylor Swift), all she did was enrich herself further. As far as I know, none of push back she did resulted in any other artist getting any more money or power over their own work
Exactly. She changed the laws so she wouldn’t get screwed anymore? OK I guess…
She didnt push back on intellectual rights, she wanted more power and money and realized a way to go about it. Her motivations have been suspect for over a decade now, she represents unchecked greed by americans and glorifying fame and money over anything.
She’s just as awful as any other billionaire simply for hoarding so much wealth, or wanting to pursue it. She has the power to show humility and how good people can use power, and has done fuckall with it. She’s not an inspiration for anyone but herself, and I’m ashamed to belong to the same country that puts her on the highest of pedestals.
Every other woman mentioned in this thread absolutely dwarf her in any metric we would want to use.
I agree with you on so many points but not on a few. She is greedy and money driven first and foremost and that is a problem. Her motivations haven’t been suspect, she obviously is in it for the money and no one deserves to be placed on such a high pedestal. She’s not even close to the same tier of person as Murrie Currie, Rachel Carson, or that woman who brought intersectionalism into feminist discussion who’s name I can never remember or find again. All that doesn’t mean my argument that she’s badass for going against record labels is moot. She’s still a badass for that.
Murrie Currie
You’re looking for Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Thank you! The moment I read it I remembered.
I say her motivations are suspect because her fans think she’s a good person, and she tries to pretend she has morals so they will buy her albums.
I would think it was badass to take on the re order industry if she didnt do it purely for her own gain, and when she was big enough that it posed her no risk. She didnt risk anything and noone benefitted besides herself.
The albums aren’t even good, they’re bland. She’s not one even in the context of other musicians lmfao
Good musicians dont charge people 1000$ a seat to listen to a recording of the band playing their music, either. Ive had swift fans defend that too. “Oh she has so many shows and they are so long, of course she can’t sing the whole time.”
What the actual fuck is even happening. I feel bad for real musicians who are affected by this bullshit.
Ada Lovelace, a woman who not only invented computer programming in a time where computers were theoretical mechanical devices, but she also managed to live up to the reputation of both her mother, a female mathematian from the early industrial period, and her father, famed poet and slut Lord Byron. She was a true renaissance woman
famed poet and slut Lord Byron
Is that true? checks wiki
Relationships and scandals
Wow this man is a slut
Yeah he was possibly more famous as a slut, heartbreaker, and all around bisexual catastrophe. He was one of the most interesting and unfortunately destructive people that could enter your life. He likely was bipolar though you can’t accurately diagnose the dead even when they’re textbook. The literary trope of the byronic hero is named after him both because he wrote these characters and because he acted like one. He was also one of the inspirations of the modern vampire as a charming and seductive nobleman who will ruin you. Other notable things include being the only lord to defend the luddites in parliament (in one of the few times he bothered with it) and him fighting and dying for Greek independence.
Annabelle Byron (her whole name is long enough to make you oppose the concept of nobility), Ada’s mother, clearly loved him but understood that he absolutely shouldn’t be an influence on their daughter. She also had serious concerns regarding his mental health, which were absolutely warranted given the trail of social destruction he left. And it should be noted that she was a badass in her own right as a gifted woman who worked for abolition, prison reform, and educational reform in addition to the whole leaving the most interesting man of the early industrial period because of fears his mental health issues may harm their kid.
Ada was apparently scandalously relaxed with men and a notorious gambler. People focus on her computer stuff because it’s the most important stuff she did (she died young and was far less scandalous than her dad), but I do think there’s value in remembering that she was a poet who was suspected in her time of infidelity. There are some people who approach life with a single minded dedication to something or the other, and we tend to think of geniuses as such, but she wasn’t one of those people. She was instead someone who followed whatever interesting thing struck her fancy, learning everything she wanted to, though falling often back into a zone of competency. She is in some ways reminiscent of her peer Anne Lister in that regard.
It makes sense Ada doesn’t have nearly as many fangirls in the 21st century as her father. Byron was a man who lived and died as the very model of the Gothic literary movement that he was a founder of
And after her a plenty of other women pioneering all kinds of stuff with computer science, like Grace Hopper who pretty much invented modern programming as we know it today (or at least laid pretty strong foundation for it) among other things. And (kinda-sorta) invented the term ‘bug’ related to computers.
what has Swift ever done to even be considered a “bad bitch”?
Taylor Swift has mastered all 4 genres of music!
She’s a self-insert for white zoomer women who are high on their own main character syndrome.
When did she stop being a millennial self insert? Oh god, does that mean? Am I …old?
Have an ibuprofen.
Are you threatening to give that person Autism?!
No, that’s Tylenol. Ibuprofen causes the gay.
Sometimes dress as a “bad bitch”
Joan of Arc comes to mind.
You got to have some confidence to be a performer, but if you asked Taylor Swift I don’t believe she would say she is one of the baddest bitches in world history lol.
Wendy Carlos who double majored in Physics and Music in 1962 and went on develop synthesizers with Robert Moog.
Her album Switched-On Bach essentially invented electronic music in a way mainstream audiences could digest. Taylor Swift really doesn’t have any on Wendy Carlos in terms of talent or creativity or even influence. Give Swift another 5 decades and we’ll see where her career is.
It amazes me she’s still alive
Marie Curie
She was so hot in her time that you still can’t (or shouldn’t) go near her (or her things) even after she died in 1934.
I can name several, and that’s just women I know personally. Taylor Swift is fine and all but it’s not like she’s some elevated version of the gender. Fandoms get really weird.
She’s not fine. She’s a billionaire landlord who flies in private jets.
Ding ding ding
I’m sure as a person she’s okay, but yes.
Billionaires shouldn’t exist, ever
Private Jets shouldn’t exist, ever
I do not think there is a separation between billionaires the people from billionaires as a construct. I really think they are genuinely bad people. It’s impossible to remain subject to the same stressors of life that bind society with that kind of money. It begins to distance one and they break away from the fabric of society but with an immense footprint upon that society. Chances are you are a pretty good person. If you came into a billion dollars tomorrow, you wouldn’t be a good person within a year. It corrupts absolutely.
If you came into a billion dollars tomorrow and had the opportunity to help so many people but kept it all for yourself you’re already not a good person. You don’t even need to wait a year.
If I came into a billion dollars I’d spend the rest of my time attempting to spend it helping people. I would expect the same of anyone else. Someone’s going to inherit a billionaire fortune soon and just give it all away, at least thats my hope. Someone’s gotta lead by example.
How about Virginia Hall aka “The Limping Lady”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Hall
She was a spy in occupied France during World War II despite having a prosthetic leg. She didn’t just make it onto the Nazi’s most wanted list, but was referred to as “the most dangerous of all Allied spies”.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a Soviet sniper who is often called “Lady Death.” She had 309 confirmed kills during World War 2, making her the most successful female sniper in history.
She never killed a single man, only fascists
The government did not relent, people donated to essentially buy her a tank.
She sold all of her possessions to donate a tank to the Red Army. She requested the tank, a T-34 medium tank,[3] be named “Fighting Girlfriend” (“Боевая подруга”) and that she be allowed to drive it. The State Defense Committee agreed to this.
Freddie and Truus Overstegen. They became members of the dutch resistance age 14 and 15. First they were used as messengers, then they started to lure nazi officers into the woods, where another member of the resistance killed the nazi. Then at age 15 and 16 the killing began. They killed nazis, helped jews to flee and fucking survived….
We also have: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Lee_(mathematician)?wprov=sfla1
A lady who dealt the deathblow to craniology, and worked as an academic during the late Victorian era. Let that sink in - she managed this pre-sufferage.
