5 of the Most Amazing Women You’ve Never Heard Of

For centuries， women all over the world have fought and ruled， written and taught. Theyve done business， explored， revolted， and invented. Theyve done everything men have done—and a lot of things they havent.

The women who shaped our planet are too many to mention， so here are just a few of the most frankly badass1） females of all time.

1. Nana Asmau， Nigerian Scholar

“Women， a warning. Leave not your homes without good reason. You may go out to get food or to seek education. In Islam， it is a religious duty to seek knowledge，” wrote Nana Asmau， whos proof that the pen is mightier than the sword—and at least as badass.

Born the daughter of a powerful ruler in what is now northern Nigeria， Nana Asmau （1793～1864） was taught from a young age that god wanted her to learn. And not just her—all women， too. Her father， who believed that sharing knowledge was every Muslims duty， ensured that she studied the classics in Arabic， Latin， and Greek. By the time her education was completed， she could recite the entire Koran and was fluent in four languages. She corresponded with scholars and leaders all over the region. She penned poetry about battles， politics， and divine truth. And， when her brother inherited the throne， she became his trusted advisor.

She could have settled for2） being respected for her learning； but instead， she was determined to pass it on. Nana Asmau trained a network of women teachers， the jaji， who traveled all over the kingdom to educate women who， in turn， would teach others. （The jajis also got to wear what sounds like a kind of amazing balloon-shaped hat， which marked them out as leaders.） Their students were known as the yan-taru， or “those who congregate together， the sisterhood.” Even today， almost two centuries later， the modern-day jajis continue to educate women， men， and children in Nana Asmaus name.

2. Policarpa Salavarrieta， Colombian Revolutionary

“La Pola，” as she was called during her brief life， was by all accounts3） daring， sharp-tongued， and defiant. She fought to free her land， in what is now Colombia， from Spains rule—all while pretending to sit in the corner and sew.

She was born sometime around 1790 and grew up amid rebellion， as resistance to the Spanish Empire strengthened across South America. By the time she moved to Bogota circa 1817， she was determined to play her role. Posing as a humble seamstress and house servant， she would offer her services to Royalist households， where she could gather intelligence and pass it on to the guerrillas4）； meanwhile， pretending to flirt with soldiers in the Royalist army， shed urge them to desert and join the rebels. Oh， and she was genuinely sewing the whole time—sewing uniforms for the freedom fighters， that is.

She and her network of helpers （it seems there were several women like her） were eventually discovered. When soldiers came to take her， she kept them engaged in a slanging match5） while one of her comrades slipped away to burn incriminating letters. She refused to betray the cause and was sentenced to death by firing squad in November 1817. Dragged into the citys main square to provide an example for anyone with thoughts of rebellion， she harangued the Spanish soldiers so loudly that orders had to be given for the drums to be beaten louder to drown her out. She refused to kneel and had to be shot leaning against a stool， her final words were reportedly a promise that her death would be avenged. Sure enough， she continued to inspire the revolutionary forces long after her execution.

3. Gertrude Bell， British Traveler and Writer

We could characterize Gertrude Bell as the female Laurence of Arabia6）. But that doesnt really do her justice7）. Unlike T. E. Laurence， now better remembered in movies and adventure stories than in real life， well into this century “Miss Bell” remained a well-known figure in the country she helped create： Iraq.

Born in 1868 to a wealthy industrial family in northern England， she excelled in her studies at Oxford. After graduating with the first first-class modern history degree the university had ever awarded to a woman， she traveled the world—twice—became one of the worlds most daring mountaineers， taught herself archeology and mastered French， German， Arabic， and Persian. Her intimate familiarity with the Middle East， whose deserts she explored and whose most powerful chiefs she knew personally， made her an invaluable recruit to British intelligence when World War I broke out. After the armistice8）， she became one of the driving forces of British policy in the Middle East. She mapped out the borders of what would become Mesopotamia and ultimately Iraq， she installed its first king， and she supervised who he appointed to his new government.

Just days before the government was inaugurated and her project was complete， Bell was found dead from an overdose of sleeping pills—whether accidental or intentional isnt clear. One of her Iraqi colleagues once told her that the people of Baghdad would talk of her for a hundred years， to which she responded： “I think they very likely will.” By accounts， for better or worse， they have.

4. The “Night Witches，” Russian WW2 Fighter Pilots

It was their enemies， the Nazis， who gave these women their nickname. Officially， they were the members of the Soviet Air Forces 588th Night Bomber Regiment. To the German pilots they fought， however， they were tormentors， harpies9） with seemingly supernatural powers of night vision and stealth10）. Shooting down one of their planes would automatically earn any German soldier the Iron Cross11）.

The legendary 588th was one of three all-female Soviet squadrons12） formed on Oct. 8， 1941， by order of Josef Stalin. The few hundred women who belonged to them—picked from thousands of volunteers—were the first of any modern military to carry out dedicated combat missions， rather than simply provide support.

The 80-odd Night Witches had arguably the toughest task of all. Flying entirely in the dark， and in plywood planes better suited to dusting crops than withstanding enemy fire， the pilots developed a technique of switching off their engine and gliding toward the target to enable them to drop their bombs in near-silence； they also flew in threes to take turns drawing enemy fire while one pilot released her charges. It was， quite frankly， awesome—as even their enemies had to admit. “We simply couldnt grasp that the Soviet airmen that caused us the greatest trouble were in fact women，” one top German commander wrote in 1942. “These women feared nothing.”

5. Hedy Lamarr， Austrian Inventor

We know， right： total babe13）. Thats why she had a two-decade career playing femmes fatale14） in Hollywood movies. But while the rest of her co-stars were sunning themselves or picking a substance to abuse， Hedy Lamarr was coming up with the system of wireless communication that would later form the foundation of cellphones， Wi-Fi， and most of our modern life.

Thats only one of the many extraordinary things about Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler， as she was born to Jewish parents in Vienna in 1914. Aged just 18， she courted scandal by appearing naked in the movie Ecstasy. Briefly married to a Nazi arms dealer， she fled Austria for France and then Britain， where she met Louis B. Mayer15） and secured a $3，000-a-week contract with his MGM studio16）.

In between filming and at the height of World War II， she and a composer， George Antheil， came up with the idea of a “Secret Communications System” that would randomly manipulate radio frequencies as they traveled between transmitter and receiver， thus encrypting sensitive signals from any would-be interceptors17）. Their invention， patented in 1941， laid the groundwork for the spread-spectrum technology used today in Wi-Fi， GPS， Bluetooth， and some cellphones. Ever inventive， Lamarr also came up with soluble18） cubes that would turn water into something like Coca Cola， as well as a “skin-tautening19） technique based on the principles of the accordion20）.” Cool.

千百年來，世界各地的女性們曾征戰(zhàn)沙場，治理國家，寫書立傳，傳道授業(yè)。她們涉足商業(yè)、旅行探險、造反起義、發(fā)明創(chuàng)造。男人做過的事情，她們都做了——男人沒做過的很多事情，她們也做了。

改變了我們這個星球的女性可謂不勝枚舉，所以，本文僅選取歷史上最卓爾不群的幾位女性介紹給大家。

1. 納納·阿斯瑪烏：尼日利亞學(xué)者

“女性朋友們，有個警告。不要無端離開你的家。你可以出去獲取食物或接受教育。在伊斯蘭教中，探求知識是一項宗教義務(wù)。”納納·阿斯瑪烏寫道，她證明了筆利于劍——至少是一樣鋒利的。

納納·阿斯瑪烏（1793～1864）出生在今日的尼日利亞北部，是一位很有權(quán)勢的統(tǒng)治者的女兒。她從小受到的教育是真主希望她學(xué)習(xí)，并且不僅是她——而是所有女性。她的父親認(rèn)為分享知識是每位穆斯林的義務(wù)，他確保納納·阿斯瑪烏學(xué)習(xí)了阿拉伯語、拉丁語和希臘語的經(jīng)典著作。接受完教育時，她能背誦整本《古蘭經(jīng)》，并可流利地說四國語言。她與整個地區(qū)的學(xué)者和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人保持書信往來。她還創(chuàng)作了有關(guān)戰(zhàn)爭、政治和神圣真理的詩歌。而且，在她的哥哥繼承王位后，她成了他信任的顧問。

她因?qū)W識淵博而受到尊重，她本可以滿足于此，可是她決心要把自己擁有的知識傳授給他人。納納·阿斯瑪烏培訓(xùn)了一批女老師，即jaji，她們到王國的各地去教育女性，而受過教育的女性會再去教育別人。（這些女老師還要戴一種聽起來頗為醒目的氣球狀帽子，表明她們是引導(dǎo)者。）她們的學(xué)生被稱為yan-taru，即“聚集在一起的人，姐妹會”。即使在今天，近兩個世紀(jì)以后，現(xiàn)代的jaji們?nèi)栽谝约{納·阿斯瑪烏之名教育女性、男性和兒童。

2. 波利卡爾帕·薩拉瓦烈塔：哥倫比亞革命家

在她短暫的一生中，她被稱作“拉波拉”。據(jù)說，她生性勇敢、言語犀利、桀驁不馴。為了將她的祖國（即現(xiàn)在的哥倫比亞）從西班牙的統(tǒng)治下解放出來，她進行了斗爭——一切都是在她假裝坐在角落里穿針引線時進行的。

她出生于1790年左右，在叛亂中長大，當(dāng)時南美洲各地抵抗西班牙帝國的運動風(fēng)起云涌。她在1817年左右搬到波哥大，這時她決定發(fā)揮自己的作用。她冒充地位低下的裁縫和家仆，向保王黨人的家庭提供服務(wù)，她可以在這些人家中搜集情報，并把情報傳遞給游擊隊；與此同時，她假裝與保王黨軍隊中的士兵調(diào)情，力勸他們逃離部隊，加入反政府武裝。嗯，她真的一直都在做針線活兒——為自由戰(zhàn)士縫制制服。

她和她的援助者組織（似乎有幾位像她一樣的女性）最終被發(fā)現(xiàn)了。當(dāng)士兵們來抓捕她時，她使士兵忙于與她對罵，而這時她的一位同志便趁機溜走把會成為罪證的書信燒掉。她拒絕背叛革命事業(yè)，并在1817年11月被判處由行刑隊執(zhí)行死刑。她被拖到城市的主廣場，作為反面教材來警告任何有造反想法的民眾。她大聲訓(xùn)斥西班牙士兵，以至于敵人不得不下令把鼓敲得更響些，來淹沒她的聲音。她拒絕下跪，被槍決時敵人不得不讓她靠在凳子上。據(jù)說她的最后一句話是，她保證會有人為自己的死報仇。果然如此，在她被處決后很長時間里，她仍在鼓舞著革命力量繼續(xù)奮斗。

3. 格特魯?shù)隆へ悹枺河眯屑?、作?/p>

我們可以把格特魯?shù)隆へ悹柮枋鰹榕娴摹鞍⒗膭趥愃埂薄５?，這個稱呼并未充分說明她的影響力。人們現(xiàn)在所記住的T. E. 勞倫斯，更多的是他在電影和冒險故事中的形象，而非現(xiàn)實生活中的他。但是與勞倫斯不同，直到本世紀(jì)，在“貝爾小姐”協(xié)助創(chuàng)建的國家——伊拉克，她仍然是位知名人物。

她于1868年出生在英格蘭北部一個富有的工業(yè)企業(yè)主家庭，后來就讀于牛津大學(xué)，成績出類拔萃。畢業(yè)時，她是獲得該校現(xiàn)代歷史一等學(xué)位的第一位女性。之后，她周游世界——兩次，成為世界上最勇敢的登山家之一；自學(xué)了考古學(xué)，并掌握了法語、德語、阿拉伯語和波斯語。她十分熟悉中東，曾經(jīng)考察過這里的沙漠，并與最有權(quán)勢的酋長們有私交，因而第一次世界大戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)時，她成了英國情報部門招募的“國寶級”成員。停戰(zhàn)后，她成為英國在中東政策的推動者之一。她劃定了美索不達米亞的邊界，這里最后成為伊拉克。她扶植了伊拉克的第一任國王，并指導(dǎo)國王指派哪些人在新政府任職。

就在政府即將就任、她的計劃馬上要完成前數(shù)日，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)貝爾死于過量服用安眠藥——到底是意外死亡，還是蓄意謀殺，人們無從得知。她的一位伊拉克同事曾告訴她，巴格達人民在一百年的時間內(nèi)都會談?wù)撍?，對此她回?yīng)道：“我認(rèn)為他們很可能會這樣。”現(xiàn)在看來，或好或壞，人們的確在談?wù)撍?/p>

4. “暗夜女巫”：二戰(zhàn)期間俄羅斯戰(zhàn)斗機飛行員

是她們的敵人——納粹分子給這些女性取了這個綽號。按照官方說法，她們是前蘇聯(lián)空軍第588夜間轟炸機團的成員。然而，對于她們的作戰(zhàn)對手德國飛行員來說，她們是折磨者，是貌似具有夜視和隱身等超自然力量的悍婦。德國的任何一位士兵只要擊落一架她們的飛機，就自然會獲得鐵十字勛章。

具有傳奇色彩的第588團是1941年10月8日根據(jù)約瑟夫·斯大林的命令成立的前蘇聯(lián)三支女性空軍中隊之一。這些中隊的數(shù)百位女性選拔自數(shù)以千計的志愿者，是所有現(xiàn)代軍隊中第一批專門執(zhí)行戰(zhàn)斗任務(wù)的，而不僅僅是提供援助。

80多名“暗夜女巫”可以說承擔(dān)著最艱難的任務(wù)。這些飛行員完全在黑暗中飛行，駕駛的是膠合板飛機，這種飛機更適合噴灑農(nóng)藥而非承受敵人火力。她們研發(fā)出一種戰(zhàn)術(shù)：關(guān)掉飛機引擎，向目標(biāo)滑翔，這樣她們就能近乎無聲地投擲炸彈；她們還采取三機編組飛行，輪流引開敵人火力，讓其中一架飛機的飛行員投放炸彈。坦率地說，這種戰(zhàn)術(shù)真棒——因為就連她們的敵人也不得不承認(rèn)這一點?！拔覀兒喼睙o法理解，給我們造成最大麻煩的前蘇聯(lián)飛行員竟然是女性，”一位德國高級指揮官在1942年寫道，“這些女性簡直無所畏懼。”

5. 海蒂·拉瑪：奧地利發(fā)明家

不錯，我們知道：她是一位大美女。這就解釋了為什么她有20年的時間是在好萊塢電影中扮演蛇蝎美人。不過，當(dāng)她的其他聯(lián)合主演都在曬太陽或吸食某種毒品時，海蒂·拉瑪卻提出了無線通信系統(tǒng)，后來該系統(tǒng)成為手機、Wi-Fi和我們現(xiàn)代生活中各種常見技術(shù)的基石。

這只是她的眾多驚人成就之一，她原名赫德維格·伊娃·瑪麗亞·基斯勒，于1914年出生在維也納，父母是猶太人。年僅18歲時，她在電影《神魂顛倒》中裸體出鏡，引發(fā)丑聞。她曾嫁給一位納粹軍火商，但不久她就逃離奧地利，前往法國，后來又到了英國。在英國，她遇到了路易斯·B·邁耶，并與邁耶的米高梅制片廠簽訂了一份周薪3000美元的合同。

在拍電影的間隙，在二戰(zhàn)戰(zhàn)事正酣之時，她和作曲家喬治·安太爾提出了一種“秘密通信系統(tǒng)”的設(shè)想：在發(fā)射機和接收器之間傳輸信號時，“秘密通信系統(tǒng)”將隨機改變無線電頻率，從而為敏感信號加密，使任何潛在的攔截器無從破解。他們的發(fā)明在1941年獲得專利，為今天的Wi-Fi、全球定位系統(tǒng)、藍(lán)牙和某些手機使用的擴頻技術(shù)奠定了基礎(chǔ)。拉瑪一直富有創(chuàng)造性，她還發(fā)明了水溶性立方塊（一種能夠?qū)⑺兂深愃瓶煽诳蓸返臇|西），以及一種“基于手風(fēng)琴原理的皮膚緊致技術(shù)”。酷！

1. badass [?b?d?s] adj. 了不起的

2. settle for：（無可奈何地）滿足于

3. by all accounts：根據(jù)各種流傳的說法，一致認(rèn)為

4. guerrilla [ɡ??r?l?] n. 游擊隊員

5. slanging match：互相漫罵，吵罵

6. Laurence of Arabia：阿拉伯的勞倫斯，即托馬斯·愛德華·勞倫斯上校（Thomas Edward Lawrence， 1888～1935），英國軍官，因在1916年至1918年的阿拉伯起義中作為英國聯(lián)絡(luò)官而出名。

7. do sb./sth. justice：公平地對待；公正地評判

8. armistice [?ɑ?（r）m?st?s] n. 停戰(zhàn)，休戰(zhàn)

9. harpy [?hɑ?（r）pi] n. 潑婦

10. stealth [stelθ] n. （飛機等的）隱身技術(shù)

11. Iron Cross：（德國獎給立有戰(zhàn)功的官兵的）鐵十字勛章

12. squadron [?skw?dr?n] n. （空軍的）中隊

13. babe [be?b] n. （尤其具有魅力的）女孩（或女人）；性感的俏妞

14. femme fatale：〈法〉美女；女妖精；蕩婦

15. Louis B. Mayer：路易斯·B·梅耶（1884～1957），美國著名電影制片人，米高梅電影公司創(chuàng)始人之一，被稱為“好萊塢之王”。

16. MGM studio：米高梅電影公司（Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer），好萊塢五大電影公司之一，成立于1924年，由米特羅公司、高德溫公司和路易斯·B·梅耶公司合并而成。

17. interceptor [??nt?（r）?sept?（r） ] n. 攔截器

18. soluble [?s?lj?b（?）l] adj. [化]可溶的；可乳化的

19. tauten [?t??t（?）n] vt. 把……拉緊；使繃緊

20. accordion [??k??（r）di?n] n. 手風(fēng)琴