Shortly after William Henry Fox Talbot announced his invention of photography in 1839, the amateur botanist Anna Atkins (1799-1871), daughter of a prominent British scientist, began to experiment with the medium. In 1843 she turned to her friend Sir John Herschel's recently discovered cyanotype process to publish her collection of native seaweeds. Over the next decade, Atkins printed and issued these bracingly modern photograms to her "botanical...
Did you know that the world’s first novel was written by a woman? Or that female authors had a hand in several literary genres, including sci-fi, dystopian, and rom-com? And guess who the world’s first billionaire writer was? Hint: Her most famous character’s initials are H.P. Read on to learn about history’s innovative literary ladies.