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.

千百年来，世界各地的女性们曾征战沙场，治理国家，写书立传，传道授业。她们涉足商业、旅行探险、造反起义、发明创造。男人做过的事情，她们都做了——男人没做过的很多事情，她们也做了。

改变了我们这个星球的女性可谓不胜枚举，所以，本文仅选取历史上最卓尔不群的几位女性介绍给大家。

1. 纳纳·阿斯玛乌：尼日利亚学者

“女性朋友们，有个警告。不要无端离开你的家。你可以出去获取食物或接受教育。在伊斯兰教中，探求知识是一项宗教义务。”纳纳·阿斯玛乌写道，她证明了笔利于剑——至少是一样锋利的。

纳纳·阿斯玛乌（1793～1864）出生在今日的尼日利亚北部，是一位很有权势的统治者的女儿。她从小受到的教育是真主希望她学习，并且不仅是她——而是所有女性。她的父亲认为分享知识是每位穆斯林的义务，他确保纳纳·阿斯玛乌学习了阿拉伯语、拉丁语和希腊语的经典著作。接受完教育时，她能背诵整本《古兰经》，并可流利地说四国语言。她与整个地区的学者和领导人保持书信往来。她还创作了有关战争、政治和神圣真理的诗歌。而且，在她的哥哥继承王位后，她成了他信任的顾问。

她因学识渊博而受到尊重，她本可以满足于此，可是她决心要把自己拥有的知识传授给他人。纳纳·阿斯玛乌培训了一批女老师，即jaji，她们到王国的各地去教育女性，而受过教育的女性会再去教育别人。（这些女老师还要戴一种听起来颇为醒目的气球状帽子，表明她们是引导者。）她们的学生被称为yan-taru，即“聚集在一起的人，姐妹会”。即使在今天，近两个世纪以后，现代的jaji们仍在以纳纳·阿斯玛乌之名教育女性、男性和儿童。

2. 波利卡尔帕·萨拉瓦烈塔：哥伦比亚革命家

在她短暂的一生中，她被称作“拉波拉”。据说，她生性勇敢、言语犀利、桀骜不驯。为了将她的祖国（即现在的哥伦比亚）从西班牙的统治下解放出来，她进行了斗争——一切都是在她假装坐在角落里穿针引线时进行的。

她出生于1790年左右，在叛乱中长大，当时南美洲各地抵抗西班牙帝国的运动风起云涌。她在1817年左右搬到波哥大，这时她决定发挥自己的作用。她冒充地位低下的裁缝和家仆，向保王党人的家庭提供服务，她可以在这些人家中搜集情报，并把情报传递给游击队；与此同时，她假装与保王党军队中的士兵调情，力劝他们逃离部队，加入反政府武装。嗯，她真的一直都在做针线活儿——为自由战士缝制制服。

她和她的援助者组织（似乎有几位像她一样的女性）最终被发现了。当士兵们来抓捕她时，她使士兵忙于与她对骂，而这时她的一位同志便趁机溜走把会成为罪证的书信烧掉。她拒绝背叛革命事业，并在1817年11月被判处由行刑队执行死刑。她被拖到城市的主广场，作为反面教材来警告任何有造反想法的民众。她大声训斥西班牙士兵，以至于敌人不得不下令把鼓敲得更响些，来淹没她的声音。她拒绝下跪，被枪决时敌人不得不让她靠在凳子上。据说她的最后一句话是，她保证会有人为自己的死报仇。果然如此，在她被处决后很长时间里，她仍在鼓舞着革命力量继续奋斗。

3. 格特鲁德·贝尔：英国旅行家、作家

我们可以把格特鲁德·贝尔描述为女版的“阿拉伯的劳伦斯”。但是，这个称呼并未充分说明她的影响力。人们现在所记住的T. E. 劳伦斯，更多的是他在电影和冒险故事中的形象，而非现实生活中的他。但是与劳伦斯不同，直到本世纪，在“贝尔小姐”协助创建的国家——伊拉克，她仍然是位知名人物。

她于1868年出生在英格兰北部一个富有的工业企业主家庭，后来就读于牛津大学，成绩出类拔萃。毕业时，她是获得该校现代历史一等学位的第一位女性。之后，她周游世界——两次，成为世界上最勇敢的登山家之一；自学了考古学，并掌握了法语、德语、阿拉伯语和波斯语。她十分熟悉中东，曾经考察过这里的沙漠，并与最有权势的酋长们有私交，因而第一次世界大战爆发时，她成了英国情报部门招募的“国宝级”成员。停战后，她成为英国在中东政策的推动者之一。她划定了美索不达米亚的边界，这里最后成为伊拉克。她扶植了伊拉克的第一任国王，并指导国王指派哪些人在新政府任职。

就在政府即将就任、她的计划马上要完成前数日，人们发现贝尔死于过量服用安眠药——到底是意外死亡，还是蓄意谋杀，人们无从得知。她的一位伊拉克同事曾告诉她，巴格达人民在一百年的时间内都会谈论她，对此她回应道：“我认为他们很可能会这样。”现在看来，或好或坏，人们的确在谈论她。

4. “暗夜女巫”：二战期间俄罗斯战斗机飞行员

是她们的敌人——纳粹分子给这些女性取了这个绰号。按照官方说法，她们是前苏联空军第588夜间轰炸机团的成员。然而，对于她们的作战对手德国飞行员来说，她们是折磨者，是貌似具有夜视和隐身等超自然力量的悍妇。德国的任何一位士兵只要击落一架她们的飞机，就自然会获得铁十字勋章。

具有传奇色彩的第588团是1941年10月8日根据约瑟夫·斯大林的命令成立的前苏联三支女性空军中队之一。这些中队的数百位女性选拔自数以千计的志愿者，是所有现代军队中第一批专门执行战斗任务的，而不仅仅是提供援助。

80多名“暗夜女巫”可以说承担着最艰难的任务。这些飞行员完全在黑暗中飞行，驾驶的是胶合板飞机，这种飞机更适合喷洒农药而非承受敌人火力。她们研发出一种战术：关掉飞机引擎，向目标滑翔，这样她们就能近乎无声地投掷炸弹；她们还采取三机编组飞行，轮流引开敌人火力，让其中一架飞机的飞行员投放炸弹。坦率地说，这种战术真棒——因为就连她们的敌人也不得不承认这一点。“我们简直无法理解，给我们造成最大麻烦的前苏联飞行员竟然是女性，”一位德国高级指挥官在1942年写道，“这些女性简直无所畏惧。”

5. 海蒂·拉玛：奥地利发明家

不错，我们知道：她是一位大美女。这就解释了为什么她有20年的时间是在好莱坞电影中扮演蛇蝎美人。不过，当她的其他联合主演都在晒太阳或吸食某种毒品时，海蒂·拉玛却提出了无线通信系统，后来该系统成为手机、Wi-Fi和我们现代生活中各种常见技术的基石。

这只是她的众多惊人成就之一，她原名赫德维格·伊娃·玛丽亚·基斯勒，于1914年出生在维也纳，父母是犹太人。年仅18岁时，她在电影《神魂颠倒》中裸体出镜，引发丑闻。她曾嫁给一位纳粹军火商，但不久她就逃离奥地利，前往法国，后来又到了英国。在英国，她遇到了路易斯·B·迈耶，并与迈耶的米高梅制片厂签订了一份周薪3000美元的合同。

在拍电影的间隙，在二战战事正酣之时，她和作曲家乔治·安太尔提出了一种“秘密通信系统”的设想：在发射机和接收器之间传输信号时，“秘密通信系统”将随机改变无线电频率，从而为敏感信号加密，使任何潜在的拦截器无从破解。他们的发明在1941年获得专利，为今天的Wi-Fi、全球定位系统、蓝牙和某些手机使用的扩频技术奠定了基础。拉玛一直富有创造性，她还发明了水溶性立方块（一种能够将水变成类似可口可乐的东西），以及一种“基于手风琴原理的皮肤紧致技术”。酷！

1. badass [?b?d?s] adj. 了不起的

2. settle for：（无可奈何地）满足于

3. by all accounts：根据各种流传的说法，一致认为

4. guerrilla [ɡ??r?l?] n. 游击队员

5. slanging match：互相漫骂，吵骂

6. Laurence of Arabia：阿拉伯的劳伦斯，即托马斯·爱德华·劳伦斯上校（Thomas Edward Lawrence， 1888～1935），英国军官，因在1916年至1918年的阿拉伯起义中作为英国联络官而出名。

7. do sb./sth. justice：公平地对待；公正地评判

8. armistice [?ɑ?（r）m?st?s] n. 停战，休战

9. harpy [?hɑ?（r）pi] n. 泼妇

10. stealth [stelθ] n. （飞机等的）隐身技术

11. Iron Cross：（德国奖给立有战功的官兵的）铁十字勋章

12. squadron [?skw?dr?n] n. （空军的）中队

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；荡妇

15. Louis B. Mayer：路易斯·B·梅耶（1884～1957），美国著名电影制片人，米高梅电影公司创始人之一，被称为“好莱坞之王”。

16. MGM studio：米高梅电影公司（Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer），好莱坞五大电影公司之一，成立于1924年，由米特罗公司、高德温公司和路易斯·B·梅耶公司合并而成。

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

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

19. tauten [?t??t（?）n] vt. 把……拉紧；使绷紧

20. accordion [??k??（r）di?n] n. 手风琴