Stephanie Kwolek liked to design clothes as a girl. It wasn't until high school that she became interested in science.
Stephanie graduated from college and took a job as a chemist. Her job was designing new kinds of textiles. One day, while working in her lab, she noticed something strange in one of her experiments - a mixture that should have been clear and goopy was cloudy and runny instead.
Rather than throwing her experiment away, Stephanie asked her coworkers to test the new substance she'd created. It turned out to be amazingly strong and was eventually used to make a product called Kevlar.
Today, Kevlar is used to make things like bullet-resistant vests, lumberjacks' suits, helmets, fire hoses, and lots of other equipment to keep people safe and prevent injuries.
Toby loved to invent things as a boy. When he was 5, he got a construction set, and immediately threw away the instructions. His first invention was a vegetable peeler. As he got older, he also built a bicycle, a go-kart, and a motorbike.
Sara Josephine Baker was born in 1873. When Sara was a little girl, she was adventurous and would sneak out of the house when the circus came to town. Sara decided to become a doctor at the age of 16, after her father died from typhoid.
Murali Krishna loved to read as a boy. His favorite topic was science fiction, especially stories about space travel and robotic machines.
George Washington Carver was born a slave. As a boy, he was often sick, and liked to draw and paint pictures of nature. He loved plants and animals.
