These 12 Women Changed the World and You May Not Even Know Their Names

Born in London in 1815, Augusta Ada Byron, countess of Lovelace, was the only legitimate child of the famous Lord Byron. However, it was Lovelace's mother, Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke, who saw to it that her daughter become a great scholar.

Tutors were hired to teach Lovelace mathematics and science, subjects that were not traditionally accessible to women at the time. She was a brilliant pupil, studying advanced mathematics with University College in London Professor Augustus de Morgan and developing a close friendship with Charles Babbage, the "father of the computer."

Lovelace expanded upon Babbage's work in an article published in a science journal, where she is considered to have written instructions for the first computer program. Her contributions to the field of computer science were not fully recognized during her lifetime, but in the 1950s, her work began to be cited and republished, and today she is considered to be the world's first computer programmer.

Inspired by a close friend's illness, a young Elizabeth Blackwell decided to pursue a career in medicine and in 1847 was accepted into Geneva Medical College in upstate New York. Her attendance was ridiculed and criticized by students and professors alike, but Blackwell persisted and in 1849 graduated at the top of her class, becoming the first female doctor of medicine in the United States.

Blackwell devoted her life to improving public health, opening up a successful and long-standing clinic for women and children in New York, as well as a medical college specifically for women. She further helped to establish the US Sanitary Commission in 1861, promoting the importance of sanitary conditions in health care. She died in 1910.

At the turn of the 19th century, Alice Guy-Blaché was the best known (and perhaps only) female film director in the world. Over the course of her career, she directed and produced more than 600 silent films and 150 synchronized sound films. She worked her way up in the industry, getting her start as secretary to Léon Gaumont and eventually being promoted to head of production for his company.

After spending most of her life in France, Guy-Blaché moved to New York with her husband and began her own production company, at one point churning out a film a week. She was known for her innovative filmmaking, featuring special effects, color, and sound experimentation; interracial casting; and smart scripts. She shaped the idea of what the director's role ought to be at a time when the technology was just beginning to develop, and in 2012, she was posthumously awarded the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

Zelda Wynn Valdes appeared on the American fashion scene in the 1930s and quickly rose to prominence as a designer because of her incredible skill for highlighting the female body. Valdes was frequently asked to outfit stars like Joyce Bryant (pictured here wearing one of Valdes's designs), Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, and Mae West, and her beautiful, curve-hugging gowns drew the attention of a young Hugh Hefner. The world-famous playboy recruited her to design what would become the iconic Playboy Bunny costume, a sensuous bodysuit that has endured as a cultural symbol to this day.

In 1948, Valdes became the first black woman ever to own a storefront on New York's most iconic street, opening up boutique Chez Zelda on Broadway. She also served as president of the New York chapter of the National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers and spent the later years of her career designing costumes for the celebrated Dance Theatre of Harlem. She retired in 1988 and died at the age of 96 in 2001.

Growing up, Nadia Boulanger's father taught voice at the Paris Conservatory in France, so she found herself enveloped in music from a very young age. After studying composition at the Conservatory herself, she went on to become an award-winning composer and arguably one of the most influential music instructors of the modern era. Her students included the likes of Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, Thea Musgrave, Quincy Jones, and Philip Glass.

In 1937, Boulanger also became the first woman ever to conduct the Royal Philharmonic in London. She went on to repeat the feat at most major American musical institutions, leading the New York Philharmonic, as well as orchestras in Boston and Philadelphia. She died in Paris in 1979.

In the 1940s, Elizabeth Marie Tallchief became America's first major prima ballerina as well as the first Native American to ever assume that role.

She was born Jan. 24, 1925, in Fairfax, OK, and grew up on the Osage tribal reservation. Her mother put her in ballet classes at the age of 3 and shortly thereafter moved the family to Los Angeles so that her daughters could pursue professional careers in Hollywood. At the time, many American dancers were choosing to adopt Russian stage names to grant them further pedigree, but Tallchief, proud of her heritage, refused to do so.

Tallchief went on to achieve fame with the New York City Ballet, performing for audiences around the world and playing muse to choreographer George Balanchine (her eventual husband). She originated such famous roles as the title role in Stravinsky's Firebird, the swan queen in Balanchine's Swan Lake, the sugar plum fairy in the The Nutcracker, Eurydice in Orpheus, and principal roles in Sylvia Pas de Deux, Allegro Brillante, Pas de Dix, and Scotch Symphony. She received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1996 and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame prior to passing away at the age of 88 in 2013.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is, without a doubt, a household name. But long before her, there was another woman who declared a bid for the presidency: Shirley Chisholm.

Chisholm made history in 1968, when she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress. She represented New York's 12th Congressional District from 1969 to 1983, making a bid for the presidency in 1972 when she ran for the Democratic Party nomination. She was the first woman and the first black person ever to attempt to do so.

Though Chisholm was unsuccessful in pursuing the highest office in the land (and that glass ceiling remains uncracked), she did leave a indelible legacy on Washington DC by founding the Congressional Black Caucus, an institution that continues to thrive well after her passing in 2005.

You'd be hard-pressed to find an American woman today who hadn't heard of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. Less well known, however, is the woman who argued the case before the highest court in the country, Sarah Weddington.

In 1972, at the age of 26, Weddington and her former law school classmate Linda Coffee defended "Jane Roe" (real name Norma McCorvey) in a class-action suit brought against the state of Texas, demanding the right of women to abort an unwanted pregnancy. They won the case in a seven-to-two decision that overturned decades of antiabortion statutes across the country.

In addition to arguing for Roe v. Wade, Weddington also ran a successful campaign to become the first woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives, where she served three terms. Weddington continues to work on behalf of women's rights, reforming rape statutes and blocking antiabortion legislation today.

Russian Valentina Tereshkova was a textile factory worker (although one admittedly fond of skydiving) when she was plucked from the masses and chosen to become a Russian astronaut, competing against hundreds of candidates in a rigorous selection process for a manned flight into space.

On June 16, 1963, Tereshkova piloted Vostok 6, completing 48 orbits around Earth over the course of her three-day mission. At the young age of 26, she was (and still is) the record holder for youngest female astronaut. By the time she retired in 1997, she had obtained the rank of major general in the Russian Air Force and still serves in her nation's parliament today.