Thank a Woman - Barbra Askins

Those jaw dropping images of the earth from space have the same thing in common with our old photographs we bring in to be restored: Barbara Askins, who invented the technology that allows us to do both.

Barbara was a teacher, and once her children were in school she returned to college. After receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemistry, she was hired by NASA. Though the technology to take pictures from space had already been invented, those pictures often came back too blurry to decipher.

Barbara’s invention used radioactivity to enhance negatives, thus resulting in clearer pictures. She also found that this process could be used to enhance pictures even after they’d been developed.

After patenting her invention in 1978, NASA put it to use with astounding success. In fact, it was found so useful that it was adopted outside of the agency for things such as x-rays and restoring old photographs.

In 1979 Barbara was awarded the title Inventor of the Year by the Association for the Advancement of Innovations and Inventions. She’s the first woman to receive this honor as a sole patent holder.

So, the next time you’re taking in some photographs of grandma and grandpa to be restored, or looking at images from space and wondering, ‘how’d they do that?’ Thank a woman. Thank Barbara Askins.