THE WOMAN WHO SAW DANGER AND INVENTED SAFETY
MARIE VAN BRITTAN BROWN
Brown was a Black woman living in Queens, New York in 1966. She was a nurse, and worked long hours and often came home late at night. Her husband, Albert Brown, was an electronics technician who also worked at odd hours. They lived in a neighborhood where crime was high and police responses were slow. Marie felt unsafe, she was tired of being afraid every time she heard a noise at the door. So instead of just worrying, she decided to invent a solution.
She looked at her home and asked a simple question, how can I see who is outside without opening the door? At that time, there was no way to do that. If someone knocked, you had to open the door and risk your life. Marie came up with an idea that was brilliant in its simplicity. She designed a system with four small peepholes on her front door, at different heights so both tall and short people could use it. Behind the peepholes, she placed a camera that could slide up and down to look through each one. That camera was connected to a television monitor inside her bedroom.
She did not stop there. She wanted the system to do more than just see. She added a two-way microphone so she could talk to the person outside without opening the door. She added a remote control that could unlock the door with the push of a button; and most importantly, she added an emergency button. If she saw a dangerous person on her monitor, she could press the button and it would send an alarm directly to the police or a security guard. In 1966, this was like science fiction.
In 1969, Marie and her husband received a patent for their invention. The patent was titled "Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance." It was patent number 3,482,037. This single piece of paper changed the world. Her invention became the blueprint for every home security system we have today. Every video doorbell, every CCTV camera in a store, every baby monitor, every office security system, they all come from Marie's idea. Companies like Ring and ADT built billion-dollar businesses on the foundation she laid.
365 men who changed the world.
Kamikun John, Author 366 days of wisdom.
Post a Comment