Magdalena Villaruz
Magdalena Villaruz of the Philipines was a rice farmer who saw that conventional tractors did not work in muddy and wet paddy fields. She invented what came to be known as the Turtle Power Tiller which floated as it tilled the fields for planting. Villaruz also holds nineteen other patents for farm machines and was awarded her country's highest recognition for her inventions in 1995.
Hand tractor used to tilling wet fields
Ceres Goddes of Agriculture
References:
Women Invent:Two Centuries of Discoveries That Have Shaped Our World by Susan Casey (Chicago review Press, 1997) pp. 2-3.Patently Female by Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek (John Wiley and Sons, 2002) p. 131.
Web Sites:
Description of Turtle TillerHonored Women Inventors
Stamp Honoring Villaruz
