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Amazing Women - Marie Van Brittan Brown

The day before Halloween, 1922, in Jamaica, New York a baby was born to an African-American couple with roots in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The young baby was named Marie Van Brittan Brown and she would grow up to invent the very first home security system.
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Marie worked as a nurse and her husband, Albert, was an electronics technician. As one can imagine they worked irregular hours and their lives probably closely mirrored the family dynamic of today. With two young children, and the slow response time of police to her neighborhood where crime was on the rise, she became inspired to create a device to make herself feel safer in her own home.

Using four peep holes, a camera on a slider and a television, she was able to see who was on the other side of the door without fear. She also enabled the door to be unlocked via remote control. All of this took place in 1966. She and her husband were granted a patent for the system in 1969.
Image result for Marie Van Brittan Brown

What I enjoy the most about Marie's story is that she was quite like most of the population. A humble nurse that feared for the safety of her family so she did something about it and became, out of necessity, an inventor.

Have you ever thought of who the person might be behind your home security system? Have you ever imagined it might be a woman?

Let's take today to honor Marie and thank her for her contribution which has grown from a simple camera and peep hole system to an entire enterprise including ADT, Nest and countless other solutions for monitoring the safety and security of our homes.

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