When wrinkle-free synthetic fabrics came on the market, the cotton growers needed an extra edge to stay competitive. Ruth Rogan Benerito came to their rescue. A pioneering woman in the field of chemistry, Benerito earned her bachelor’s degree in 1935 and went on to get a doctorate. While working at the Department of Agriculture, she developed the easy-care cotton process which resulted in a wrinkle-free fabric. This was only one of her numerous inventions. She holds 55 U.S. patents and was recently awarded the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for Invention.