Marie Van Brittan Brown - The Black Woman Who Invented the Home Security System

 

Marie Van Brittan Brown

  (October 30, 1922 – February 2, 1999)

 

 

 Although the system was originally intended for domestic uses, many businesses began to adopt Brown's system given its effectiveness.

 

 As a result of the innovation of a security system, she received an award from the National Science Committee,^[3] officially making her a "part of an elite group of African-American inventors and scientists." 

 

Brown was quoted in the New York Times as saying that with her invention “a woman alone could set off an alarm immediately by pressing a button, or if the system were installed in a doctor’s office, it might prevent holdups by drug addicts.”^[6]