What We Wouldn’t Have Without a Woman: Letitia Geer and the Invention That Changed Medicine

When we think of groundbreaking medical inventions, names like Pasteur or Salk might come to mind. But tucked into the history of modern healthcare is a woman whose quiet ingenuity reshaped medicine in a profoundly practical way. Letitia Geer, the woman who invented the one-handed syringe.

Before Geer’s 1899 innovation, syringes were clunky, two-handed devices that often required an assistant to operate properly. They were difficult to use, less precise, and far more uncomfortable for patients. But Geer saw an opportunity to make things better: easier for doctors, safer for patients, and more efficient in practice.

Her invention was deceptively simple: a syringe that could be held and operated using one hand. This design gave medical professionals greater control and precision, and it laid the foundation for the modern syringe used in virtually every healthcare setting today. Whether it’s administering vaccines, drawing blood, or delivering critical medications, Geer’s design still forms the basis of this essential tool.

But like so many women innovators of her time, Letitia Geer’s contributions were long overlooked. She wasn’t celebrated in textbooks or paraded through history classes. Yet her work has had a lasting impact, with millions of people around the world benefitting from her invention every single day, often without knowing her name.

What we wouldn’t have without Letitia Geer is a simple, life-saving tool we now take for granted. Her legacy reminds us that innovation isn’t always about flashy breakthroughs; it’s about solving real problems in ways that change lives. And sometimes, the biggest revolutions come from the smallest ideas, especially when a woman dares to reimagine the ordinary.