TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Google Doodle today celebrates the 293rd anniversary of Swedish countess, scientist, and agronomist, Eva Ekeblad, who was born in the first quarter of the 18th century.

Ekeblad was born on July 10, 1724, in Stockholm, Sweden, and died on May 15, 1786, in Lidkoping, Sweden.

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As an expert of agronomy, Ekeblad studied several uses of plants especially potatoes. She helped move potatoes out of the greenhouse for mass-scale productions.

Ekeblad is mainly remembered for her success in extracting starch from potatoes to make flour, which also paved the way for vodka distillation.

Not only did she make potatoes a food staple, her scientific work also helped to increase the supply of wheat, rye, and barley, which helped reduced famine.

Eva Ekeblad also discovered a method of using soap to bleach cotton textile and yarn back in 1751.

For the contributions of her work, she became the first woman elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1748. It was an honor that had not been bestowed on another woman for the next 203 years.

No records of her participation in the meetings of the Academy were available, as the statutes confined membership to men. The Academy referred Eva Ekeblad only as an honorary rather than a full member in 1751.

CNET | NDTV | ERWIN Z