Martha Coston’s invention was not born in a laboratory but in the midst of loss, persistence, and necessity. Left widowed at just twenty-one with her husband’s unfinished notes, she transformed fragments of an idea into a revolutionary maritime communication system—the Coston Signal Flare. Against the odds of her era, she taught herself chemistry, refined pyrotechnic formulas, and built a coded language of light that gave sailors safety and hope on the darkest nights at sea. Her 1859 patent not only secured her place among the few recognized women inventors of the 19th century but also reshaped naval communication worldwide. This is the story of a woman whose brilliance turned grief into innovation and left a lasting mark on maritime history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices