10 Forgotten Historical Figures You Didn't Know Changed Your Life

Nellie Bly is just about the coolest woman who ever lived. She pioneered investigative journalist and developed techniques still used today to uncover ingrained corruption in institutions.

She began writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1885 after writing an impassioned response to a piece that referred to the working woman as a 'monstrosity.'

It was in Mexico that she truly found her niche as an investigative journalist, reporting on corruption within the Mexican government; until a series of exposés lead to her being expelled from the country.

When she began working for the New York World she went undercover with her most famous piece, Ten Days In A Mad-House, an undercover report from New York's notoriously brutal Blackwell's Island asylum.

The report, later published as a book, resulted in greater recognition and funding for mental health, as well as stricter oversight on the way such institutions were run.

She also read Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days, scoffed, and said 'I can beat that'. She did, going round the world in 72.

Through her tireless work Bly proved that women were just as capable as men, but maybe even more importantly she spearheaded investigative (and stunt) journalism, changing the way in which we think about society.