Nellie Bly

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, better known as Nellie Bly, burst onto the journalistic scene with a bang, feigning insanity to expose the horrific conditions of a women's asylum. Her exposé, 'Ten Days in a Mad-House,' was less a polite suggestion for reform and more a full-throated scream that got things changed. A woman who gets herself committed just for a story? That's dedication, or perhaps just a serious lack of other viable career paths for a woman of her era. Either way, she delivered.

Bly didn't stop there, embarking on a much-publicized race against Jules Verne's fictional Phileas Fogg, circumnavigating the globe in a then-record 72 days. While Fogg had the luxury of being a figment of a Frenchman's imagination, Bly actually had to deal with ships, trains, and presumably, a lot of very wrinkled clothing. It's almost enough to make you kvell, if only she had a bubbe to call.

Later in life, she proved her mettle in the business world, taking over her husband's ailing manufacturing company and securing several patents. From exposing inhumane conditions to running a profitable enterprise, Bly was a woman of many hats, none of which, it seems, were yarmulkes.

So, while she was undoubtedly a force of nature and a credit to her profession, her Jewish bona fides are, shall we say, non-existent. She was Scotch-Irish, which, to be clear, is not a brand of kosher whiskey.