Innovations

* Noether’s 1915 theory says symmetries in the universe give rise to mathematical conservation laws * Involves work on differential invariants in the calculus of variations * In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws * Noether's theorem has been called "one of the most important mathematical theorems ever proved in guiding the development of modern physics" * As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, she further developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras.

* Yates was a correspondent for the Woman's Era (the first monthly magazine published by black women in the United States) * Also wrote for the Omaha Nebraskas Enterprise, Southern Workman, The Voice of the Negro, the Indianapolis Freeman * Co-founder of Kansas City colored Women's League and the 1st Black YWCA in Kansas City * 2nd President of the National Association of Colored Women * Graduated with degree in chemistry * 1st Black woman to head a college science dept at Lincoln Institute 1886.

*In 1883, Winnemucca left her home in the Pacific Northwest and traveled across the United States. * She delivered nearly 300 lectures, addressing injustices against Native Americans. * The press called her the "Paiute Princess." * Winnemucca’s autobiography, “Life Among the Piutes” was published in 1883, the "first known autobiography written by a Native American woman."

* Yellow Bird Woman Cobell was lead plaintiff in groundbreaking class-action suit challenging the United States' mismanagement of trust funds belonging to more than 500,000 individual Native Americans. * suit challenged the government to account for fees from resource leases. A $3.4 billion settlement for the trust case to partially compensate individual account holders, buy back fractionated land interests, and restore land to reservations. * provided for a $60 million scholarship fund for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives, named the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund. * largest settlement ever in a class action against the federal government.

* Mama Shu's developed Avalon Village, a prototype for distressed and neglected communities that aim to become eco-friendly, resilient, and self-sufficient. * since 2008 she has bought up vacant homes on her block and turned them into facilities for her community. This includes a homework house including martial arts gym and art studio. * land on Avalon Street is used for an outdoor summer camp and community garden. * The village now has a new off-the-grid STEM Lab and high-tech solar streetlights which serve as free wi-fi for the neighborhood. * today she and her organization own 45 lots of land across three blocks.

established 1st Black social settlement house in the US in Washington DC & a daycare, library, funding organization, classes and training, playgrounds; 1913, founded a group of Black women, called the Cooperative Civic League, a Black organization which corresponded to the white Women’s Civic League; organized and led the Colored Social Settlement House in Washington, D.C., in 1902; was head resident at another settlement house in East Greenwich, Rhode Island from 1908 to 1912; organized to establish the Henryton State Hospital for Black tuberculosis patients;

Known for championing temperance, abolition, labor rights, equal pay, & women's suffrage

was "Aunt Jemima"; was one of the founding members of Olivet Baptist Church, the oldest active Black Baptist church in Chicago, was a minister and a philanthropist;

Widnall is internationally known for her work in fluid dynamics, specifically in the areas of aircraft turbulence and spiraling airflows. She designed MIT's advanced wind tunnel facility. One of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism with Raymond Pierrehumbert. She published research that analyzed vortices trailing from the wing tips of aircraft that was used to gauge the hazards of wake turbulence, known as the Widnall instability. She was the first director of the office of university research at MIT for the U.S. Department of Transportation. While she was Secretary of the Air Force she began the program to develop the expendable launch vehicle used for Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. She was Co-Chair of the 2018 NAS/NAE/NIM report on the Sexual Harassment of Women in Science and Technology.

Chawla was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space.[3][4] She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator aboard STS-87.[5] Chawla's second flight was on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia, in 2003. She was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on 1 February 2003. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Funk was a member of the Woman in Space Program, later known as the Mercury 13 (This term was coined in 1995 by Hollywood producer James Cross as a comparison to the Mercury Seven astronauts.) The Mercury 13 women were not part of NASA's official astronaut program, and never flew in space as part of a NASA mission. The participants successfully underwent the same physiological screening tests as had the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury. In the 1960s some of these women were among those who lobbied the White House and US Congress to have women included in the astronaut program. Regardless of the women's achievements in testing, NASA continued to exclude women as astronaut candidates for years. In 2021 Funk lived her dream, as she was launched into space in a suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin's mission Flight 16, making her at that time the oldest person to go into space at age 82. The story of these women was celebrated in numerous books, exhibits, and movies, including the 2018 Netflix-produced documentary Mercury 13.

As a commercial astronaut, Proctor was launched into Earth's orbit as the first pilot of the Crew Dragon Space Capsule, a part of the Inspiration4 private orbital spaceflight 2021. She is also the first artist to paint in space.

Tereshkova is the first woman in space, having flown a solo mission on Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. She orbited the Earth 48 times, spent almost three days in space, is the only woman to have been on a solo space mission. Twenty-six years old at the time of her spaceflight, she remains the youngest woman to have flown in space under the international definition of 100 km altitude, and the youngest woman to fly in Earth orbit.

Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.

Coleman was selected by NASA in 1992 to join the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 1995, she was a member of the STS-73 crew on the scientific mission USML-2 with experiments including biotechnology, combustion science, and the physics of fluids. During the flight, she reported to Houston Mission Control that she had spotted an Unidentified flying object (UFO). She also trained for the mission STS-83 to be the backup for Donald A. Thomas; however, as he recovered on time, she did not fly that mission. STS-93 was Coleman's second space flight in 1999. She was mission specialist in charge of deploying the Chandra X-ray Observatory and its Inertial Upper Stage out of the shuttle's cargo bay.

After working as a flight instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle and the first to command a Space Shuttle mission. She was also the first pilot to fly a Space Shuttle orbiter through a complete 360-degree maneuver.

Epps was chosen for the 20th class of NASA astronauts in 2009, graduating in 2011. Epps currently serves as a member of the ISS Operations Branch and has completed analog astronaut missions, including NEEMO 18 and CAVES 19. She is the second woman and first African-American woman to have participated in CAVES. She participates in a long duration mission on the ISS, after launch in 4 March 2024, as part of the SpaceX Crew-8 crew.

Dunbar designed the equipment and manufacturing processes to fabricate the ceramic tiles used in the Space Shuttle thermal protection system. In 1978, she joined NASA as a flight controller / payload officer, and was a guidance and navigation controller for Skylab during its de-orbiting and re-entry in July 1979. She was selected as one of the nineteen astronaut candidates in NASA Astronaut Group 9 in 1980. Dunbar flew on five Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1998, including two dockings with the Mir space station. She was the principal investigator of the Microgravity Disturbance Experiment using the Fluids Experiment Apparatus.

While at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., King worked on measuring the accurate heats of formation of gaseous fluorine compounds; she received a Meritorious Publication Award for her paper on fluoride flame calorimetry. This led her to invent special equipment to study very reactive materials for rocket fuels while avoiding explosions. One of these was a coiled tube that allowed fuel to cool rather than explode. Her equipment and techniques enabled King to study oxygen difluoride, a very toxic & explosive fuel that was subsequently used by NASA as a rocket fuel for Apollo 11. This research was important to the NASA space program; the techniques & methods she developed are still used today.

While at North American Aviation, Morgan invented Hydyne (1957), the fuel that powered Jupiter-C rocket that launched the United States' 1st satellite-Explorer 1. Hydyne was used in 3 launchings before being replaced by a stronger fuel. Morgan engineered the Hydyne-LOX (Liquid OXygen) propellant combination used by North American Aviation in their early U.S. rocket designs of the incipient space race. She was considered a rocketry pioneer as she was the only female technical analyst employed by NAA in Downey, California. Morgan suggested calling her new fuel invention 'Bagel', allowing the Redstone propellant combination to be then called 'Bagel and LOX' (a tongue in cheek reference to the brined salmon, lox, which is served with bagels and cream cheese). Her suggested name for the new fuel was not accepted, and 'Hydyne' was chosen instead by the U.S. Army.

Brill developed the concept for a new rocket engine, inventing the Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster (EHT/Resistojet) for which she holds US Patent No. 3,807,657. Her innovation resulted in not only higher engine performance, but also increased the reliability of the propulsion system. She also proposed the use of a single propellant because of the value and simplicity that it would provide. The reduction in propellant weight requirements enabled either increased payload capability or extended mission life. The Resistojet proved to be more suitable for controlling satellites’ orbit and their communication. Her invention became a standard in the industry and has translated into millions of dollars of increased revenue for commercial communications satellite owners.

Crews’ work focused on protecting Spacecraft and satellites from impacts from space debris and meteoroids. It was evident that when a spacecraft collides with even minuscule pieces of space debris the damage and impact could be severe. After multiple tests, Crews soon realized that the aluminum that is used normally to build spacecraft was especially vulnerable to debris collisions. The solution she thought of was a shield comprising "multiple layers of ceramic fabric, open-cell foam and other materials." This layered shield repeatedly shocked impacting particles in order to protect the spacecraft. She created a shield from fabric to make it weigh less, yet have more strength. This is known as the flexible multi-shock shield.

Darden’s first assignment at NASA was to write a computer program for sonic boom – the sound associated with shock waves created by an aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound. That assignment led to a 30-year career in flight research, specializing in supersonic noise characterization, analysis and reduction. By 1989 Darden was the sonic boom group technical lead for NASA’s High Speed Research Program. She worked with her team on designs to decrease the environmental effects of supersonic aircraft, including noise and atmospheric pollution. Darden and the team also developed sonic boom prediction and other analysis codes used extensively by the aerospace industry in aircraft designs in the late 20th century.

Ericsson has served as an engineer, technologist, instrument lead, and project and program manager at NASA for nearly 30 years, lending her technical and managerial expertise to projects including the James Webb Space Telescope, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2).

Hernández’s work as a micrometeoroid and orbital debris specialist ensured the safety of spacecraft in relation to orbital debris and other obstacles, such as radiation, through many analyses and assessments. During Hernánandez’s time with STABLE, she completed a project called Comet Sliding Spring which led Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Odyssey, and MAVEN safely in the comet event as Comet Siding Spring passed extremely close to Mars on 19 October 2014. This led Hernánandez to work with the Mars team for their mission. Hernández’s contribution consisted of ensuring that instruments used by NASA were being built safely and tested them to see if they performed properly when taken out on Mars.

In 2012, Jemison made the winning bid for the DARPA 100 Year Starship project, a one-year joint U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) effort "to take the first step in the next era of space exploration—a journey between the stars". The study explored development of a viable and sustainable model for persistent, long-term, private-sector investment into the myriad of disciplines needed to make interstellar space travel practicable and feasible. The goal was to examine what it would take — organizationally, technically, sociologically and ethically — to develop the ability to send humans to another star within 100 years. As Principal, Jemison and her organization, the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, was awarded a $500,000 grant for further work. Jemison is also the first Black astronaut on a space flight in 1992.

Norwood designed the Multispectral Scanner first used on Landsat 1, which enabled scientists to map & study the Earth. She also designed the microwave transmitter Surveyor 1 used to transmit data & images back to earth. Norwood continued to oversee Landsat 1-5 (#10 is scheduled for launch in 2030). She has been referred to as "The Mother of Landsat". She holds 3 patents (1 is classified) for her contribution to the Landsat program.

In 1952, Ross helped found Lockheed's Advanced Development Program, known as Skunk Works. She was one of only forty people who worked on this project and was the only female on the team.[15] The work done by Ross and her team for the Skunk Works project was highly confidential, and even now, most of the specifics are still classified.[4] However, it is known that Ross's work on the Skunk Works project involved "preliminary design concepts for interplanetary space travel, crewed and uncrewed earth-orbiting flights, the earliest studies of orbiting satellites for both defense and civilian purposes."

Valerino worked as a navigation engineer for the Cassini mission. Her further research interests include optimal control, trajectory optimization (low thrust) & flight path control. Valerino has worked on the x-38 vehicle (ISS Lifeboat) team, the proposed Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter mission, the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft & Artemis mission.

Since 2015, Aung has been the lead for Mars helicopter technology demonstration. The atmosphere on Mars is only 1% of the atmospheric density on Earth, so a key question was how to generate enough lift for flight. The helicopter had to be very light-weight, and its blades had to be able to spin much faster than they would need to do on Earth. In addition, the helicopter could not be controlled by someone on Earth because radio signals take too long to get to Mars. So engineers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory equipped Ingenuity with a computerized system that allows it to stabilize itself and navigate on its own.

In the mid-1960s, Buwalda Riggle was working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where they were designing an unmanned moon rover that would carry out survey work ahead of the first moon landing. The project was led by scientist Phyllis Buwalda, who had been homeschooled on a ranch in Colorado and had a tough, practical intellect. Her team came to her with a problem. We’ve got absolutely no idea what the surface of the moon is like, they said. Is it going to be sandy? Will there be sharp stones? Will it be hilly? We can’t design a vehicle until we know what it’s like. Phyllis had a brilliant answer. She said: It’s like the desert in the Southwest. Off you go. People asked her afterwards – how did you know? She said: I didn’t. But if I didn’t take away the uncertainty, my team couldn’t do anything, and there wouldn’t be a moon rover. So I just picked out something that I thought was the best bet. And I ruled out things which my team simply couldn’t build for anyway. see https://www.thehrdirector.com/features/leadership/what-the-surface-of-the-moon-can-teach-us-about-leadership-in-the-covid-era/

Cohen’s work on the Abort-Guidance System is credited with helping save Apollo 13. In other positions she worked as an electrical engineer on the Minuteman missile, the science ground station for the Hubble Space Telescope, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, and the Apollo Space Program.

Hersh developed a bread recipe that could be prepared on long space flights. Using fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) bags to store the dry ingredients, the bags could then be injected with water, kneaded, & baked in the bag, producing a crumbless bread.

Fanara researches the use of aquaponics for space missions. Fish can be taken into space as fertilized eggs and then grown to full size on board. Herbivorous fish like tilapia efficiently produce protein and can eat plant scraps from hydroponic systems that aren’t suitable for humans. Aquaponics combines aquaculture (raising fish) with hydroponics (growing plants without soil). It’s a sustainable system where fish waste provides nutrients for plants, and the plants filter the water for the fish. This offers a closed-loop system for food production during longer space missions.

Granville began a position at computing giant IBM in 1956, and was later part of the IBM team contracted by NASA in 1959, during the dawning days of the space race. Her job included programming early mainframe computers, where she worked on NASA's Project Vanguard satellite and first crewed Mercury launches. Granville later performed moon landing calculations as technical support for engineers on the Apollo program.

Jackson analyzed data from wind tunnel experiments and real-world aircraft flight experiments at the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley. Her goal was to understand air flow, including thrust and drag forces, in order to improve United States planes. Jackson worked on Project Mercury during the Space Race, also focusing on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around airplanes.

Johnson worked as an aerospace mathematician, moving during her career to the Spacecraft Controls Branch. She calculated the trajectory for the May 5, 1961, space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She also calculated the launch window for his 1961 Mercury mission. She plotted backup navigation charts for astronauts in case of electronic failures. When NASA used electronic computers for the first time to calculate John Glenn's orbit around Earth, officials called on Johnson to verify the computer's numbers; Glenn had asked for her specifically and had refused to fly unless Johnson verified the calculations.

In leading a team of NASA mathematicians to track the orbits of Echo 1 & 2, Mouton was the head programmer who coded computer programs used to calculate the locations & trajectories of spacecraft. This gave NASA the ability to track spacecraft in orbit. Mouton is also an expert in APL (programming language developed by Kenneth Iverson) & taught it at NASA.

During her time at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Canright calculated thrust from rocket engines and analyzed the data to increase performance. One of JPL's, and Canright's, crowning achievements was the successful use of rockets for bomber aircraft. After the successful development of jet propulsion bombers, JPL shifted its focus to designing a rocket which would reach a higher altitude than a helium-filled balloon. Canright, along with Melba Nead, Virginia Prettyman, and Macie Roberts, were responsible for calculating the potential of rocket propellants. In 1943, after the success of designing and testing of a rocket propellant, Canright became pregnant with her first child. Due to the unavailability of maternity leave in 1943, Canright had to resign.