Women
Maria del Socorro Flores Gonzalez
⚕️ Medicine
Born: 1955
Country: Mexico
Education: Autonomous University of Coahuila BS Chemistry 1976; National School of biological Sciences of the National Polytechnic Institute MS & PhD both in Imunology
Mary Lowe Good
🔬 Inorganic Chemistry
- served as the Under Secretary for Technology in the United States Department of Commerce from 1993 to 1997 under President Bill Clinton
- briefly served as Acting United States Secretary of Commerce from April 3, 1996, to April 12, 1996
- no chemistry course or lab was offered at her high school, so she would spend her time as a young student creating her own labs
- once produced a homemade photography studio in the cellar of her home after fixing up an old enlarger and reading up on the chemicals needed for photo developing
- initially attended Arkansas State Teacher's College (now the University of Central Arkansas) with the intention of being a home economics teacher
- received her first Q-level government clearance at age 19
- her graduate work involved studying radioactive iodine in aqueous solutions (used for treating thyroid conditions)
- spent 25 years in teaching and research at Louisiana State University and the University of New Orleans
- was the first woman to be elected to the board of the American Chemical Society in 1972
- was the first woman to be elected a division head of IUPAC
- 1989 was instrumental in introducing the "Chemistry in Action" program, encouraging IUPAC members to become active and visible leaders in areas of scientific and social importance, including the atmosphere and the environment, energy processes, advanced materials, and bio-technology
- 1980 was approached to become head of the Engineered Materials Research division at Signal Research Center, Inc. (previously Universal Oil Products, later Allied-Signal Inc.)
- 1981 was chosen as vice-president and director of research at Allied Signal
- became president and director of research for Signal Research Center in 1985, and president of Allied-Signal Engineered Materials Research in 1986
- held government positions under the administrations of four presidents: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton
- 1988 to 1991 was the first woman to chair the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation
- while Undersecretary led the Clean Car Initiative to develop a hybrid gas-electric car
- was the founding dean of the George W. Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
- 1988 to 1993 was president of Zonta International Foundation, an organization supporting the involvement of women in business and science, and the improvement internationally of their legal, political, economic, educational and health status
- delivered the very first Ullyot Public Affairs Lecture in 1990 at the Chemical Heritage Foundation, now the Science History Institute, giving a talk titled “Chemically Based Technology for 2010”
- described her mother as the smartest person she ever knew
- was the oldest of 4 siblings
- as a child enjoyed accompanying her father on fishing and hunting outings
- privately funded college tuitions for local students who were talented but lacked resources, providing an educational launchpad for many
- encouraged debate, but when she stood up and paced the room with her hands in her pockets, the debate was over
- donated her papers to the UA Little Rock Center for History and Culture
- held 4 patents
Born: 1931
Country: USA
Education: University of Central Arkansas BS Chemistry 1950; University of Arkansas MS Inorganic Chemistry 1953 & PhD Radiochemistry 1955
Evelyn Boyd Granville
📊 Mathematics
💻 Computer Science
- none
Born: 1924
Country: USA
Education: Smith College BA Mathematics & Physics 1945; Yale University PhD Mathematics 1949
Bettye Washington Greene
🔬 Physical Chemistry
- 1st African-American female PhD chemist to work in a professional position at Dow Chemical Company
- Attended segregated public schools
- Was an expert in latex materials & polymers
- Before joining Dow she taught undergraduate chemistry
- Worked at Dow for 25 years
- Was a charter member of Midland, Michigan Alumni Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta
- Held 3 patents
Born: 1935
Country: USA
Education: Tuskegee Institute BS Chemistry 1955; Wayne State University PhD Physical Chemistry 1965
Carolyn Widney Greider
🔬 Molecular Biology
- Her mother died when she was 7; her father gave her a great deal of room to develop a sense of independence
- Was dyslexic & had a difficult time in school
- Was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Elizabeth Blackburn & Jack Szostak for the discovery & work with telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA, is the key to the aging process & the growth of cancer cells
- Applied to 13 graduate schools & was accepted by only 2 due to her low GRE scores she attributed to her dyslexia Holds 3 patents
Born: 1961
Country: USA
Education: UC Santa Barbara College of Creative Studies BA Biology 1983; UC Berkeley PhD Molecular Biology 1987
Irene Greif
💻 Computer Science
- first woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; was a professor of computer science at the University of Washington before returning to MIT as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science (1977–87)
- Preferred research over teaching
- left academia in 1987 to join Lotus, where she directed its Product Design Group,[9] and created the Lotus Research group in 1992
- Lotus was acquired by IBM & she became an IBM Fellow and served as director of collaborative user experience in the company's Thomas J. Watson Research Center
- retired from IBM in 2013
- is featured in the Notable Women in Computing cards
- brought a more people-centric approach to software design
- CSCW married sociology, anthropology and computer science, focusing on learning how people actually work with computers, rather than how they say they work
- the fourth woman to hold the distinction of being an IBM Lotus Fellow
- in her free time likes painting, knitting, cooking and travel
- in her dissertation, she published the first operational actor model which in computer science is a mathematical model of concurrent computation that treats "actors" as the universal primitives of concurrent digital computation: in response to a message that it receives, an actor can make local decisions, create more actors, send more messages, and determine how to respond to the next message received
- brings her knitting to meetings, makes handbags, hats, and sweaters
- holds 1 patent
Born: Unknown
Country: USA
Education: MIT SB Mathematics 1969, SM 1972 & PhD 1975 both in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering
Helen Greiner
🔍 Robotics
💻 Computer Science
- moved to the United States when she was 5
- her long term goal is to understand the nature of intelligence
- became interested in robotics after seeing "Star Wars" when she was 10
- is an avid gardener
- the Tertill robots not only pull weeds but can prevent new weeds from growing
- she has tried everything from wakeboarding to kiteboarding to kayaking, & is always looking for new adventures
- her PackBots were used in the rescue effort after the September 11 attacks and for search and bomb-disposal in Iraq and Afghanistan
- known as the Robot Queen
- while working at NASA, helped in designing robots to do repair work in space
- helped design a robot named Scooba that can wash the floor
- played chess with her father at five
- by middle school she was hacking the family computer in order to control her brother's radio-operated cars
- it took twelve years to sell an iRobot at a profit
- had to overcome her fear of public speaking and flying and stop being an introvert when she became the public "face" of iRobot
- is a big snowboarding fan
- believes robots will eventually be in every home, doing tasks like walking children to school or cleaning homes
- her company's mission statement has always been, “Build cool stuff, deliver great product, make money, have fun, and change the world,”
- holds 6 patents
Born: 1967
Country: UK
Education: MIT BS Mechanical Engineering 1989 & MS Computer Science 1990
![Photo of Kathryn "Kitty Lou" nee Carter Hach-Darrow](/women_pictures/Hach-Darrow_Kathryn "Kitty Lou" nee Carter.png)
Kathryn "Kitty Lou" nee Carter Hach-Darrow
🔍 Water purification
🔬 Chemistry
💼 Businesswoman
🔍 Philanthropist
Kathryn "Kitty Lou" nee Carter Hach-Darrow
🔍 Water purification
🔬 Chemistry
💼 Businesswoman
🔍 Philanthropist
- flew her own plane to small airfields across the country to sell water purification kits
- was the first woman director of the American Water Works Association
- age 5 had her 1st ride in a plane (her father's) & loved flying ever since
- earned money for freshman college tuition by raising and selling turkeys
- accumulated over 7,000 hours flying time & was rated for multi-engine and instrument flying
- at the age of 65 she acquired her license to pilot a jet
- under her leadership Hach Chemical was instrumental in standardizing water-purification tests and pioneered many world-standard analytical instruments & their tests were designed to be simple and effective, with nontechnical directions that made their products easy for both chemists and non-chemists to use
- as of 2012, about 70 percent of municipalities in the United States used Hach Company instrumentation
- 1999, she and her son Bruce sold the Hach company to Danaher Corporation
- she & the Hach family were significant contributors to the building of Hach Hall, a new chemistry building dedicated at Iowa State University on October 8, 2010
- due to the Great Depression her father had to sell his beloved plane & leave his car dealership & moved the family to a farm where they struggle to survive
- her husband Clifford oversaw the company’s research and development while she dealt with business operations, marketing, and other general management
- she pioneered a direct-mail campaign that radically expanded the company
- was the first woman to serve on the board at Loveland’s First National Bank
- 1966 when the company reached 0ne million in revenue she celebrated by treating the entire company to her famous pecan pie, a tradition that accompanied subsequent celebrations
- Clifford died in 1990 & she assumed the job of CEO, growing the company to become the largest woman-operated business in the state of Colorado, with annual sales in excess of $100 million
- ss a young girl would crawl into her father’s airplane, outfitted in helmet and goggles, to sleep in the cockpit
- 1999 sold the Hach Chemical Company to science and technology company Danaher
- employed three full-time teachers to offer 42 unique courses on subjects ranging from basic writing skills to algebra to her employees resulting in fewer production errors in the following weeks, and employee retention increased steadily
Born: 1922
Country: USA
Education: Christian Female College (now Columbia College) transferred to Iowa State University Food Science major 1944 (no degree located, probably dropped out to raise her family after marrying 1943 when a sophmore)
Sossina M. Haile
🔬 Materials Science
- Developed the 1st solid acid fuel cells
- Was born in Ethiopia; family fled to the US when she was 10 after soldiers arrested & nearly killed her father who was a member of the transitional parliament
- Worked at Caltech for 18 years before moving to Northwestern University
- Has been recognized for developing new ways of using solar energy to make fuels like hydrogen & methane
- Holds 12 patents
Born: 1966
Country: Ethiopia
Education: MIT BS Materials Science & Engineering 1986, PhD Materials Science & Engineering 1992; UC Berkeley MS Materials Science & Engineering 1988; University of Stuttgart, final Year at MIT PhD
Alice Hamilton
⚕️ Industrial Medicine
🔍 toxicology
- did her residency at Hull House in Chicago from 1897 to 1919
- became a professor of pathology at the Woman's Medical School of Northwestern University in 1897
- 1919 became the first woman appointed to the faculty of Harvard University
- was a social-welfare reformer, humanitarian, and peace activist
- is sometimes credited with leading to the founding of the United States' Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- grew up in a privileged environment in Fort Wayne, Indiana
- completed internships at the Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children in Minneapolis and at the New England Hospital for Women and Children in Roxbury, MA
- 1895 traveled to Germany with her older sister Edith wherte she planned to study bacteriology & pathology but was met with a great deal of resistance because she was female & returned to the U.S. 1896 to study at Johns Hopkins Medical School for 1 year
- Hull House was her full-time residence from 1897 to 1919
- was Jane Addams' personal physician and volunteered her time at Hull House to teach English and art and also directed the men's fencing and athletic clubs, operated a well-baby clinic, and visited the sick in their homes
- even after moving to Boston to teach at Harvard in 1919 she returned to Hull House and stayed for several months each spring until Jane Addams's death in 1935
- her Illinois commission's efforts resulted in the passage of the first workers' compensation laws in Illinois in 1911, in Indiana in 1915, and occupational disease laws in other states
- 1925, at a Public Health Service conference on the use of lead in gasoline, she testified against the use of lead and warned of the danger it posed to people and the environment. but leaded gasoline was allowed & it wasn't until 1988 that the use of leaded gas was linked to the exposure of children to lead
- pioneered occupational epidemiology and industrial hygiene & also created the specialized field of industrial medicine in the United States
- during World War I, the US Army tasked her with solving a mysterious ailment striking workers at a munitions plant in New Jersey which she eventually linked to their contact with TNT so she recommended workers wear protective clothing to be removed and washed at the end of each shift, solving the problem
- examples of the anti-female discrimination she faced at Harvard were her exclusion from social activities, she could not enter the Harvard Union, attend the Faculty Club, or receive a quota of football tickets, & she was not allowed to march in the university's commencement ceremonies as the male faculty members did
- she & her siblings (3 sisters & 1 brother) were home schooled and completed her early education at a finishing school (Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut)
- 1924, she spent six weeks in the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Public Health Service, which asked her to survey what the country was doing in the field of industrial medicine
- was never promoted at Harvard and during her teaching career held only a succession of three-year appointments
- was forced into mandatory retirement at the age of 65
- in her eighties and nineties took an active role in campaigning against McCarthyism and what she considered the excesses of American anti-communism
- 1963 at age 94 signed an open letter to President Kennedy asking for early withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam
- wrote more than 80 scientific reports in 40 years
- caught the FBI's attention in 1942 by advocating for clemency for Morris Schappes, a former professor convicted of perjury &, although they monitored her activities & kept a file on her activities for years, they were never able to link her to the Communists & charges were never filed
- is often referred to as the mother of US occupational medicine
- University of Leipzig professors permitted her to attend lectures, as long as she remained “invisible” to the male students
- when employed by the Department of Labor she received no salary but when each report was ready for publication, the government bought it at a negotiated price
- known for her “shoe leather” epidemiology — wearing out the soles of her shoes from all the trips to factories, hospitals and even saloons to carry out research
Born: 1869
Country: USA
Education: Fort Wayne College of Medicine for 1 year before transferring to the University of Michigan Medical School 1893 MD
Margaret Elaine Heafield Hamilton
💻 Computer Science
- Created the term "software engineer" to describe her work
- Developed Universal Systems Language (USL) with its integrated system-to software "Development Before the Fact" preventative life cycle & its automation, the 001 Tool Suite
- Responsible for the software that allowed Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin to land on the Moon
- Wrote software used by US Air Force to search for possibly unfriendly aircraft
- Early in her career wrote software for predicting weather
- 1st programmer hired by NASA for Apollo Program
- 1976, with Saydean Zelden, founded Higher Order Software (HOS) to develop ideas about error prevention & fault tolerance; created USE.IT which was used in many government programs; left company in 1985
- 1986, founded Hamilton Technologies, Inc
Born: 1936
Country: USA
Education: Earlham College BA Mathematics 1958; studied mathematics at University of Michigan before transferring to Earlham College
Betty Wright Harris
🔬 Chemistry
- 1986, patented a simple, sensitive spot test to ascertain the presence of potentially explosive materials
- Began college at age 16
- Taught college level chemistry & math for 10 years before working at Los Alamos Labs
- At Los Alamos established a summer program for promising high school girls to encourage them to become scientists
- Created a chemistry badge for Girl Scouts
- After retiring from Los Alamos in 2002, she worked for the US Dept of Energy Office of Classification as a document reviewer to determine which documents should remain classified & which could be released to the public
- Holds 1 patent
Born: 1940
Country: USA
Education: Southern University & A&M College BS Chemistry 1961; Clark Atlanta University MS Chemistry 1963; University of New Mexico PhD Chemistry 1973
Alma Jerlene LeVant Hayden
🔬 Chemistry
- One of the 1st African-american women to gain a scientist position at a science agency in D.C.
- Expert in spectrophotometry (the measurement of how substances absorb light)
- May have been the 1st African-American scientist at the FDA
- Originally wanted to be a nurse but "fell in love" with chemistry
- Led the team at FDA that discovered the main ingredient of Krebiozen (an expensive cancer treating drug) was creatine, a substance that naturally occurs in the human body & has no cancer treating benefits, thereby saving patients a great deal of money
Born: 1927
Country: USA
Education: South Carolina State University BA 1947; Howard University MS Chemistry 1949
Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes
📊 Mathematics
- none
Born: 1890
Country: USA
Education: Miner Normal School for Colored Girls Degree in Education 1909; Smith College BA Mathematics 1914; University of Chicago MA Education 1930; Catholic University of America PhD Mathematics 1943
Elizabeth Lee Hazen
🔬 Microbiology
- With Rachel Fuller Brown discovered the antifungal antibiotic nystatin
- Her research had numerous applications ranging from saving infected trees to restoring paintings & artwork damaged by mold
- Her parents died when she was 4; she & 2 siblings were adopted by an aunt & uncle
- She & Brown donated approximately $13 million in royalties for nystatin to a trust fund whose function was to further science & advancing women in science
- Held 1 patent
Born: 1885
Country: USA
Education: Mississippi State College for Women BS 1910; Columbia University MS Biology 1917 & PhD Microbiology 1927
Ruby Louise Puryear Hearn
⚛️ Biophysics
- none
Born: 1940
Country: USA
Education: Skidmore College BS Biochemistry 1960; Yale University MS & PhD Biophysics
Hope Hersh
🔬 Biology
- Developed a bread recipe that is self-contained, crumbless, & can be made within its storage badge for astronauts to use in space (Space Bread)
- Is a PhD student at the University of Florida in Plant Cellular & Molecular Biology; expected graduation in December 2023
- Won $25,000 in NASAs Deep Space Food Challenge for her bread
- Bread comes in bright colors, orange, yellow, red & green, depending on what algae is added for nutritional value
- As a doctoral student, created Space Bread, a way for astronauts to enjoy fresh bread in space
- Created an FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene) bag that could hold all the bread ingredients, mix them, allow the dough to rise, & bake in the oven; bread had to be crumb-less because crumbs would float in zero-G & get into the equipment
- Used edible algae & bio-fortified yeast strains to make the bread more nutritious
Born: Unknown
Country: USA
Education: Michigan State University BS Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, & Plant biology 2017; currently PhD candidate University of Florida
Gloria Conyes Hewitt
📊 Mathematics
- none
Born: 1935
Country: USA
Education: Fisk University BA Secondary Mathematics Education 1956; University of Mathematics 1960 MA & 1962 PhD Mathematics
Mary Elliott Hill
🔬 Chemistry
- none
Born: 1907
Country: USA
Education: Virginia State College for Negroes (now Virginia State University) BS Chemistry 1929; University of Pennsylvania MS Chemistry 1941
Stephanie Hill
💻 Computer Science
💰 Economics
Country: USA
Education: University of Maryland BS Computer Science & Economics
Jane Hinton
⚕️ Veterinary Medicine
- 2nd African-american women to receive a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
- Co-developed Mueller-Hinton agar, a medium developed to isolate Neisseria, the bacteria that causes gonorrhea & meningococcal meningitis
- Never married or had children; loved animals & her garden
- Retired at age 41
Born: 1919
Country: USA
Education: Simmons College BA 1939; University of Pennsylvania Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (VMD) 1949
![Photo of Frances Elizabeth "Betty" Holberton](/women_pictures/Holberton_Frances Elizabeth "Betty".png)
Frances Elizabeth "Betty" Holberton
💻 Computer Science
- Holberton invented breakpoints in computer debugging. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Holberton
Erna Schneider Hoover
🔍 Logic
💻 Computer Science
- Believed to be the 1st woman to receive a computer software patent in the history of technology
- Invented a computerized telephone switching system while working at Bell Telephone Labs
- Worked at Bell Labs over 32 years
- Thought of her invention while recuperating in a hospital after the birth of her 2nd daughter
- Instrumental in increasing the number of female faculty while on the Board of Trustees of The College of New Jersey
- Holds 1 patent
Born: 1926
Country: USA
Education: Wellesley College BA Classical & Medieval Philosophy & History 1948; Yale University PhD Philosophy & Foundations of Mathematics 1951
Esther Arvilla H. Hopkins
🔬 Chemistry
⚖️ Environmental Attorney
- none
Born: 1926
Country: USA
Education: Boston University MA Chemistry 1947; Howard University MS Organic Chemistry 1949; Yale University MS 1962 & PhD 1967 Chemistry; Suffolk University Law School J.D. 1976
Nancy H. Hopkins
🔬 Molecular Biology
- Used genetics to map RNA tumor virus genes
- During mid-1990s at MIT became concerned she & other women were systematically discriminated against; was the initial chair of the committee to investigate unconscious gender bias; results published in 1999 & credited with launching a national reexamination of equity for female scientists; led to formation of MIT-9 (Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Yale, Berkeley, & MIT)
- Stated when she was an undergrad in the 1960s, Francis Crick (1962 Nobel Prize co-winner) put his hands on her breasts during a lab visit
- 2005, at an NBER meeting in Cambridge, MA walked out in protest during a talk by then President of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, to protest his sexist remarks
- Holds 2 patents with 2 pending
Born: 1943
Country: USA
Education: Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study BA 1964; Harvard University PhD 1971 Biology & Biochemistry
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper
💻 Computer Science
📊 Mathematics
🔍 US Navy Rear Admiral
- Co-developer of COBOL
- In the 1940s struggled with alcoholism, depression, & suicidal thoughts
- Has been called "The Mother of Computing"
- Was known as "Amazing Grace" in the Navy 1969, 1st recipient of the Computer Science Man-Of-The-Year Award from the Data Processing Management Association
- 1973, 1st person from the US & 1sy woman to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society
- Rumored to have coined the term "debugging" after she & her colleagues found a moth in a computer
- Had a clock oh her wall that ran counter-clockwise
- A US Navy Destroyer is named after her, the 2nd US Navy Warship to be named after a woman
- 1934, 1st woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics from Yale University
- Ay age 79, was the oldest officer on active US naval duty
- "It's easier to ask forgiveness that it is to get permission" is a quote from her
Born: 1906
Country: USA
Education: Vassar College BA Mathematics 1928; Yale University MA 1930 & PhD 1934 Mathematics
Sabine Hossenfelder
⚛️ Physics
🔍 Theoretical
🔬 Journalism Science
- author of Lost in Math: How beauty leads physics astray, which explores the concept of elegance in fundamental physics and cosmology. Hossenfelder currently runs an eponymous YouTube channel (subtitled "Science without the gobbledygook")
Born: 1976
Fern Yvette Hunt
📊 Mathematics
- none
Born: 1948
Country: USA
Education: Bryn Mawr College AB Mathematics 1969; NYU Courant Institute of Math Science MS & PhD Mathematics 1978
Yasmin L. Hurd
🔬 Neuroscience
- Expert on the neurobiology of addiction with a concentration on opiods & cannabis
- Grew up in Jamaica
- Her research showed CBD could be considered as a potentially significant option for treating patients recovering from opioid abuse 18) Nia Imara
- 1st African-American female to earn a PhD in astrophysics at UC Berkeley
- Was the inaugural postdoc fellow in the Future Faculty Leaders program at Harvard University
- Competed on the swim team at Kenyon College
- She & her colleagues have found evidence of a potential new planet in the M51 galaxy outside of the Milky Way galaxy
- With Dr. Anna Pancoast, co-founded Equity & Inclusion Journal Club at Harvard
- Has visited Ghana & South Africa to teach & advocate in programs designed to increase diversity in astronomy & other STEM areas
- 2020, founded Onaketa, an organization that connects students from underserved communities of color with free math & science tutoring
- 2021, appeared on PBS NOVA series
- Uses 3-D printers to create resin sculptures of molecular clouds so she can better study them
Country: Jamaica
Education: Binghamton University Biochemistry & Behavior; Karolinska Institute of Sweden PhD Neuropsychopharmacology 1990
Nia Imara
⚛️ Astrophysics
🎨 Fine Arts
Country: USA
Education: Kenyon College BS Mathematics & Physics 2003; University of California, Berkeley PhD Astrophysics 2010; Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow 2014-2017
Jedidah C. Isler
⚛️ Astrophysics
- none
Country: USA
Education: Norfolk State University B.S. Physics; Fisk University M.A. Physics; Yale University M.S. Physics & Ph.D.Astrophysics 2014
Deborah J. Jackson
⚛️ Aerospace Engineering
⚛️ Physics
💡 Inventor
- 1st African-American female recipient of a PhD in Physics from Stanford University
- Born into a military family, attended 13 different schools before earning a high school diploma in Brunssum, Netherlands
- Developed optical devices that could be used in military applications
- It took her 13 years to recover from a car accident in 1988
- Attended the launch of Cassini-Huygens at Cape Canaveral
- Holds 2 patents
Born: 1952
Country: USA
Education: 1974, BS Physics, MIT; 1980, PhD Physics, Stanford University
Shirley Ann Jackson
⚛️ Physics
- 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for 23 years
- Former head of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
- One of the 1st 2 African-American women to lead a national research University (RPI)
Born: 1946
Country: USA
Education: MIT BS 1968 Theoretical Physics, MS & PhD 1973 Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
Chavonda Jacobs-Young
🔬 Paper Science
- none
Born: 1967
Country: USA
Education: North Carolina State University BS Paper Science & Engineering 1989, MS Wood & Paper Science 1992, PhD Paper Science 1998; American University Executive Leadership Certificate in Public Policy Implementation 2008
Allene Rosalind Jeanes
🔬 Chemistry
- Inventor of Dextran, a blood plasma extender used as a plasma substitute to stabilize patients during Korean & VietNam Wars
- Part of the team that discovered xanthan which is used as a food thickener, stabilizer, & emulsifier
- Held 10 patents
- Area of study was natural polysaccharides
- Discovered Dextran after a soda company sent a sample of their root beer that had become thick & gooey to her Dept of Agriculture lab for analysis to discover what had caused the change in the soda; she isolated the bacteria causing the change & it was used to make Dextran
Born: 1906
Country: USA
Education: Baylor University BA 1928; UC Berkeley MA; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign PhD Organic Chemistry 1938
Mae Carol Jemison
🔭 Astronautics
⚕️ Medicine
- none
Born: 1956
Country: USA
Education: BA, African & African American Studies, BS Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 1977; MD, Cornell University Medical School, 1981
Evelyn Speter Jetter
⚛️ Physics
⚛️ Electrical Engineering
- Invented the automotive ignition transistor
- Her daughter, Alexis Jetter, believes she died at age 52 of cancer because of her long career exposure to low-level radiation especially while working at the Atomic Energy Commission & Lionel Electronics
- 1st woman graduate of Cooper Union's night engineering school (1950)
- She was the only mother on her block in Scotch Plains, NJ who knew how to use a slide rule & she taught neighborhood children how to use it
- While she invented things to improve TVs she hated them
- Was an excellent swimmer
- She worked on atmospheric/environmental sensing equipment for & with Beatrice Hicks, setting up a workshop in her basement in NJ
- Held 1 patent
Born: 1927
Country: USA
Education: Cooper Union BS Electrical Engineering 1950; Rutgers University MS Physics
Allene Johnson
🔬 Chemistry Educator
- none
Born: 1933
Country: USA
Education: North Carolina Centralm University BS Chemistry 1954; Ohio State University MS Chemistry 1963
Creola Katherine Johnson
📊 Mathematics
- One of NASA's Hidden Figures
- She figured out the orbits for space missions
- 1st student to integrate West Virginia University
- Had an IQ of approximately 162
- Graduated high school at age 14
- She figured out the launch window for Apollo 11
- Worked for the space program for 33 years
- Graduated college at age 18
- Used to play bridge during her lunch breaks at NASA
- 1st female in her division at NASA to have her name listed as an author of a report
- John Glenn reportedly refused to fly his mission until she verified the computers calculations
- Sang in the choir of her church
- Lived to be 101
Born: 1918
Country: USA
Education: West Virginia State University BS Mathematics & French 1937; West Virginia University-1 semester
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