Women - Women's Innovations

Ashanti Montarius Johnson

🔍 Chemical Oceanography 🔬 Geochemistry

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Irene Joliet-Curie

🔬 Chemistry ⚛️ Physics

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🔬 Chemistry ⚛️ Physics

1935, won Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband Frederick, the 2nd married couple (after her parents) recipients
She & Frederick took great pains to seal & hide their research to keep it out of the hands of the Nazis
Was active in women's rights groups
One of the 1st 3 female members of the French government
Her mother & several of her scholar friends formed "The Cooperative" to privately home school their children for 2 years
Worked as a nurse radiographer alongside her mother during WWI; taught doctors how to locate shrapnel in bodies using radiography
Contracted TB during WWII
died at age 58 from leukemia likely due to exposure to polonium-210

Born: 1897

Country: France

Education: College Sevigne Baccalaureat 1914; University of Paris-Sorbonne BA 1916 & 1918 Mathematics & Physics, PhD Physics 1925 (research conducted at Institute du Radium)

Elizabeth Jones

🔬 Science Historian

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Lynda Marie Jordan

🔬 Biochemistry 🤖 Ordained Minister

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🔬 Biochemistry 🤖 Ordained Minister

Is an ordained minister
3rd African-AMarjoriedmerican female recipient of a PhD from MIT
1st female invited to the MLK Visiting Professor Program at MIT
1st person at Harvard University to complete a Master of Public Health & a Master of Divinity simultaneously
After her parents divorced, she lived with her mother, moved into the projects (public housing), & depended on welfare to survive
Her mother remarried when she was 11 & she had 12 step-siblings, plus 2 natural sisters
Participated in the Upward Bound Program
Was a Ford Fellow at the Pasteur Institute in Paris
1995, was the subject of a 1-hour documentary on discovering Women produced by Nova & WGBH-TV

Born: 1956

Country: USA

Education: North Carolina A&T BS, Chemistry 1978; Clark Atlanta University MS, Biochemistry 1980; MIT PhD Biological Chemistry 1985; Harvard University MPH; M.Divinity 2008

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

🔬 Cosmetic Chemistry 💼 Entrepreneur

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🔬 Cosmetic Chemistry 💼 Entrepreneur

1st African-American female to create & patent a permanent hair-wave machine
Was an instructor & executive for Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing company after the death of Madame Walker
Helped write the 1st cosmetology laws in Illinois
With Mary Bethune McLeod founded United Beauty School Owners & Teachers Association in 1945
1st African-American graduate of A.B. Molar Beauty School (1916)
Received her high school diploma in 1939 & a BA in Psychology from Bethune-Cookman College at age 77
1987, the Smithsonian Institute opened an exhibit in D.C. featuring her permanent wave machine & a replica of her original salon
Held 2 patents

Born: 1896

Country: USA

Education: Chicago Musical College, Certificate for Dramatic Arts & Expression 1914; A.B.Molar Beauty & Culture School 1916; Bethune-Cookman University BA Psychology 1973

Josephine Jue

🔬 Mathematics with a minor in Chemistry

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Katalin Kariko

🔬 Biochemistry

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🔬 Biochemistry

Her patented technology was used by BioNTech & Moderna to develop their COVID-19 vaccines
She grew up in Hungary in a small home without running water, a refrigerator, or TV
During her primary education she placed 3rd in the country in a biology competition
1985, when her lab lost its funding she, her husband, & 2 year old daughter emigrated to the US, smuggling in $900 pounds in a teddy bear
Her research focus since 1989 has been on mRNA-based gene therapy
Her daughter, Susan Francia, is a 2 time Olympic gold medalist rower
Holds 16 patents
2023, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Born: 1955

Country: Hungary

Education: University of Szeged, Hungary BS Biology 1978; PhD Biochemistry 1982; Postdoctoral work at Temple University

Isabella Karle

🔬 Chemistry

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Sinah Estelle Kelley

🔬 Chemistry

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Angie Lena Turner King

🔬 Chemistry 📊 Mathematics

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Reatha Clark King

🔬 Chemistry 💼 businesswoman

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🔬 Chemistry 💼 businesswoman

Former Vice President at General Mills
Her father was a share-cropper & her mother only had a 3rd grade education
Began school in a 1-room school for grades 1-7 at a colored church
Originally a home ec major before switching to chemistry
1st African-American chemist employed at the National Bureau of Standards in D.C.
The techniques & methods she developed for flame fluorine calorimetry are still used today by NASA
Has a strong interest in education & promotes equal education for all

Born: 1938

Country: USA

Education: Clark College BS Chemistry & Mathematics 1958; University of Chicago MS Chemistry 1960, PhD Thermochemistry 1963; Columbia University MBA Financial Management 1977

Sylvy Ruth Levy Kornberg

🔬 Biochemistry

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Mathilde Galland Danon Krim

🔬 medical researcher

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🔬 medical researcher

Biologist whose research led to amniocentisis
1985, with Elizabeth Taylor, founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research
1983, founded AIDS Medical Foundation (AMF)
Married an Israeli; while living in Switzerland assisted members of the Irgun in their efforts to purchase arms for their battle for the independence of Israel
1953-59, researched cytogenetics & cancer-causing viruses; was also a member of the team that developed the method for prenatal determination of sex
2nd marriage was to Arthur B. Krim, an attorney, head of United Artists, & later founder of Orion Pictures, & political advisor to 3 Democratic presidents; they were active in numerous civil liberties & human rights movements

Born: 1926

Country: Italy

Education: University of Geneva BS 1948 PhD 1953 Biology

Stephanie Louise Kwolek

🔬 Chemistry

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🔬 Chemistry

Inventor of Kevlar; signed the patent over to DuPont
Was a chemist at DuPont for over 40 years
Was only 4 feet 11 inches tall
Discovered Kevlar by accident while looking for a lightweight, durable fiber to use in tires
As of August 2019, is the only DuPont female employee to receive the Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement, the company's highest honor
4th female inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame
Her father was an amateur naturalist & she spent hours with him in the woods collecting plants & observing wildlife until his death when she was 10
Initially intended to work at DuPont just long enough to save enough money for medical school & wanted to be a doctor
In addition to Kevlar she contributed to products such as Spandex (Lycra), Nomex, & Kapton
Devised numerous classroom demonstrations that are still used in schools today including the Nylon Rope Trick
Held 29 patents

Born: 1923

Country: USA

Education: Margaret Morrison College of Carnegie Mellon University BS Chemistry 1946

Katheryn Lee Emanuel Lawson

🔬 Chemistry

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Henrietta Swan Leavitt

🔭 Astronomy

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🔭 Astronomy

She gave us the tools necessary to map out the stars in the universe, the period-luminosity relationship which allowed astronomers to measure the distances to stars
She was almost totally deaf due to an illness contracted after graduating from college
She gave us Leavitt's Law which relates the luminosity of a Cepheid to its pulsation period
Edwin Hubble used her discoveries to establish that the universe is expanding
Because she was financially independent, she was an unpaid volunteer at the Harvard College Observatory
She worked with Annie Jump Cannon, who was also deaf, at the Observatory
She discovered 1,777 variable stars
1913, discovered T Pyxides, a recurrent Nova in Pyxis

Born: 1868

Country: USA

Education: Oberlin College classes then transferred to Radcliffe; Radcliffe College BS 1892; Harvard University Graduate studies, no degree

Frances Glessner Lee

🔬 Forensic Science

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🔬 Forensic Science

Known as "The Mother of Forensic Science"
Of the original 19 nutshell dioramas still in existence (it's believed 20 were made) 11 of the victims are women
Began to construct the dioramas in the 1940s
The scale of the nutshells is 1:12
All items in the nutshells work; pencils write, window shades move, doors open/shut, whistles blow, etc
She hired Ralph Mosher, a carpenter, to work full time on the project & had an elaborate workshop set up in her home; she constructed most of the scenes herself taking approximately 4 months to build one
The most gruesome nutshell is "Three-Room Dwelling" where a husband, wife, & baby are all shot to death
Wanted to go to Harvard Medical School but was denied entry due to her gender; father also forbade her to attend college, insisting she marry instead or he would disinherit her (her family was wealthy, her father was the founder of International Harvester)
Established the 1st department of legal medicine (now forensics) in the country
Those with clearance, not the general public, can view the nutshells at the Maryland Medical Examiner's Office by appointment only

Born: 1878

Country: USA

Education: educated at home

Floy Agnes "Aggie" Lee

🔬 Biology

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Rita Levi-Montalcini

🔬 Neurobiology

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🔬 Neurobiology

1986, won Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Stanley Cohen for the discovery of nerve growth factor
Served in the Italian Senate as a Senator for Life from 2001 until her death in 2012
died at age 103 & is the longest living Nobel laureate
Had a twin sister Paola who was a painter
After seeing a close family friend die of stomach cancer, she decided to be a doctor instead of a writer
Lost her job as an assistant in the anatomy department at the University of Turin after a 1938 law barred Jews from holding university positions was passed
During WWII she set up a lab in her bedroom to study the growth of nerve fibers in chicken embryos
Survived the Holocaust when her family fled to Florence in September 1943 & lived under false identities with the help & protection of some non-Jewish friends
worked for Prof. Viktor Hamburger in his lab at Washington University in St. Louis for 30 years
1963, 1st female recipient of the Max Weinstein Award
She could trace her family's Jewish roots to the Roman Empire
At age 94 she sued Beppe Grillo, an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, & politician, for calling her an "old whore"

Born: 1909

Country: Italy

Education: University of Turin Medical School MD 1936

Chekesha M. Liddell-Watson

🔬 Materials Science

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Frances S. Ligler

🔬 Biochemistry ⚛️ Bioengineering

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🔬 Biochemistry ⚛️ Bioengineering

Her work on optical biosensors made it easier to detect toxins & pathogens in food, water, or when airborne
Holds 49 patents
Spent 33 years working in industrial & government research labs
Grew up training horses oh her grandfather's farm
Holds 2 PhDs
Went into biochemistry because "I like doing things with my hands & finding out about life in a hands-on way"
Made optical biosensors smaller, more versatile, & more automated
Developed the underlying technology for RAPTOR, a portable, automated biosensor used by NATO & to test water deliveries to US Navy ships

Born: 1951

Country: USA

Education: 1977 D.Phil.. Biochemistry, Oxford University; 1972 B.S. Biology-Chemistry, Furman University; 2000 Oxford University PhD Biosensor Technology