Women - Women's Innovations

Willie Hobbs Moore

⚛️ Mechanical Engineering ⚛️ Physics

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Mary Sherman Morgan

🔍 Rocket Fuel Scientist 🔍 Shemist

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Melba Roy Mouton

📊 Mathematics

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Ann T. Nelms

⚛️ Nuclear Physics

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Victoria Chibuogu Nneji

💻 Computer Science

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Amalie Emmy Noether

📊 Mathematics

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Virginia Tower Norwood

⚛️ Aerospace Engineering ⚛️ Physics 💡 Inventor

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Joan Murrell Owens

🔬 Marine Biology 🔍 Corals

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Andrea Elaina Grimes Parker

💻 Computer Science

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Deborah Parker

⚕️ Medicine - Traditional Healing Practices

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Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski

⚛️ Physics

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Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin

⚛️ Astrophysics 🔬 Astrochemistry

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⚛️ Astrophysics 🔬 Astrochemistry

1925, proposed stars were composed primarily of hydrogen & helium
Became a US citizen in 1931
Showed how to decode the complicated spectra of starlight in order to learn the relative amounts of the chemical elements of the stars
1925 proposal was rejected because it went against the belief the Sun & Earth were primarily made of approximately the same elements
1956, 1st female professor & 1st female department chair at Harvard
Completed her studies at Cambridge but was not awarded a degree because the school did not award degrees to women until 1948
1925, 1st person to earn a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College
Henry Norris Russell was generally credited for the conclusions she reached
Her studies & data on variable stars were used to determine the paths of stellar evolution
spent her entire academic career at Harvard
1st recipient of the Annie Jump Cannon Award in 1934

Born: 1900

Country: Great Britain

Education: Newnham College Cambridge never received a degree even though she completed all requirements because Cambridge did not award degrees to women until 1948; Harvard University PhD Astronomy 1925

Mary Engle Pennington

🔬 Bacteriological Chemistry ⚛️ Refrigeration Engineering

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Gisella Perl

⚕️ Medicine 🔍 Gynecology

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Radia Joy Perlman

💻 Computer Science ⚛️ Network Engineering

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Lulu Hunt Peters

🔬 Food Sciences - Counting Calories

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Lucile Petry Leone

⚕️ Nursing ⚕️ Public Health

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Clarice Evone Phelps

🔬 Nuclear Chemistry

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🔬 Nuclear Chemistry

Part of the team that discovered tennessine
Researches the processing of radioactive transuranic elements at the US Dept of Energy Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL)
1st African-American female involved in the discovery of a chemical element, the 2nd heaviest known element
Previously investigated the industrial uses of nickel-63 & selenium-75
Struggled academically in college
Couldn't find a job after graduation & joined the Navy; went to Nuclear Power School & learned "how to study" & graduated in the top 10% of her class
Spent 4 years on the USS Ronald Reaganoperating the nuclear reactor & steam generator chemistry controls
At a gala at ORNL to celebrate tennessine her name was left off the list & off a plaque; the lab claimed the error was quickly corrected but she fought for several months to have her name added to the plaque before they acquiesced
Is involved in several outreach programs to increase youth participation in STEM

Born: 1981

Country: USA

Education: Tennessee State University BS Chemistry 2000; University of Texas Austin MS Mechanical Engineering 2020; currently a PhD student at University of Tennessee Knoxville

Lydia Estes Pinkham

⚕️ Herbal Medicine

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Vivian Winona Pinn

🔍 Renal 🔍 Transplant Pathology ⚕️ Medicine

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Agnes Pockels

🔬 Chemistry

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Judith Ethel Graham Pool

⚛️ Physics Medicine

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Ann Preston

⚕️ Medicine

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⚕️ Medicine

1st female dean of a medical school in the US (Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1866)
Campaigned for her students to be admitted to lectures at Philadelphia Hospital & Pennsylvania Hospital to get the best educational opportunities available
Wrote petitions & lectures for the Clarkson Anti-slavery Society
1849, published a book of children's rhymes, "Cousin Anne's Stories"
Was in the 1st class of the Female (later Women's) Medical College of Pennsylvania & graduated in 1851 at the age of 38
1861, opened a women's hospital where students could gain clinical experience
1863, opened a school of nursing

Born: 1813

Country: USA

Education: 1847-1849 apprentice to Dr. Nathaniel Moseley; 1851 Female's (later Women's) Medical College of Pennsylvania MD

Jessie Isabelle Price

🔬 Veterinary microbiology

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🔬 Veterinary microbiology

1950s, isolated & reproduced the most common life-threatening disease in duck farming; developed vaccines for it & other avian diseases
Raised by a single-mother during difficult financial times
Was the only African-American in her classes; there were only 2 other African-Americans in her entire school
Wanted to be a doctor but couldn't afford medical school
Had to periodically take breaks from her education in order to work & save money for additional classes; condinued to work throughout school to support herself
Worked at the Cornell Duck Research Lab 1959-1977
1966, was awarded an NSF travel grant so she could present her findings at the International Congress for Microbiology in Moscow
1977, moved to USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WIto study environmental contaminants & diseases in wildlife, especially water fowl
Was a dog-lover & breeder; had a prize winning Corgi in the 1960s
Two of her vaccines are still commercially used in the US & Canada

Born: 1930

Country: USA

Education: Cornell University BS Microbiology 1953. MS Veterinary Bacteriology Pathology & Parasitology 1958 PhD Microbiology 1959

Sian Hayley (Leo) Proctor

🔍 Geology 🔬 Planetary Science

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Johnnie Hines Watts Prothro

🔬 Chemistry 🔍 Nutritionist 💰 Home Economics

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Lynnae C. Quick

🔬 Planetary Science ⚛️ Planetary Geophysics

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🔬 Planetary Science ⚛️ Planetary Geophysics

Specializes in planetary magnetism & volcanology
Studies Venus, Europa, & Enceladus (a moon of Saturn)
1st African-American staff scientist at the Smithsonian Institute's Center for Earth & Planetary Studies
2019, began working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center studying ocean worlds in the solar system & beyond; expanded her studies to include Ceres
2020, was the lead author on a NASA study analyzing 53 terrestrial exoplanets of a similar size to Earth; mathematically modelled their geologic activity & determined they could potentially sustain extraterrestrial life

Born: 1984

Country: USA

Education: North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University BS Physics 2005; Catholic University of America MS Physics Astrophysics Concentration; Johns Hopkins University MA Earth & Planetary Science 2011 & PhD Planetary Science 2013

Helen Rhoda Arnold Quinn

⚛️ Particle Physics 📚 Educator

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⚛️ Particle Physics 📚 Educator

Is a leading research scientist in the field of particle physics, a traditionally male field
Her major contribution is the Peccei-Quinn theory which implies a corresponding symmetry of nature (AXION as a possible source of dark matter)
Contributed to the search for a unified theory for the 3 types of particle interactions (strong, electromagnetic, & weak)
Chair of the Board of School Education that produced "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" that was the basis for the Next Generation Science Standards adopted by 30 States & the District of Columbia
Grew up in Australia; came to the US to attend Stanford University for a PhD (obtained in 1967) at a time when less than 2% of physicists were female
Did her postdoc work in Germany
She showed how quarks can be used to predict certain aspects of hadrons, now known as quark-hadron duality
Helped design the chart of Fundamental Particles & Interactions that often appear in classrooms next to charts of the Periodic Table

Born: 1943

Country: Australia

Education: University of Melbourne-transferred to Stanford; Stanford University BA Physics 1963 MS Physics 1964 PhD Theoretical Physics 1967

Lisa Randall

⚛️ Theoretical Particle Physics 🔍 Cosmology

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Rebecca G. Reed

⚕️ Biological and Health Psychology

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Dorcas Reilly

🔬 Food Sciences

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Negar Reiskarimian

⚛️ Electrical engineering 💻 Computer Science

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Eslanda "Essie" Cardozo Goode Robeson

🔬 Chemistry ✍️ Anthropologist Author 🏛️ Political Activist

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Julia Hall Bowman Robinson

📊 Mathematics

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📊 Mathematics

1st female president of the American Mathematical Society
1st female mathematician elected to the US National Academy of Sciences (1975)
Is best known for her work on decision problems & Hilbert's 10th problem
At age 9 was diagnosed with scarlet fever followed by rheumatic fever; missed 2 years of school; was privately tutored when recovered & completed the 5th through 8th grade curriculum in 1 year
Her father committed suicide in 1937 due to financial problems
Entered college at age 16
1984, diagnosed with leukemia
Made significant contributions to game theory

Born: 1919

Country: USA

Education: UC Berkeley BA 1940 MA 1941 PhD 1948 all in Mathematics

Sibyl M. Rock

🔬 Chemistry

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Helen Rodriguez-Trias

🔍 Pediatrics ⚕️ Public Health

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🔍 Pediatrics ⚕️ Public Health

Was a public health expert & women's rights activist
1st Latina Director of the American Public Health Association
Fought for reproductive rights, worked with women with HIV, & joined the effort to stop sterilization abuse
Experienced racism & discrimination after moving to NY at age 10; placed in a class for children with learning disabilities until she participated in a poem recital & was then transferred to a gifted class
Began her academic education in Puerto Rico in 1948; received her MD in 1960 at age 31
while at University, became involved with the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, campaigning for freedom of speech & Puerto Rican independence
Established the 1st center for the care of newborns in Puerto Rico; decreased the death rate for newborns by 50% within 3 years
Was an advocate for free abortions, widely available birth control for poor women, & the stoppage of non-consensual abortions

Born: 1929

Country: USA

Education: University of Puerto Rico BA 1957 MD 1960

Nancy Grace Roman

🔭 Astronomy

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🔭 Astronomy

Was the 1st female executive at NASA (Chief of Astronomy, 1960s through 1970s)
Known as "The Mother of the Hubble" because she was instrumental in making the Hubble possible
Created NASA's space astronomy program
At age 11, formed an astronomy club that met once weekly, learning astronomy from available books
In 1950 wrote the 3 top 100 papers in a year with over 3,000 publications Discovered stars composed of hydrogen & helium move faster than stars made of other, heavier elements & not all stars that were common were the same age
1954, went to work at the Naval Research Lab in the new field of radio astronomy
Pioneered the use of radio astronomy in geodetic work
Was the 1st civilian to visit Armenia after the start of the Cold War in 1956 to speak at the dedication of the Byurakan Observatory
Oversaw NASA's astronomy missions
Retired after 21 years at NASA in 1979 in part to care for her elderly mother; took FORTRAN classes & became a consultant for ORI, Inc 1980-1988
Returned to NASA as head of Astronomical Data Center at Goddard Space Flight Center in 1995 & was there 2 years; then taught another 3 years
Spent 10 years recording astronomical textbooks for Reading for the Blind & Dyslexic
Was discouraged from going into science by people around her; a high school guidance counselor sneered at her when she requested to take a 2nd year of algebra instead of Latin & said, "What kind of lady would take math instead of Latin?"

Born: 1925

Country: USA

Education: Swarthmore College BS Astronomy 1946; University of chicago PhD Astronomy 1949

Ora Mendelsohn Rosen

🔬 Molecular Biology

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Gladys Williams Royal

🔬 Biochemistry

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Vera Florence Cooper Rubin

🔭 Astronomy

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🔭 Astronomy

Pioneered work on galaxy rotation rates
With Kent Ford, discovered outer stars in a spiral galaxy rotate as quickly as those at the center
Helped establish the importance of dark matter in the universe
Her calculations showed galaxies must contain approximately 10 times as much "dark" mass as can be accounted for by the visible stars
At an early age built a telescope out of cardboard with her father & began to observe & track meteors
After graduating Vassar in 1948, attempted to enroll in a graduate program at Princeton but was barred because she was female; Princeton didn't accept females in graduate astronomy program until 27 years later
During her graduate studies at Cornell, she studied the motions of 109 galaxies & made one of the 1st observations of deviations from Hubble Flow
Her research provided early evidence of the supergalactic plane
Throughout her graduate studies she encountered sexism; at one point she wasn't allowed to meet with her advisor in his office because women weren't allowed in that area of the Catholic university
1st female astronomer to observe at the palomar Observatory (1965); had to create her own restroom as there were no facilities for women
1992, discovered galaxy NGC4550; half the stars orbit in one direction & half in the other with both systems intermingled

Born: 1928

Country: USA

Education: Vassar College BA Astronomy 1948; Cornell University MS Physics 1951; Georgetown University PhD Astronomy