Women
Anna Maria Bailey
⚕️ Medicine
💡 Inventor
- Nothing was found about her except for 1 listing on 1 site & no patent was located in her name; was a doctor in New York
Born: 1905
Country: USA
Education: Unknown
Anna Deane Bailey
💡 Inventor
- assigned several of her patents to the G. H. Masten Co in New York
- lived in New York when she filed her patents
- no other information on her was located
- held 11 patents
Born: Unknown
Country: USA
Education: Unknown
Ruzena Bajcsy
🔍 Robotics
🤖 Artificial Intelligence
- Born in Bratislava (now Slovakia); she & her sister were the only survivors of WWII in her immediate family ; they were supported as war orphans by the Red Cross; later raised in orphanages & foster homes
- Known for her contributions to robotics & AI
- 1st female recipient of a PhD in Electrical Engineering in Slovakia
- Founded General Robotics & Active Sensory Perception Lab (GRASP)
- Introduced the idea of active perception in robotics
- Holds 3 patents
Born: 1933
Country: Czechoslovakia
Education: 1957 & 1968, MS & PhD in Electrical Engineering, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava; 1972, PhD in Computer Science, Stanford University
Erica Joy Baker
💻 Computer Science
- CTO for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; 2015, started an internal spreadsheet where Google employees reported their salary data to better understand pay disparity within the company; 2016, co-founder Project Include;
Born: 1980
Country: Germany
Education: University of Miami, 1 year, no degree; University of Alaska, 2001, Associates of Applied Science in Information Technology; Hackbright Academy, degree in Computer Software Engineering
Sara Josephine Baker
⚕️ Public Health
- Known for tracking down Typhoid Mary (Mary Mallon) twice
- Decided to study medicine after her father & brother died of typhoid
- 1898, graduated 2nd in her class from NY Infirmary Medical College
- Known as Dr. Joe & wore masculine clothing; joked that her colleagues forgot she was a woman
- Believed the way to keep people from dying from disease was to keep them from falling ill; led to her work in the field of public health
- Invented an infant formula made out of water, calcium carbonate, lactose, & cow's milk
- Educated mothers in the care of infants & the necessity of sanitary conditions to prevent dysentery
- Designed a method of storing silver nitrate used in newborns' eyes in single use vials to prevent contamination & subsequent blindness
- Convinced NYC to license midwives & place doctors & nurses in schools to regularly inspect the students; head lice & trachoma cases were reduced to almost non-existent as a result
- Started school lunch programs
- 1917, became the 1st woman to receive a PhD in Public Health
- 1st woman professional representative to the League of Nations, served on the Health Committee 1922-1924
Born: 1873
Country: USA
Education: 1898, NY Infirmary Medical College; 1917, New York University, PhD, Public Health
Ellen Harding Baker
🔭 Astronomy
- made a Solar system quilt she used as a teaching aid
- took her 7 years to make
- is 89"x106"
- now at the Smithsonian but has not been on display since 2018
- 1867 married Marion Baker, had 7 children
- died of TB
- qyuikt has a wool top embellished with wool-fabric applique, wool braid & wool & silk embroidery; shows the Sun in the center & 8 planets known at the time with their indicated orbits around the Sun & the asteroid belt all as shown in the astronomy textbooks of the time; also shows the myriad of stars beyond the solar system, the Galilean moons of Jupiter, moons of Earth, Saturn, Neptune & Uranus & Saturn's rings
- upper left corner shows a large comet likely C/1874H1 discovered in 1874 by Jerome eugen coggia
- A.D. 1876 is embroidered in the lower right corner
- 1883 the NY Times picked up the story of the quilt's completion from an Iowa newspaper & dismissed it as a "somewhat comical statement"
Born: 1847
Country: USA
Education: Unknown
Ella Josephine Baker
✊ Civil Rights Activist
- worked alongside some of the most noted civil rights leaders of the 20th century, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Martin Luther King Jr.
- mentored Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, and Bob Moses among others
- taught courses in consumer education, labor history, and African history
- rarely discussed her private life or marital status
- advocated widespread, local action as a means of social change
- believed in egalitarian ideals
- believed that the bedrock of any social change organization is not its leaders' eloquence or credentials, but the commitment and hard work of the rank and file membership and their willingness and ability to engage in discussion, debate, and decision-making
- 1946 took in her niece Jackie, whose mother was unable to care for her
- known as the "Godmother of SNCC" (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)
- was a teacher and mentor to the young people of SNCC, influencing such important future leaders as Julian Bond, Diane Nash, Stokely Carmichael, Curtis Muhammad, Bob Moses, and Bernice Johnson Reagon
- her philosophy was "power to the people"
- 1996, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit strategy and action center based in Oakland, California, was founded and named for her
- Ella Baker School in the Julia Richman Education Complex in New York City was founded in 1996
- 2003, The Ella Jo Baker Intentional Community Cooperative, a 15-unit co-housing community was established in Washington DC
- 2009 was honored on a U.S. postage stamp
- was nicknamed “Fundi,” a Swahili word meaning a person who teaches a craft to the next generation; died on her 83rd birthday
- was close to her grandmother, a former slave, who told Baker many stories about her life, including a whipping she had received at the hands of her owner
- often clashed with Martin Luther King and other male leaders of the SCLC
- was a powerful behind-the-scenes force that ensured the success of some of the civil rights movement's most important organizations and events.
- 1935 she pretended to be a domestic worker while researching an article about the inequity Black women workers dealt with
- Rosa Parks attended Baker's workshops in the 1940s
- was regarded as a brilliant strategist, a radical intellectual, and superb organizer
Born: 1903
Country: USA
Education: Shaw University BA 1927
Mary Baker Eddy
🔍 Religion
- also known as Mary Baker Glover, Mary Patterson, Mary Baker Glover Eddy, Mary Baker G. Eddy
- was born Mary Ann Morse Baker
- the opposite of Christian Science mental healing was the use of mental powers for destructive or selfish reasons – for which Eddy used terms such as animal magnetism, hypnotism, or mesmerism interchangeably
- there is no personal devil or evil in Christian Science, M.A.M. (Malicious Animal Magnetism) or mesmerism became the explanation for the problem of evil
- several of her homes are owned and maintained as historic sites by the Longyear Museum and may be visited (see Wikipedia entry for a full list)
- 1866 fell on the ice in Lynn Massachusetts & sustained injuries & she later credited this fall with leading to her development of Christian Science
- was rumored to have a secret addiction to morphine & a tendency to paranoia & hypochondria
- was greatly influenced by the teachings of Phineas P. Quimby a pioneer in what would today be called suggestive therapeutics
- she believed the cause of disease was rooted in the human mind and it was in no sense God’s will
- the basic tenets of Christian Science she espoused in her books are: 1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life. 2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God’s image and likeness. 3. We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts. 4. We acknowledge Jesus’ atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man’s unity with God through Christ Jesus, the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death. 5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter. 6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure (britannica.com)
- different sources cite different schools attended including the Pembroke Academy, the Holmes Academy & a private school run by Prof. H. Dyer Sanborn but all sources note she was sickly as a child & was often home schooled
- her 1st husband died during the first year of their marriage & before the birth of their only son
- her poor health & the wishes of her stepmother forced her tog ive up custody of her young son & they had no contact for over 20 years
Born: 1821
Country: USA
Education: See Cool Facts
![Photo of Aurora "Lola" Greene Baldwin](/women_pictures/Baldwin_Aurora "Lola" Greene.png)
Aurora "Lola" Greene Baldwin
⚖️ Law Enforcement
- grew up in Rochester New York
- was originally a school teacher
- engaged in volunteer social work related to unwed mothers and other young women in trouble
- stressed crime prevention and favored reform over incarceration
- retired from police work in 1922
- sometimes referred to as a "municipal mother"
- stopped working as a teacher in 1884 after getting married as was expected of married women at the time
- helped single mothers connect to social services, persuaded city officials to keep women out of saloons, and established an after-care system for delinquent girls
- during her retirement also assisted her husband and sons in running a bakery
- before becoming a paid police officer was an unpaid probation officer for girls in addition to her other volunteer work
- in 1905 after the city of Portland awarded $5,000 to the city dog pound for services, she petitioned to have half that annual amount to care for Portland’s straying daughters & was given the money on the condition she & anyone she hired pass a civil service test exam for police work
- as a detective she advised the Portland Vice Commission, championed the city’s Domestic Relations Court, and served as Oregon State Special Agent for vice control
- the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland commissioned her as an investigator for Immigration Bureau cases involving interstate prostitution
- during World War I the Federal Commission on Training Camps appointed her its West Coast supervisor for vice control near military facilities
- after her retirement in 1922 she served numerous terms on the Oregon Parole Board and the National Board of Prisons and Prison Labor
- her logbooks and other police records are held by the Portland Police Museum and are often on display
- she emphasized the importance of crime prevention and rehabilitation over punishment, advocating for a system that addressed the root causes of crime
Born: 1860
Country: USA
Education: 1877 dropped out of high school after the death of her father & later completed her high school education on her own;
Sarah A. Baldwin
💡 Inventor
- no information about this woman was found except for 1 citation about her invention at the noted website, the patent itself could not be located but was filed 1862 in Waterbury, CT
Born: Unknown
Country: Unknown but believed to be USA
Education: Unknown
Anna Baldwin
🔍 Agriculture
- enjoyed flying kites when young
- she & her husband ran a dairy farm in Newark, NJ
- 1st to invent a sucking milking machine
- her inventions were forerunners to modern dairy farming
Born: 1832
Country: USA
Education: Unknown
Alice Augusta Ball
🔬 Chemistry
- Developed the Ball Method for treating leprosy
- 1st female & 1st African-American recipient of MS from the University of Hawai'i; also University's 1st female & African-american chemistry professor
- Her graduate study advisor, Arthur L. Dean, took full credit for her leprosy treatment after her death
- 1922, Ball's colleague, Dr. Harry T. Hollmann, wrote an article attempting to inform people it was the Ball Method not the Dean Method but no one believed him
- 1970s Kathryn Takara & Stanley Ali, both professors at the University of Hawai'i, found Ball's research records & made efforts to have her recognized; they finally achieved this in 2000
Born: 1892
Country: USA
Education: 1912, BA in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Washington; 1914, BA in Science of Pharmacy, University of Washington; 1915, MS inn Chemistry, University of Hawaii
Ann Bancroft
🔍 Polar Exploration
- spent 5th & 6th grades in Kenya with her three siblings & parents while her father was a volunteer social worker & her mother taught English
- likes adventure books, polarfleece & chickens; dislikes naysayers & frostbite
- loved being outdoors & at age 8 would convince cousins & friends to join her in her backyard expeditions & campouts in Minnesota
- has overcome dyslexia & is a vocal supporter of dyslexia causes
- taught physical education, special education & was a wilderness instructor in Minnesota before quitting teaching in 1986 to join a polar expedition
- is co-owner of Bancroft Arnesen Explore with Liv Arnesen a Norwegian explorer
- established the Access Water Project & explored the Ganges River to bring awareness to the importance of clean water; Ganges Expedition took 60 days & travelled 1,500 miles of the river
- has co-authored 3 books about her expeditions
- was on the University of Oregon's rowing team
Born: 1955
Country: USA
Education: University of Oregon BS Physical Education 1981
Sookie S. Bang
⚕️ Bioremediation
- she & her team mix two common types of soil bacteria, Bacillus pasteurii and Sporosarcina ureae, with sand and “feed” the bacteria a rich solution containing both urea and calcium chloride; after using up the supply of nutrients, the bacteria die, but by that time, the calcium carbonate has crystalized the sand into solid limestone
- when perfected, her process for creating & fixing limestone is expected to be used to restore such monuments as the foundation of the empire State Building & Mt. Rushmore
- was employed at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology beginning in 1985 & held NSF grants there almost continuously from 1995 to 2008
Born: Unknown
Country: Korea
Education: Seoul National University BS & MS Biology, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering 1974; University of California at Davis PhD Microbiology 1981;
Romana Acosta Banuelos Bañuelos
💰 Finance
- born in Arizona to poor immigrant parents the family was deported in 1933 when she was a child during the Great Depression; returned to the US as a citizen at 18, a single mother with 2 young sons
- themain purpose of the Pan americanNational Bank she co-founded was to provide loans to Latinos who wanted to start their own businesses
- established the Ramona Mexican Food Products Scholarship for poor Mexican-American students
- during her Treasury nomination process US Immigration Service agents conducted a disruptive, publicized raid on her factory, arresting 26 illegal immigrants, a later investigation revealed the raid was an attempt to embarrass the Nixon administration
- by 1979 her company was making & distributing 22 different food products, had over 400 employees & sales of $12 million a year
- in the late 1990s allowed her 3 children to take over the daily operation of Ramona's
- worked in a laundromat, as a waitress, diswasher & tortilla maker before she was able to save $500 to purchase equipment & open her own tortilla & tamale business with her Aunt Helen
- in Miami Arizona attended a segregated school that was erected in 1923 for the town's Mexican children
- during the deportation process the governement paid for the transportation of the family's belongings to the Mexican border, they lived with relatives on a farm they worked
- an interview with her for the Arizona Memory Project can be located at azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/159422
Born: 1925
Country: USA
Education: most sources indicate she had only a middle school education while Wikipedia indicates she attended Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
Zhenan Bao
⚛️ Chemical Engineering
- Born & raised in China
- emigrated to US 1990 to further her education
- lists herself as an American citizen but her date of citizenship is unknown
- has been on staff at Stanford University since 2004
- was Chairman of Stanford's Chemical engineering department from 2018-2022
- worked at Lucent Technology Bell Labs for 9 years before working at Stanford
- was accepted to the PhD program at the University of Chicago before she completed her BA
- her acceptance was based on 2 awards she won as an undergraduate student
- both of her parents were professors at Nanjing University, her mother in Chemistry & father in Physics
Born: 1970
Country: China
Education: Nanjing University Chemistry major, no degree; University of Chicago 1993 MS & 1995 PhD both in Chemistry
Gilda A. Barabino
⚛️ Biomedical Engineering
⚛️ Chemical Engineering
- none
Born: 1956
Country: USA
Education: 1978, BS in Chemistry, Xavier University of Louisiana; 1986, PhD in Chemical Engineering. Rice University
Rodica A. Baranescu
⚛️ Mechanical Engineering
- Engineering professor at University of Illinois at Chicago 2005-2016
- taught at Politehnica University in Bucharest 1964-1978
- emigrated to US 1980 to work for Navistat (now International Truck & engine corporation & was eventually promoted to Chief Engineer for Engine Performance Analysis & managed the Fuels & Lubricants & Engine Group
- 2011 helped establish the Rodica Baranescu Award for Technical & Leadership Excellence awarded by SAE
- holds 2 patents in Romania
Born: 1940
Country: Romania
Education: French Institute of Petroleum BS Mechanical Engineering; Politehnica University of Bucharest MS Mechanical Engineering 1961 & PhD Mechanical Engineering & Thermo Sciences
Cornelia I. Bargmann
🔬 Biochemistry
🔬 Neurobiology
- Appointed by President Obama as co-chairwoman of the advisory commission for the Brain Initiative
- Made a discovery that ultimately led to the breast cancer drug Herceptin
- 1993, conducted experiments that determined worms could smell
- Helped identify the role of Ras in bladder cancer
- Identified SYG-1 a "matchmaker" molecule that directs neurons to form connections with each other during development
Born: 1961
Country: USA
Education: 1981, BA in Biochemistry University of Georgia, 1987; PhD in Biology, MIT
Amira Barkal
⚕️ Medicine
- became interested in cancer research after her grandmother was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, did not respond to treatment but entered a clinical trial that extended her life by 20 years
- has 2 patents pending, 1st analysis of polymorphisms in sirp-alpha for evaluating response to immunotherapy & 2nd compositions & methods for inducing phagocytosis
- discovered CD24 protein as part of her dissertation research
Born: Unknown
Country: USA
Education: Oregon state University BS Biochemistry & Biophysics; Stanford University School of Medicine MD 2017, PhD Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine 2021
Rayyanah Barnawi
⚛️ Biomedical Engineer
- enjoys outdoor activities like scuba diving, hang gliding, ledge swinging, hiking, & rafting
- 2014 participated in wingsuit flying training in dubai
- 2022 participated in centrifuge & hypoxic training in Saudi arabia
- has spent 9days 5 hours 27 minutes in space
- May 22, 2023 arrived at ISS on board SpaceX ship Crew Dragon Freedom
- took Arabic coffee with her to drink on the ISS
Born: 1988
Country: Saudi Arabia
Education: University of Otago New Zealand BBioMed, Genetics, Reproductive & Development; Alfaisal University MS Biomedical Sciences, Cancer Stem Cells; UNSW Health Sciences 2008
Betty Jean Jennings Bartik
💻 Computer Science
- 1 of the 6 Women who worked on ENIAC. The day before it debuted, the world’s first general-purpose computer failed to work & it was up to seven women to stay late and make the beast, dubbed ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) operational
- retired from the computer industry in 1986 & spent the next 25 years as a real estate agent
- content-management framework Drupal's default theme, Bartik, is named in her honor
- was the 6th of 7 children, father was a teacher & farmer
- as a child would ride on horseback to her grandmother's daily, grandmother bought a newspaper daily for her to read & was a role model for her
- began her education in a 1-room schoolhouse & gained recognition for her softball pitching skills; once pitched a no-hit, no-run game; was paid $2 per game to pitch during summers
- moved in with her sister for the freshman year of high school because there was no high school in her town, after that year moved back home (30 miles) & was allowed to drive the 2 miles to the bus to get to school when she was 14
- graduated high school at 16 & was salutatorian
- originally intended to major in journalism but switched major to math because she hated her advisor
- the ENIAC Women were known as the "Sensational six"
- had no manual for how to run the ENIAC & weren't allowed to be in the same room with it until their security checks were completed; learned how to program it by studying construction diagrams & interviewing the engineers who built it then used the information gathered to teach themselves the skills they needed to run it
- The congratulations for the success of ENIAC were given to the engineers, John Mauchly & John Eckert; the women didn't receive recognition for their roles until 1985
- several documentaries were later made to give credit for their work
- her autobiography "Pioneer Programmer: Jean Jennings Bartik & the Computer That Changed the World" was published posthumously in 2013
- a computing museum in Maryville, Missouri is dedicated to the history of computing & her career
- grew up in a 4-room house & worked the fields of the family farm
- was the only math major in her college graduating class; 2 courses were arranged as tutorials & taught by retired teachers so she could graduate
- was a devoted bridge palyer
Born: 1924
Country: USA
Education: Northwest Missouri State University BS Mathematics 1945; University of Pennsylvania MS English 1967
Helen Blair Bartlett
🔍 Geology
🔍 Mineralogy
🔍 Petrographer
- Known for her contributions to the design of spark plug insulators
- Spent her entire working career at AC Ceramics Research Dept within General Motors
- Pushed gender boundaries within the transportation industry-a traditionally male domain
- Briefly left GM to work on the Manhattan Project
- Was an avid golfer & supporter of science fairs
- 1st female to attain a top technical position at GM (1959)
- Held 7 patents
Born: 1901
Country: USA
Education: Ohio Wesleyan University BS Geology 1927; Ohio State University PhD Mineralogy 1931
Clarissa (Clara) Harlowe Barton
⚕️ Nursing
- 1852 opened 1 of the 1st free public schools in New Jersey, enrollment went from 5 to 600 & the townspeople hired a male to run the school because they felt it was improper for a female to run it
- was nicknamed "The Angel of the Battlefield"81854 began working at the US Patent Office in DC & earning the same as her male counterparts, was demoted after 3 years & quit because she wouldn't work for less than her male colleagues were making, returned in 1860 but left again to care for the wounded during the Civil War
- was the youngest of 5 children
- some sources note she was home schooled while others indicate she was sent to school with her brother when she was 3
- when she was 15 she established a school for the children of the workers at her father's saw mill & taught there
- was 1 of the 1st women to be employed as a clerk by the Federal Government
- was very shy & often teased as a child because of her lisp
- took inspiration from Florence Nightingale
- 1883-84 was superintendent of Women's Reformatory Prison in Sherborn, MA
- would write down the words of dying soldiers to pass on to their families
- 1869 while on a trip to Switzerland learned about the Red Cross movement, volunteered with the International Committee of the Red Cross providing civilian relief during the Franco-Prussian War
- the silk brocade dress she wore throughout the 1860s for special occasions & speaking engagements was donated to the Red Cross by her great, great, great niece BarbaraBovender
- 1832 at age 10 was nurse to her brother David for 2 years after he fell from the rafters of a barn he was helping build & suffered a brain injury, she administered his medications learning about them & learning how to perform leeching
- a statue of her was erected in Santiago, chile to commemorateher aid to refugees & prisoners of the Spanish-american War
- was forced to resign as President of the Red Cross in 1904 after a controversy about her handling of agency funds, sometimes mixing them with her personal finances & it was felt her egotistical leadership style did not fit well with a charitable agency
- 1975 her home in Glen Echo, MD was established as a Heritage Site, the 1st such site dedicated to the accomplishments of a woman
- there are over 25 shools, numerous streets, libraries, homeless shelters, hospitals & clinics, buildings, a giant sequoia tree, & a crater on Venus named after her
- her image has appeared on US postage stamps
- June 1864 she was formally appointed superintendent of nurses for the Army of the James
- it was her idea to incorporate disaster relief into the core mission statement of the American Red Cross & the idea was later adopted by the International red Cross
Born: 1821
Country: USA
Education: home school, self-taught nursing skills; attended Clinton Liberal Institute 1850-51; earned her 1st teaching certificate 1837
Regina Barzilay
💻 Computer Science
- has been teaching & doing research at MIT since 2003
- emigrated to Israel with her parents when she was 20
- diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 which prompted her to focus her research on oncology
Born: 1970
Country: Moldova
Education: Ben Gurion University of the Negev BS 1993 & MS 1997; Columbia University PhD Computer Science 2002; Postdoc at Cornell University 2003
Florence Bascom
🔍 Geology
- known as "The Stone Lady"
- during her PhD classes at Johns Hopkins University she had to sit behind a screen so she wouldn't "disturb the male students"
- Father was a professor then President of the University of Wisconsin & encouraged her scientific pursuits by taking her & her siblings on trips in the area around their home to explore the wonders of nature; he also maintained an observatory & laboratory
- began college at age 15
- taught at Ohio State University 1893-95
- founded the Dept of Geology at Bryn Mawr College 1895
- was associate editor of American Geologist 1896-1908
- a crater on Venus, 1985 asteroid, a prehistoric postglacial lake in Massachusetts, a geosic center in Reston virginia, an award, & a lab at Johns Hopkins University are named after her
- published over 40 articles on genetic petrography, geomorphology (specifically the provenance of surficial deposits), & gravel
- did not cook or iron, loved horses & dogs
- a collection of her papers are housed at Smith College & another collection are at Bryn Mawr College
- trained most of the female geologists in the US during the early 20th century
- retired from Bryn Mawr 1928 & the USGS 1936
Born: 1862
Country: USA
Education: University of Wisconsin Madison BA 1882, BS 1884, MS Geology 1887; Johns Hopkins University 1893
Janet Rita Emerson Bashen
💻 Software Inventor
- family moved to Huntsville, Alabama from Ohio when she was very young
- attended segregated schools until the 5th grade in Huntsville
- her mother was the 1st African-american er nurse in Huntsville
- after graduation from the University of Houston worked for an insurance company handling EEO-related claims
- 1994 received a $5,000 loan from her mother & started Bashen Vorp to investigate discrimination claims filed by employees from her home
- testified before the US House of Representatives in 2000 that civil rights & employee misconduct investigations should be exempt from the Fair Credit Reporting Act
Born: 1957
Country: USA
Education: University of Houston BS Legal Studies & government; Harvard University Women & Power: Leadership in a New World certificate; USC Doctor of Social Work 2023; Tulane University Law School Master of Jurisprudence, Labor & Employment Law; University of Houston Law Center 40 hours of Mediation training; Alabama A&M (did not graduate); Postgraduate work Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Administration
![Photo of Elizabeth "Liz" Ann Bates](/women_pictures/Bates_Elizabeth "Liz" Ann.png)
Elizabeth "Liz" Ann Bates
🔬 Cognitive Science
🔍 Linguistics
- served as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1976-1977 and at the National Research Council Institute of Psychology in Rome
- The Elizabeth Bates Graduate Research Fund was established at UCSD in her memory to assist graduate students' research
- died after a 1-year battle with pancreatic cancer
- was on the faculty of the University of colorado 1974-81
Born: 1947
Country: USA
Education: St Louis University BA 1968; University of Chicago MA 1971 & PhD 1974 both in Human Development
Patricia Era Bath
🔍 Ophthalmology
- 1st female member of Jules Stein Eye Institute, to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, & elected to the honorary staff of UCLA Medical Center
- Discovered & invented laserphaco, a new device & technique for cataract surgery
- 1st African-american female in the US to receive a medical patent (1988)
- Founded the non-profit American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness in DC
- 1st African-American to serve as a resident in ophthalmology at NYU (1973)
- By the time she reached High School, she was a NSF scholar
- her cancer research earned a front page feature in the NY Times
- Studied the connections between cancer, nutrition, & stress, concluding cancer itself was a catabolic disease & tumors growth was a symptom
- Discovered a mathematical equation that could be used to predict cancer cell growth
- Co-founder of Student National Medical Association; 1965 was its 1st female president
- Summer 1968, organized & led Howard University medical students in providing volunteer health care services for the Poor People's Campaign in Resurrection City in DC
- Held 5 patents
Born: 1942
Country: USA
Education: 1964, BA Chemistry, Hunter College; 1968, Medical Degree, Howard University
Suzy Batiz Young
💼 Entrepreneur
- has participated in ninety-four ayahuasca ceremonies as of 2019
- in 2020 she took a 30 foot inflatable poop emoji on tour & people could enter the structure, sit on a giant toilet & "flush" away the poopy things in their life to get rid of them (such as a poopy ex or emotional baggage holding them back)
- has survived poverty, sexual and domestic abuse, depression, two bankruptcies and a suicide attempt
- her first ad for poo-pourri featured a red-headed actress with a British accent sitting on a toilet talking about poo & loaded with scatological puns titled Girls Don't Poop
- owns 90% of her company with her 3 children owning the remaining 3%
- entered bikini contests and ran a business selling lingerie to strippers to support her family
- had an idea for a recruiting website that would match potential employees to careers based on company culture but her financial backers withdrew and she filed bankruptcy for the 2nd time
- 2023 began a relationship with a musician (Keite Young known as Preacher & they married September 2023, her 4th marriage) & the 2 have written 30 songs & are working on 3 albums
- 2022 company rebranded from Poo-Pourri to ~Pourri and branched out into other product lines, targeting a litany of other odors: foot odors, body odors, pet odors, baby butt odors, even weed odors, selling over 200 products
- by age 21 had been married, divorced, filed for bankruptcy after her bridal shop went out of business & attempted suicide
Born: 1964 or 1965
Country: USA
Education: Arkansas State University (dropped out after approximately 2 years)
Eleanor K. Baum
⚛️ Electrical Engineering
📚 Educator
- was an only child
- parents left Europe during the Holocaust, traveling to Japan & then Canada before settling in NY
- is named after Eleanor Roosevelt
- parents wanted her to be a teacher & would hide articles with themes of "the joys of being a schoolteacher" under her pillow
- was the only girl in her advanced physics and advanced mathematics classes
- one of the engineering schools she applied to would not admit her because it did not have a sufficient ladies' room
- sat on the National Science Foundation's Engineering Advisory Board
- was involved with the Engineering Manpower Commission
- when she became dean at Cooper Union, 5% of the student body was female & she increased this to 40% during her tenure there
- 1995 elected 1st female President of American Society for Engineering Education
- after graduating, worked in the aerospace industry, first at Sperry Rand Corporation and later at General Instrument Corporation
Born: 1940
Country: Vilnius
Education: City College of NY Bs Engineering 1958; Polytechnic Institute of NY (now NYU School of Engineering) MS & PhD 1964 both in Electrical Engineering
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Ayah (Aya on patents) Bdeir
💡 Inventor
- born in Montreal to a Syrian immigrant family & raised in Beirut with her 3 sisters
- as a child would take things (especially electronics) apart & break them open to see what was inside
- was given cehmistry sets & programming lessons at age 12
- her mother attended University at the same time as her daughters to get her degree
- 2010 was a design mentor on the reality TV show Stars of Science
- before founding littleBits was an interactive artist & held several installations
- founded littleBits to make engineering & inventing more fun &her prototype (or little bits) is a system of color-coded, magnetic, electronic building blocks, blurring the boundary between a toy & a tool kit
- the bits are thin rectangles between 1 & 4 inches in length & the blue ones provide power, pink allow for inputs like switches, microphones, & motion sensors, green are outputs like lights, motors, & speakers, and orange provide wires or logic functions & all pieces fit together magnetically
- the prototype littleBits is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
- the company produces over 10 different kits & has over 70 interoperable bits & are gender neutral
- there are over 300 littleBits Inventor Clubs around the world from San Paolo to San Francisco to Bangkok
- littleBits was acquired by Sphero in 2019
- she holds 16 patents
Born: 1982
Country: Canada
Education: American University of Beirut BEng Computer Engineering & Sociology 2004; MIT Media Lab MS Media Arts & Sciences 2006
Amy Marcy Cheney Beach
🎵 Composer
🔍 Pianist
- was considered a child prodigy, could sing 40 songs accurately by age 1, improvised counter-melody by age 2, & taught herself to read by age 3
- composed 3 waltzes for piano at age 4 without the benefit of a piano
- could paly music by ear including 4-part hymns
- had perfect pitch
- experienced synesthesia a condition where each key was associated with a particular color
- only formal composing training she received was from 1881-82 when she studied harmony & counterpoint with Junius W. Hill at Wellesley College
- taught herself counterpoint, harmony, & fugue by reading any book about the topics she could find
- made her concert debut at age 16 (1883)
- got married to Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach at 18 & he was 24 years older than her
- she agreed to never teach piano, limit her performances to 1-2 public recitals yearly with profits donated to charity, devote herself to composing, & stop working with tutors as conditions of her marriage
- her work was published under the name Mrs. H. H. A. Beach until after her husband's death in 1910
- her mother died 7 months after her husband & she went to Europe to rest & mourn
- returned to America in 1814 but had a trunkful of her music manuscripts confiscated at the Belgian border, they were not returned to her until 1929
- 1930 was composer-in-residence at New York's St. Bartholomew's Episcopal church
- retired in 1940 due to heart problems
- per her will, all her royalties after death & her estate were given to the MacDowell Colony
- a collection of her writings including diaries, correspondence, music manuscripts & ephemera are housed at the University of New Hampshire Library
Born: 1867
Country: USA
Education: attended private school in Boston; musical education was through private tutors or self-taught
Marjorie Bear Don't Walk
⚕️ Medicine - Traditional Homeopathic Healing Plants
- most known as an advocate for reforms in the Indian Health Service, and specifically the care of urban Native Americans
- is also a fashion designer who has targeted career women, designing professional attire which incorporated traditional techniques into her clothing
- was born Marjorie Rose Mitchell
- enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe & heritage includes Chippewa (Michif Ojibwe) ancestry
- husband was a member of the Crow Nation & founded the Crow Tribal Court
- much of her clothing business was mail-order and she allowed her customers to provide specific fabrics they desired for their custom designs
- 1992 was 11 of the people invited to attend Bill Clinton's inauguration
Born: 1946
Country: United States
Education: Montana State University BS Home Economics & Nutrition 1968
Maria E. Beasley
💼 Entrepreneur
💡 Inventor
- 1882, received a patent for an improved life raft
- 1978, received a patent for a barrel hooping machine
- Between 1878 & 1898, received 15 patents-those listed above plus a footwarmer, anti-derailment device for trains, 7 for barrel making machines, 2 for life raft improvements, a steam generator for trains, & baking & roasting pans
- Was actually able to earn a living from her inventions
- Founded 2 companies for the design & manufacture of barrels; later sold one factory for $1.4 million, the equivalent of $42,222,963 in 2021)
- Age 13, built a sailboat that could safely transport her & her dog; also built several functioning watermills by herself
- Her paternal grandfather was a distillery owner & told her of the need for better barrel making
- Licensed her 1st barrel making patent to the Standard Oil Company for $175/month for a single machine
- Mid-1890s, built a short experimental train line around her property in chicago to be able to study ways to redesign trains to support & sustain speeds up to 100 mph
Born: 1836
Country: USA
Education: unknown
Olive Ann Beech
💼 Entrepreneur
- none
Born: 1903
Country: USA
Education: American Secretarial & Business College, 1920
Catharine Esther Beecher
📚 Educator
- oldest of 9 children born to her parents, had 4 half-siblings from father's 2nd marriage; sister of Harriett Beecher Stowe & Henry Ward Beecher
- all her siblings were pastors &/or activists in the suffrage & anti-slavery movements
- her mother died when she was 16 & Catharine left school to assume the management of the household
- as a ten wrote poetry that was publishe in the Christian Spectator under the name C. D. D.
- at age 22 was engaged to Yale University Professor alexander Fisher but he died in a shipwreck before they could be married; she never married or had children, devoting herself to the education of others
- was educated at home until age 10 when she attended the Litchfield Female Academy
- subsequently taught herself math, Latin, & philosophy
- retired from administrative work in 1837
- believed the work of a teacher was more important to society than the work of a lawyer or doctor
- believed women should stay out of politics & the issue of slavery
- believed the anti-slavery movement would anger the South & lead to violence
- 3 Universities have named buildings after her
- some of her letters to family members are housed at the University of Iowa Library Beecher Family Papers Collection
Born: 1800
Country: USA
Education: home schooled till age 10: Litchfield Female Academy from ages 10-16; predominantly self-taught
Sandra K. Begay-Campbell
⚛️ Mechanical Engineering
- Provides electricity through solar panels & other alternative energy sources to remote tribal members on Navajo Reservations
- Works at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, NM &Chose to attend Stanford for MS because of its noted American Indian community
- Mentors American Indian engineering students, especially in the energy sector
- Chairs the Rainforest Innovations program at UNM
Born: 1962
Country: USA
Education: 1987, BS Civil Engineering, University of New Mexico; 1991, MS Structural Engineering, Stanford University
Angela M. Belcher
🔬 Materials Science
- has taught at MIT since 2002
- grew up in San antonio Texas
- originally studied abalone shells
- at UC Santa Barbara was able to design her own major at the College of Creative Studies & liked the idea because she doesn't like to follow rules
- has been interested in biology & the origin of life since middle school
- fell in love with molecules while taking a graduate=level biochemistry class as an undergraduate
- built the 1st virus-based battery
- is dyslexic
- holds 43 patents
Born: 1968
Country: USA
Education: UC Santa Barbara BS Creative Studies 1991 & PhD Organic Chemistry 1997
Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell
⚛️ Astrophysics
- 1967, discovered the 1st radio pulsars
- 1974, Nobel Prize in Physics for pulsar discover but was one of the recipients because she was a student at the time but many believe she was overlooked because of her gender
- Since 2018 has been Chancellor of the University of Dundee
- 2018, won Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics & used the $3 million prize to establish a fund to help female minority & refugee students to become research physicists; fund is managed by the Institute of Physics
- 2nd female recipient of Copley Prize (2021)
- Attended Lurgan College 1948-1956 but her parents & others had to challenge school policies so she could study science even though she was female
- Failed 11+ exam & was sent to a Quaker girls boarding school
- Is an active Quaker
- 1st female president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2014-18)
- 1st female president of the Institute of Physics for UK & Ireland
Born: 1943
Country: Great Britain
Education: University of Glasgow BSc Natural Philosophy (Physics) 1965; University of Cambridge PhD 1969
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