The contribution of women to science is often overlooked, with many of the most well-known names in the fields of physics, biology and chemistry, being male. Earlier this year, a Europe-wide study revealed that a quarter of people were unable to name a single female scientist. The study, involving more than 1,100 people, some of whom were scientists, found that Marie Curie was the most well-known female scientist. But even scientists themselves found it difficult to name others, instead resorting to naming female colleagues.
While the general public may be able to name few, female scientists are behind some of the most ground-breaking scientific discoveries. The Nobel Prize in scientific categories has been won by a woman 16 times. Here are ten female scientists who changed the world.
Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848)
Caroline Herschel was a German astronomer, and sister of fellow astronomer William Herschel, who became the first woman to be paid for her contribution to science. Trained by William to be his assistant, Caroline moved to England and helped William record his observations; however she went on to make observations of her own. During her career, Caroline discovered a number of nebulae and in 1786 Caroline became the first woman to discover a comet; she then went on to find 7 others. In 1822 Caroline returned to her native Germany where she was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852)
Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was an English mathematician who was mentored by and worked alongside Charles Babbage, known as father of the computer. After Babbage created his difference engine, Lovelace wrote up her theory describing how codes could be created for the device to handle letters and symbols, as well as numbers. While her article garnered little attention during her life time, she is now commonly regarded as the world’s first computer programmer.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836 – 1917)
Influenced by meetings with Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman physician, Elizabeth Garret Anderson was inspired to become a doctor herself. Despite being rejected by a many medical schools and meeting many difficulties along the way, owing to her gender, Anderson went on to establish a dispensary for women in 1866, before being made a visiting physician to the East London Hospital in 1870. Anderson later founded the New Hospital for Women in London, staffed entirely by women, and paved the way for other women wanting to pursue a career in medicine. Following her medical career Anderson became the first female mayor in England and was a prominent suffragette.
Marie Curie (1867 – 1934)
Perhaps the most well-known female scientist, Marie Curie was a Polish-born physicist and chemist, often called the ‘Mother of Modern Physics’. Working in conjunction with her husband Pierre, the Curies discovered the chemical elements radium and polonium and were a crucial part in the development of x-rays. Curie’s pioneering research into radioactivity lead to her becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first to teach at the Sorbonne in Paris. Today the work Marie Curie did lives on, in the UK through a charitable organisation dedicated to helping those suffering from cancer – Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906 – 1972)
German-born Maria Goeppert-Mayer was the second female winner of the Nobel Prize, contributing heavily to the field of physics. A Mathematician and physicist, Goeppert-Mayer’s most notable contribution to the field was her work on the nuclear shell structure. In 1941, she began working on a top-secret project to separate uranium-235 to fuel nuclear weapons along with her colleague Edward Teller. Using her mathematical skills, Maria Goeppert-Mayer established a model for the structure of nuclear shells and explained why certain numbers of nucleons in an atomic nucleus result in particularly stable configurations.
Rachel Carson (1907 – 1964)
American marine biologist and conservationist, Rachel Carson is widely credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Carson’s book ‘Silent Spring’ highlighted her environmental concerns, which she believed to be caused by synthetic pesticides, and lead to a reversal in national pesticide policy. Carson’s work also inspired the creation of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and resulted in her posthumously receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Gertrude B. Elion (1918 – 1999)
Born in New York, at 15 Gertrude Belle Elion lost her grandfather to cancer, inspiring her to do everything possible to try and cure the disease. Whilst working as an assistant to George H. Hitchings, the pair designed drugs that would block viral infections, developing drugs to combat leukaemia, herpes and AIDS. During her career Elion developed 45 patents in medicine, was awarded 23 honorary degrees and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1988.
Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958)
A British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer, Rosalind Franklin made critical contributions to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA, as well as viruses, coat and graphite. Her most notable work was in the discovery of DNA’s structure through the use of x-ray diffraction photographs, which were taken by a machine refined by Franklin. While this was Franklin’s discovery, a falling out with her colleague Maurice Wilkins, lead to him disclosing the photo of DNA to competing scientist James Watson, who was also working on a DNA model.
Jane Goodall (1934 – )
London-born Goodall (pictured above) is a primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist and is best known for her study of chimpanzee social and family life, which involved her residing amongst chimpanzees in Tanzania. By observing the animals Goodall noticed things overlooked by other scientists, concluding that ‘it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought [and] emotions’. The primatologist also set up the Jane Goodall Institute for the protection of chimpanzees and their habitat, and campaigns against the use of animals in medical research, sport, zoos and farming.
Sally Ride (1951 – 2012)
At age 32 physicist and astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, flying twice on NASA’s Challenger space shuttle. Following the Challenger disaster, Ride headed up a subcommittee investigating the incident, before being assigned the post of leading NASA’s first strategic planning effort. After leaving NASA, Ride became director of the California Space Institute and a professor of physics. In 2001, the astronaut started Sally Ride Science to inspire girls to pursue their interests in maths and science.
While 16 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to women in science, 341 men have been received the accolade. If these ground-breaking women are anything to go by, the numbers should be a little more evenly spread.
Had you heard of the women on this list?