Extraordinary Women Who Had The World’s “Firsts” In Science But Don’t Get The Recognition They Deserve
The history of science can sometimes read like a somewhat watered down story of old bearded white men with oversized glasses. But, there have been some incredible discoveries in the sciences from women who have been paradigm shifters in helping us understand the world around us.
From women figuring out the ins and outs of nuclear fission to breaking the speed barrier, you're probably going to be surprised to see just how many women have contributed to the science community despite their lack of representation.
Valentina Tereshkova Was The First Female In Space
The United States was the first to land a person on the Moon, but the Soviet Union had three iconic Cosmonauts that paved the way for how we see space science today. Yuri Gagarin was the first person in space, Alexey Leonov was the first person to spacewalk, and Valentina Tereshkova was the first female in space.
She was sent up in 1963 and made space history. She orbited Earth 48 times in a mission that lasted nearly three days. She was only 26 at the time, which remains the youngest woman to ever be launched into space.
Marie Curie Was A Two-Time Nobel Prize Winner
Marie Curie is one of the most famous female scientists, and for good reason. In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, which was awarded to her for her physics research on radiation.
Curie shared the prize with her husband who was a French physicist. In 1911, Curie won her second Nobel Prize and is credited with the discovery of radium and polonium. She's the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes as well as the only person to have ever won the prize in two different fields.
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell Was The First M.D. In the United States
Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell broke barriers for women in the medical field by becoming the first female to earn an M.D. from a medical school in the United States. Before she even applied to medical school, many physicians told her that it wasn't a good idea because women have other roles in society.
She was accepted to Geneva Medical School after the faculty voted to let her in. She graduated in 1849 and went on to practice obstetrics and gynecology. Blackwell's younger sister earned her medical degree just a few years later.
Jacqueline Cochran Broke The Sound Barrier
Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier when she piloted an F-86 Sabre jet to speeds that exceeded Mach 1. Eleven years later, Cochran doubled that speed when she flew a jet at Mach 2 in 1964.
She originally learned to fly planes while she was a cosmetics saleswoman. In addition to flying faster than the speed of sound, Cochran would go onto set other records that included altitude and distance.
Ellen Swallow Richards Was The First To Be Admitted To MIT
Ellen Swallow Richards was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was admitted in 1870, and the school said that her admission was not to establish a precedent about admitting more women in the future.
Richards graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1873. It didn't take her long to make a lasting impact on women in the sciences when she established a laboratory at MIT dedicated to educating women in chemistry.
Amelia Earhart Was The First To Fly Across The Atlantic Solo
Amelia Earhart was the first woman, and only second person overall, to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She took off in 1935 from Newfoundland and landed 15 hours later across the ocean in Ireland.
She had originally planned to fly to Paris, but due to bad weather, she decided to cut the flight short. She would go onto set seven women's speed and distance aviation records. Her life tragically ended in 1937 during an attempt to fly around the world. Her disappearance remains unsolved.
Ada Lovelace Realized The Potential Of A 'Computing Machine'
Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer who is known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer. She was the first person to recognize that the machine had application beyond pure calculation, and published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine.
In other words, she's widely considered the first person to recognize the full potential of a "computing machine" and one of the first computer programmers.
Maria Mitchell Was The First To Discover A Comet
Maria Mitchell was an American astronomer who discovered a comet using a telescope in 1847. She was presented an award by King Frederick VI of Denmark. Under her father's name (so that no one would know she was a woman), she published her discovery in Silliman's Journal in January 1848.
She was technically the "first discoverer" of the comet, but there is more than one person who claims that they were the first, including a few others on this list.
Grace Hopper Was The First Woman To Earn A Ph.D. In Mathematics
She carried the nickname "Amazing Grace" and for good reason. She spent her early years studying mathematics and computer programming at some of the most prestigious institutions in America.
She became the first woman to achieve a Ph.D. in mathematics. When World War II descended, Hopper followed in her grandfather's steps by leaving a job teaching math to join the Naval Reserves. She was directed to Harvard to learn the Mark I, which was the first functional computer. Her goal was to make computing more accessible to the general public by developing a comprehensive computer language.
Lise Meitner Was One Of The Few Female German Scientists Of The '30s
Lise Meitner was one of the only women allowed to work in science in the 1930s in Germany. She was forced to flee the country during WWII because of her Jewish background. She was working on the radioactive decay of uranium and figured out that uranium was undergoing nuclear fission.
The molecule was splitting in half and releasing some of its tremendous store of nuclear energy. Seven years after her discovery, her findings led to the nuclear fission that happened inside an explosive called Little Boy that dropped over Hiroshima.
Caroline Herschel Is Also Credited For Discovering The First Comet
At the age of 22, Caroline Herschel moved to the city of Bath to train as a singer but ended up falling in love with astronomy instead. She worked as an assistant to her brother, recording observations and helping create accurate lenses with which to search the night sky.
She became an astronomer herself and became the first woman to discover a comet. In recognition for her work, she was employed by King Geroge III in 1787, making her the first woman to be paid for her scientific work.
Barbara McClintock Was A Revolutionary In Genetics
Barbara McClintock is a revolutionary geneticist who spent most of her career developing a staining technique that allowed her to identify, examine, and describe individual chromosomes.
She spent a lot of time analyzing maize (or corn) which may seem odd, but they are a goldmine of information for geneticists as each plant can create different kernels with different colors and unique genetic codes. She was able to determine the existence of jumping genes which are sequences of DNA that move between the genome.
Dorothy Hodgkin Was Able To Map The Structure Of Insulin
Dorothy Hodgkin and Margaret Thatcher were on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, but that didn't stop the British Prime Minister from consulting Hodgkin on scientific issues.
Hodgkin is known for her advances in the field of X-Ray crystallography. She was the first to determine the atomic structure of cholesterol, penicillin and vitamin B12, the last of which won her a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. Her biggest accomplishment was mapping the structure of insulin after 35 years of work.
