Female scientist biography project

Who are the greatest scientists of all time? Chances are, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, or other big names probably come to mind — and for good reason. Those scientists made remarkable discoveries and changed how we understand the world. 

But far too often, women are left off the roster, even though they’ve long made significant strides in science — including in eras when they were excluded from formal education and careers in the field. It was only until recently that female scientists have come out of the shadows of history.

Famous Female Scientists Who Changed the World

Throughout history, women in science have not only navigated but also challenged the turbulent waters of gender bias. They contributed groundbreaking work that has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of the world. From Ada Lovelace's pioneering work in computer programming to Marie Curie's revolutionary research in radioactivity, these women defied the norms of their times. Here are a few boundary-breaking women in science that should be household names, too.

1. Ada Lovelace, Mathematician

Dec. 10, 1815-Nov. 27, 1852

Ada Lovelace, born Augusta Ada Byron in 1815, was an English mathematician and writer, primarily known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. While she did not have a formal degree in the modern sense, she received private tutoring in mathematics and science, an unusual educational path for women of her era.

Lovelace is regarded as the first computer programmer — long before modern computers were invented. Her notes on Charles Babbage’s proposed analytical engine (a programmable, general-purpose computer), is considered to be the very first computer algorithm.

Read More: Five Female Inventors and how Their Inventions Changed the World

2. Marie Curie, Physi

Lora Harris, estuarine and coastal ecologist
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Lora Harris had to leave high school for personal reasons, but never lost her love of learning. Her search to keep academia in her life led her to Diana Steller and Cassandra Roberts.

The two women were graduate students at the Moss Landing Marine Labs, research and teaching facilities part of a university consortium in California. They had taught Harris to scuba dive, and when she came to them looking for help, they found her a place to live and work in the lab.

“I really credit Diana and Cassandra for helping me to find a way to bridge my leaving high school and figure out what I wanted to do,” said Harris, who is now an estuarine and coastal ecologist.

While Steller and Roberts set Harris on the path that led toward her eventual career, it was a woman Harris

Harris remembers hearing a story that Oviatt was part of a class that was visiting a nuclear power plant under construction, but being a woman, she was initially forbidden to enter the site. Policies permitting women to board research vessels also had to be amended. Her persistence impressed even her male colleagues, who were the ones to share her stories, Harris said.

“For all of us who were female graduate students at the time, it was kind of awesome to hear the war stories,” she said.

Oviatt would create the first whole system energy budget for saltmarsh in Bissel Cove in Rhode Island and started a mesocosm facility—an outdoor experimental system allowing research of the natural environment in controlled conditions—that Harris said guided the understanding of nutrient enrichment and estuaries.

In these ways and more, O

Mary Engle Pennington was an American chemist at the turn of the 20th century. At a time when few women attended college, Pennington completed her PhD and went on to work as a bacteriological chemist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Shortly after arriving at the USDA, Pennington became chief of the newly established Food Research Laboratory. During her 40-year career at the USDA, Pennington’s pioneering research on sanitary methods of processing, storing, and shipping food led to achievements such as the first standards for milk safety as well as universally accepted standards for the refrigeration of food products.

With commentary from Dr. Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, United States Department of Agriculture.Source: Wikipedia via Smithsonian Institution

Tweet Share

The examples I chose (I was spoiled for choice) are not confined to women working in chemistry, but also include a palaeontologist, mathematician, marine biologist and astrophysicist; science does not have any absolute boundaries. I learned a great deal whilst researching this article. The lives and achievements of these women are inspiring and I hope that young women who read about them may themselves be inspired to consider a career in science as they begin to think about their future.

Women have made many truly significant and often dramatic contributions to science. Equally dramatic is the way in which the success of women in science increased during the 20th century. Based on a listing, from authoritative sources, of all scientists, irrespective of nationality, who have made game-changing advances throughout history, women account for less than 7% of the total. However, if the calculation is repeated for scientists born since 1900, almost 20% are women. I have no doubt that this very encouraging trend will continue.

Many obstacles have been placed before women in science over the years, although occasionally a source of encouragement and practical help intervened on their behalf.

Consider the case of Agnes Pockels (1862–1935). Agnes had been interested in science since childhood and wanted to study physics. However, she had no access to universities and could only find information from scientific literature through her younger brother, a student of the University of Göttingen. A single woman, Agnes looked after her sick parents at their home in Germany. She carried out the household chores, and, whilst washing up, she noticed the effects of oils, soaps and other household chemicals (today we would call them surfactants) on the surface tension of water.

Agnes devised an apparatus with which she could measure surface tension and in 1891, with the help of Lord Rayleigh (an eminent English scientist), published her first research paper, Surface Tension, in