Women in science face several challenges, and yet, historically, women have made significant contributions to science and technology.
Right from formulating methods to study chemical elements, which further contributed to medicinal advancements, they pioneered computer programming and paved the way for modern programming. They literally made sugar taste sweet and our flowers differentiable! They forged their names in history and broke all biases, inspiring generations of scientists around the world.
On this International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate the achievements of ten of these amazing scientists who pushed the limits to bring a change in the world as we see it today. These women took great efforts to #BreakTheBias!
- Marie Curie – the radium discoverer
Marie Curie, a French physicist and chemist was born in 1867, is one of the most well-known researchers around the globe. She, along with her husband, developed methods to separate radium and polonium from radioactive residues. This allowed them to further analyze the chemical properties of these elements.
The discovery of radium and radioactivity allowed doctors to identify bullet wounds and broken bones easily. Curie’s discovery thus helped serve several people during the First World War.
Despite being denied of higher education in her home country and any position in any university, she set her name in stone as being “the first” in several areas – she was the first woman to become a Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences; the first to win a Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry, and; the first woman to win 2 Nobel Prizes.
- Ada Lovelace – the programming pioneer
An English mathematician, Ada Lovelace was referred to as the “prophet of the computer age.” She left everyone including Charles Babbage, the father of the computer, in awe with her knowledge and understanding of computers, and her mathematical interpretations of machines.
She translated an article during 1842-43 on Analytical Engine, from French to English, and added her opinions and understanding in the form of extensive notes. These notes included operational steps for solving complex mathematical problems and earned her the badge of being “the first programmer.”
- Janaki Ammal – the sugarcane sweetener
At a time when less than 1% of India’s women were literate, Janaki Ammal – an Anglo-Indian botanist – went on to obtain a PhD in Botany from one of the finest public universities in the US, the University of Michigan, in the year 1931. She’s a noted researcher in the fields of cytogenetics (the study of chromosomes) and phytogeography (the study of plants with respect to their geographical distribution).
Despite facing discrimination from her male colleagues for being a woman and belonging to a lower caste, she persevered and made notable contributions to plant hybridization, including the development of a variety of sugarcane that was high yielding, sweeter than the variety that was available at the time, and could grow in India.
Later in her life, leveraging her contributions and status in the field, she started advocating the preservation of India’s indigenous plants and flowers, including the protest for preserving Kerala’s Silent Valley National Park, which the Indian government had decided to replace with a hydroelectric plant in 1970.
- Simone de Beauvoir – the fiery feminist
Simone de Beauvoir was a French philosopher, who made contributions to feminist theory, ethics, and existentialism among several other fields.
With the publication of “The Second Sex”, de Beauvoir started a wave of French feminist movement in the 1960s. The book talked at length about gender inequalities, how “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, and how men had self-awarded the status of being the subject and have made women the object.
Critiquing patriarchy, she demanded that women must be given equal opportunities, working conditions, and independence. She paved the way for all the working women out there today.
- Rosalind Franklin – the DNA decoder
An English chemist, Rosalind decoded the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and not only proved its helical structure but was also able to procure an X-ray image of the structure. Often called the “wronged heroine of DNA,” her data was used by three male scientists Maurice Wilkins, James Watson, and Francis Crick without her knowledge. They used it to create the well-known DNA model, which even won them a Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1962. She didn’t get acknowledged for her contribution until after her death in 1958.
- Mae Jemison – the ambitious astronaut
Mae Jemison is a doctor, an engineer, a NASA-astronaut, an African American, and a woman.
Mae Jemison broke all the gender stereotypes and racial barriers to become the first colored woman to go into space in the year 1992.
After her successful space trip in Endeavour, she shifted her energies to make science and technology accessible especially to women, bring change in society, and empower other women in science.
- Jane Goodall – the chimpanzee expert
An English primatologist and anthropologist, Jane Goodall studies the behavior, evolution, and biology of non-human primates, especially chimpanzees. She started her journey in Tanzania in the 1960s with the Gombe chimp observation, the only wildlife research project which continues till date. It took her two long years just to get close to the group of chimpanzees.
Her groundbreaking work and observations brought to light some serious misconceptions about chimpanzees, one of them being that chimpanzees are actually omnivores and not herbivores. The insights helped scientists understand chimpanzees better.
- Katie Bouman – the black hole capturer
Katherine Louise Bouman, an American engineer and computer scientist, was the head of the coding program that formulated an algorithm to help scientists take pictures of a black hole in the year 2019.
This achievement was a huge milestone as it is considered impossible to photograph something that’s 55 million lightyears away from Earth and from which light cannot escape.
In response to the reactions on social media questioning her contribution to the project and some calling her “lone genius,” Bouman said that the achievement was possible due to the collaborative efforts of over 200 scientists, including astronomers, physicists, mathematicians and engineers.
- Katsuko Saruhashi – the carbon dioxide quantifier
Katsuko Saruhashi, a Japanese geochemist, devised a tool to measure carbon dioxide levels in water bodies and used it to detect radioactive fallouts in seawater. She studied if the fallouts could contaminate other water bodies and the time taken. Apart from this, she made some eye-opening revelations about nuclear contamination and its effect on climate change.
Being mentored by a woman scientist herself, Katsuko encouraged other women to pursue science without falling prey to gender discrimination. She was also the first woman who was awarded a doctorate in Chemistry in 1957 by the University of Tokyo.
- Ida Noddack – the nuclear-fission forecaster
Ida, a German chemist and physicist, was a brilliant scientist and a resilient woman. She overcame the hurdles of working in a male-oriented field and established her identity as an independent scientist. She emphasized on being addressed as a co-worker and not an assistant to her husband in their joint ventures, and pursued research even when it became difficult during the Nazi regime.
Along with her husband, Ida is credited for discovering rhenium and probably technetium. With her vast knowledge and immense experience in the field of chemistry, she predicted the likelihood of nuclear fission as a concept almost nine years before its discovery in 1938.
These women scientists were revolutionary. They challenged the norms, overcame barriers, and pursued their passion. They have set an example for all the future women scientists to follow their dreams. Today, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, let’s acknowledge their efforts in making the world a better place to live.
References
- Firaque, K. In Covid year, why ‘unsung heroine of DNA’ Rosalind Franklin needs to be remembered for more. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/in-covid-year-why-unsung-heroine-of-dna-rosalind-franklin-needs-to-be-remembered-for-more-6521851/
- Janaki Ammal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janaki_Ammal
- Simone de Beauvoir. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
- Maddox, B. The double helix and the ‘wronged heroine’. Nature421, 407–408 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01399
- Ada Lovelace. https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/#:~:text=Ada%20was%20the%20first%20to,the%20tribute%20is%20well%2Dfounded.
- Resnick, B. Male scientists are often cast as lone geniuses. Here’s what happened when a woman was. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/4/16/18311194/black-hole-katie-bouman-trolls
- Mast, L. Meet Katsuko Saruhashi, a resilient geochemist who detected nuclear fallout in the Pacific. https://massivesci.com/articles/katsuko-saruhashi-geochemistry-seawater-japan/
- McNeill, L. The Pioneering Female Botanist Who Sweetened a Nation and Saved a Valley. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/pioneering-female-botanist-who-sweetened-nation-and-saved-valley-180972765/
- Sullivan, A. Research In Gombe Is Officially Guinness’ Longest Chimp Study! https://news.janegoodall.org/2018/11/16/jgis-research-in-gombe-is-officially-guiness-longest-wild-primate-study/
