Women in Science

Dian Fossey worked to protect the endangered Mountain Gorilla.

Peggy Whitson was the first female chief of NASA’s astronaut corps. (2/9/1960)

Judith A. Resnik inspired others with her determination to become a scientist and an astronaut.

Adarsha Shivakumar and Apoorva Rangan Project Jatropha started the nonprofit Project Jatropha which is an alternative to fossil fuel.

Dr. Vandana Shiva works to preserve biodiversity for the planet.

Jane Goodall is an anthropologist and the leading researcher of chimpanzees.

Margaret Mead was a renowned anthropologist who thought in terms of 'the interconnection of all aspects of human life.'

Margot Lee Shetterly is the author of "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race."

Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee is the first African American woman to be dean of a US medical school and remains one of seven female deans of medical schools in the United States.

Elizabeth Friedman is known as "America's first female cryptanalyist" for her work deciphering codes between Nazi forces during WWII.

Dorothy Vaughan was the first African American woman to supervise the West Area Computers, "human computers" at NASA (originally NACA) during the Space Race.

Florence Bascom was a rockstar geologist.

Alice Ball was an African American chemist who created a highly effective treatment for leprosy. She wasn't given credit for her discovery until after her death.

Kathy Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space.

Gwynne Rowley Shotwell is the president of SpaceX, the company that made the Dragon space craft.

Marie Maynard Daly was the first Black American woman to earn a PhD. in chemistry

"The key is to see ourselves as a part of the natural systems that support us."

Temple Grandin is a professor, a doctor of animal science and an autism activist.

Nancy Caruso is a marine biologist who helped bring kelp forests back to the California coast.

Alexandra Cousteau is a visionary and trailblazer who pushes the boundaries of discovery, adventure, and global problem solving.

Julia Robinson was the the first female president of the American Mathematical Society and was known for her work on Hilbert's 10th Problem.

Irene Curie was the second woman in history to win the Nobel Prize in science; the first woman was her mother, Marie.

Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to walk in space.

Sally Ride, first US woman in space.

Fe Del Mundo, referred to as the first woman to attend Harvard Medical School, was also the first person to be named one of the National Scientists of the Philippines.

Dr. Hawa Abdi, Somalia's first female gynecologist, turned her family's land into a hospital, school and nutrition center focused on women and children.

Her story was hidden for decades: Katherine Johnson plotted multiple flight courses for NASA, including the Apollo 11 spacecraft, the first spaceship to reach the moon.

Gertrude B. Elion developed the AIDS drug AZT.

Andrea Mia Ghez is an astrophysicist best known for her discoveries about the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Umra Omar, a doctor and member of Safari Doctors, travels through dangerous parts of Kenya to bring medical aid where it is needed.

Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor and opened the first medical school for women.

A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question.