- Blog
- International Day of Women and Girls in...
International Day of Women and Girls in Science: 7 scientists who made history
LikeEven in 2023, and with twice as many female than male science tutors on our FindTutors platform, there’s still a lack of recognition for women working within the sector.
This inspired us to delve deeper into the history of women in science, looking at the impact they’ve made over the years and their greatest discoveries. We hope after reading this article you’ll feel inspired to see what science classes our tutors have to offer.
Discovering the stories of women scientists
The influence of women in science is undeniable. From the earliest days of scientific research to present day, women have made, and continue to make, great revolutionary contributions. In spite of their immense impact on our understanding of the world, it’s still true that women working in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are often overlooked.
What is the impact of women in science?
Women have been making a difference in the field for centuries, and during times in which science education, such as chemistry lessons, wasn’t anywhere near as accessible as it is today. From mathematics to physics, chemistry to biology - they have made revolutionary advances in both scientific understanding and research.
The impact of women in science ranges from the development of life-saving drugs to the development of ground-breaking technologies. Today, it’s clear that every scientific and technological breakthrough is advancing by leaps and bounds, but none of it would have been possible if certain female scientists had not taken the first steps.
A brief history of women scientists
The history of women in science goes back centuries. Although their contributions could often be underestimated, there were many women who managed to make their mark in the field of science.
One of these women was Hypatia of Alexandria - a highly respected scholar, and the first to document and explain mathematical and astronomical principles. Her work was a foundation on which modern mathematical systems were built and contributed significantly to the scientific advancement of her time. She was also one of the first women to hold a position in the government of Alexandria, serving as an advisor to the Roman prefect.
In the Middle Ages, some women made a name for themselves in the sciences. One of them was Hildegard of Bingen, a German abbess who made important contributions to the field of medicine. She was a pioneer in the field of herbalism and her work was much admired by her contemporaries.
Celebrating women pioneers in science
To celebrate and recognise the achievements of women in science, it’s important to look back at the stories of some of the most influential women in the field.
Hypatia of Alexandria
Hypatia of Alexandria was born in the 4th century and was the only woman scientist in the painting "The School of Athens" by Raphael Sanzioun - in spite of all the men who featured in it - Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Diogenes, to name a few. In the eyes of Cyril (patriarch of Alexandria) she was considered a witch who devoted herself to horoscopes - a pagan in a Christian world. Consequently, Hypatia was murdered under his orders.
Hypatia was fond of conics (ellipse, parabola and hyperbola), which led her to rescue the heliocentric and elliptical system of Aristarchus of Samos. Its importance is shown by the fact that more than a thousand years later, Kepler proved and Newton demonstrated that celestial bodies describe their motion in orbits that are conic curves.
She is credited with the phrase: "Preserve your right to think, it is better to run the risk of being wrong than to make the mistake of not thinking".
Mary Somerville
Mary Somerville was born in Scotland in 1780, into an aristocratic family that didn’t support her interest in science. Her greatest contribution was to explain the astronomical work of Laplace (an all-time great scientist). In fact, thanks to her work, she is considered the first popular science writer that humanity has ever produced.
In 1835, together with Caroline Herschel, Mary was among the first female members of the Royal Astronomical Society. However, they were honorary members, as the statutes didn’t allow women to participate directly. Even so, Mary Somerville was and remains one of the most influential women in science, thanks to her contributions to the understanding of the universe and its structure.
Ada Lovelace
Born in 1815, she is considered one of the brilliant mathematicians and scientists of the 19th century. Her mother was Annabella Milbanke, a wealthy woman who wrote poetry, but when Ada was one month old, she abandoned her.
A disciple of Mary Sommerville, who was her tutor and friend, Ada is considered the first programmer in history. She devised the first computer program, in which a set of instructions was inputted. In spite of Babbage's analytical engine never being built (Ada explained how it could perform calculations), Lovelace is considered the first computer programmer and the creator of the first algorithm.
Rosalind Franklin
Born in London, 1920, Rosalind Franklin was brought up in a wealthy Jewish family. In 1941, she began studying chemistry and physics at Newnham College in Cambridge University. In 1947, she moved to Paris and worked as a researcher, where she devoted herself to the study of chemistry.
Franklin made the discovery of the structure of DNA (a double helix), from X-ray diffraction of DNA, with the famous Photograph 51. However, she received no recognition for this discovery, and instead, in 1962, Crick, Watson and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
Lise Meitner
Born in Vienna in 1878, Meitner is considered the mother of nuclear physics. She worked and studied alongside the best European physicists of the early 20th century. She was also the first person to detect a positron (the antiparticle of the electron).
Despite her achievements, she is best known for her success in explaining what happened in nuclear fission. In 1942, she was offered the opportunity to participate in an international research group to create an atomic bomb to end the Nazi regime - the Manhattan Project. Despite being a refugee scientist, given her Jewish background, she wanted nothing to do with this lethal weapon.
Emmy Noether
Emma Noether was born in 1882, in the German town of Erlangen. In 1903, she majored in mathematics at the University of Göttingen as a non-matriculated listener, because women were not allowed to attend universities. Finally, in 1915, she was admitted as a tutor in mathematics at the University of Göttingen. Her work revolutionised the theory of rings, body theory and K-algebras.
Today, she is known as the queen of mathematics. Noether's theorem (to express it in an understandable way requires a higher level of mathematics and physics) is considered a fundamental contribution, on a par with the famous Pythagorean theorem. In fact, Albert Einstein, also a Jewish émigré like Noether, acknowledged that her contributions were key to the birth of the famous Theory of Relativity.
Hedy Lamarr
Born in 1914, Lamarr was an Austrian actress and, in her spare time, an inventor. She made a name for herself in Hollywood and was described as one of the most glamorous actresses in cinema, although she also excelled as a scientist.
Despite the challenges she faced in a male-dominated field, she managed to make an important contribution to the development of wireless communication. Hedy's invention, based on frequency hopping, is the basis of security in Bluetooth devices, GPS, mobile phones and military technology.
Henrietta Leavitte
Born in 1868, Henrietta Leavitte was a brilliant American astronomer. She worked at Harvard College at the turn of the 20th century, as part of an all-female team known as the "Harvard Computers".
Until the beginning of the 20th century, parallax was used to measure the distance to the stars. Leavitte had an idea that, although many did not want to see it, would change everything. Cepheids are stars which vary in luminosity over time with a frequency. It was with these that she obtained a new way of measuring distances in the universe and, thanks to this method, she was able to know the dimensions of our galaxy, "the Milky Way".
Women in science
It’s important to recognise the advances that women have brought us to today's society. These women, amongst others, who in their day did not receive the recognition they deserved, can finally be celebrated for their contributions to the world of science.