30 women in science bios

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30 Women in Science

The College of Natural Sciences

Women in Science Initiative

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Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717)

Naturalist, scientific illustrator, and entomologist. Most known for her observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly. Created the first classification for insects which have chrysalises. Spent 8 years studying and sketching the animals, insects, and plants of the Dutch Colony of Surinam. Referred to as the "woman who made science beautiful." Photo Source: Wikipedia

Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749)French mathematician and physicist. Challenged the prevailing Cartesianism in France by translating Newton’s Principia. Her 1740s translation is still considered to the be the standard French edition. Her commentary profoundly contributed to Newtonian mechanics.

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Maria Gaetana Agnessi (1718-1799)

Italian mathematician and philosopher. First woman to write a mathematics handbook and first woman appointed professor of mathematics at a university. Credited with writing the first book to discuss both differential and integral calculus. Considered to be “the first important woman mathematician since Hypatia.”


Caroline Herschel (1750-1848)Her most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet, and the Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars. First woman to be paid for her contribution to science, to be awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1828), and to be named an Honorary Member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1835, with Mary Somerville). Worked with her brother William Herschel and nephew John Herschel.Photo Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Mary Anning (1799-1847)Widely regarded as “The Greatest Fossilist the World Ever Knew.” Made numerous fossil discoveries on the coast of England, including the first ichthyosaur skeleton. Her discoveries contributed to important changes in the understanding of prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.


Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911)

First woman to earn a degree in Chemistry (Vassar College, 1870). First woman to graduate from MIT (1873) and the first woman instructor at MIT. Founder of the home economics movement characterized by the application of science to the home, the first to apply chemistry to the study of nutrition, and pioneer in sanitary engineering. One of the "founding mothers" of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).


Sofia Kovalevskya (1850-1891)First major Russian female mathematician. Responsible for important original contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. The third woman in Europe to become a professor and the first to receive a full professorship.


Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854-1923)

First female member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and first woman to win the Royal Society's Hughes Medal (1906) for her research on the motion of ripples in sand and water and her work on the electric arc. In 2010, named one of the ten women in British history who have had the most influence on science.

Photo Source: Jewish Women’s Archive

Alice Eastwood (1859-1953)Self-taught botanist who built the botanical collection of the California Academy of Sciences. There are 17 species named for her as well as 2 genera. Asked to guide Alfred Russel Wallce up to the summit of Grays Peak in Colorado. In 1903 she was one of only two of the few women listed in American Men of Science to be denoted, by a star, as being considered to be among the top 25% of professionals in their discipline.

Photo Credit: California Academy of Sciences

Ynes Mexia (1870-1938)Mexican-American botanist who began her career at the age of 55. Considered to be "the most accomplished female plant collector of her time." Known for her collection of novel specimens from Mexico and South America. She discovered a new genus of Compositae (daisy family).

Photo Credit: California Academy of Sciences

Harriet Brooks (1876-1933)The first Canadian woman nuclear physicist. Most known for her research on nuclear transmutations and radioactivity. The first graduate student of Ernest Rutherford; heregarded her as being on the level of Marie Curie in her aptitude for radioactivity work.


Edith Marion Patch (1876-1954)

An expert in the study of aphids. Organized the Entomology Department at the University of Maine and served as its chair (1904-1937). First female president of the Entomological Society of America.

Photo Credit: University of Maine

Ellen Gleditsch (1879-1968)A pioneer in radiochemistry. Established the half-life of radium and helped demonstrate the existence of isotopes. Second female professor in Norway, second woman elected to Oslo's Academy of Science, and first woman to receive an honorary doctorate from the Sorbonne (1962).


Emmy Noether (1882-1935)Her conceptual approach to algebra led to a body of principles unifying algebra, geometry, linear algebra, topology, and logic. She has been described as “the most important woman in the history of mathematics.” Known in physics for Noether's theorem which explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.


Inge Lehmann (1888-1993)Discovered that the Earth has a solid inner core inside a molten outer core by analyzing seismic wave measurements from earthquakes. Head of the department of seismology at the Geodetical Institute of Denmark. First woman to be awarded the William Bowie Medal by the American Geophysical Union (1971).

Photo Credit: OI-i.lavin

Roger Arliner Young (1899-1964)

First African-American woman to receive a PhD in Zoology and first to research and publish professionally in zoology. Asked to join Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, while a Master’s student. Recognized in 2005 in a Congressional Resolution along with four other African American women "who have broken through many barriers to achieve greatness in science."

Photo Credit: Marine Biological Laboratory Archives

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)

Chinese American experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the field of nuclear physics. Worked on the Manhattan Project. Conducted the Wu experiment, which contradicted the hypothetical law of conservation of parity. Her nicknames include "the First Lady of Physics," "the Chinese Madame Curie," and the "Queen of Nuclear Research." Photo Credit: Smithsonian Institution

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Katherine G. Johnson (1918- )Known for her accuracy in computerized celestial navigation, she calculated the trajectory for many NASA missions, including Project Mercury, the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon, Apollo 13, and the Space Shuttles. First African American woman to desegregate the graduate school at West Virginia University. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Photo Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

Marie Maynard Daly (1921-2003)

First African-American woman to earn a PhD in Chemistry in the United States (Columbia University, 1947). Investigated the causes of heart attacks and the effects of cigarette smoking on the lungs. Professor of biochemistry and of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Photo Source: BlackThen.com

Tu Youyou (1930- )The first Chinese scientist to win the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine – 2015 for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria. Chief Scientist in the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences. Before 2011, her work was described as "almost completely forgotten by people.”


Mary L. Good (1931- )

Photo Credit: Chemical Heritage Foundation

President of the American Chemical Society (1987). Appointed to the National Science Board of the NSF by Presidents Carter and Reagan, and first woman to chair the Board. Appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (1991). Served as Under Secretary for Technology for the Technology Administration in the Department of Commerce in the Clinton Administration. Head of the Engineered Materials Research division at Signal Research Center, Inc. First woman to be awarded the American Chemical Society's Priestley Medal (1997).

Annie Easley (1933-2011)Leading member of the team which developed software for the Centaur rocket stage, which laid the technological foundations for the Space Shuttle launches and launches of communication, military, and weather satellites. One of the first African-American employees of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of NASA.

Photo Credit: NASA

Rita Colwell (1934- )

Discovered that V. cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, attaches itself to zooplankton meaning it has a host in water and can be transmitted via water rather than only person-to-person. She has also shown a link between global warming and an increase in water-borne infectious diseases such as cholera. Director of the National Science Foundation (1998-2004). Awarded the National Medal of Science (2005).

Photo Credit: Ryan K. Morris, National Science and Technology Medals Foundation

Ada E. Yonath (1939- )First Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences – Chemistry (2009) for her studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. Director of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Photo Credit: Weizmann Institute of Science

Uma Chowdhry (1947- )

Specialized in the science of ceramics. Senior vice president and Chief Science and Technology Officer of DuPont (2003-2010). Received the Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management from the American Chemical Society (2011). Member of the National Committee on Women in Science and Engineering sponsored by both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering


France Anne-Dominic Córdova (1947- )

Current director of the National Science Foundation. The youngest person and first woman to hold the position of NASA Chief Scientist (1993-1996). Received the Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium (2012). Her research has been in the areas of observational and experimental astrophysics, multi-spectral research on x-ray and gamma ray sources, and space-borne instrumentation

Photo Credit: Sandy Schaeffer / NSF

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (1953- )

Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Limited, a biotech company based in Bangalore, India. Awarded the Othmer Gold Medal in 2014 for outstanding contributions to the progress of science and chemistry. Ranked 77th on Forbes' 2016 list of the most powerful women in the world. Master Brewer.


Adriana Ocampo (1955- )Planetary geologist and the Science Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. Her research led to the discovery of the Chicxulub impact crater and the Aorounga Crater Chain in Chad. She has worked on a number of NASA planetary science projects, including the Juno mission to Jupiter, the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and the OSIRIS-Rex asteroid sample return mission. Named of the 50 most important women in science by Discover magazine (2002).Photo Credit: The National Academies

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Ellen Ochoa (1958- )First Latina in space. First Latina and second woman to be Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Pioneer of spacecraft technology with patents on optical systems for performing information processing. Classical flutist, played with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra while in graduate school and on the Space Shuttle.

Photo Credit: NASA

Fabiola Gianotti (1960- )

Project leader of the Atlas experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, one of the two experiments involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson. First woman to be Director General of CERN. Ranked 84th on Forbes' 2016 list of the most powerful women in the world.

Photo Credit: Atlas Experiment, CERN

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30 women in science bios

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