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- Jone Johnson Lewis
- Joy Adamson (Jan. 20, 1910-Jan. 3, 1980) Joy Adamson was a noted conservationist and author who lived in Kenya in the 1950s. After her husband, a game warden, shot and killed a lioness, Adamson rescued one of the orphaned cubs.
- Maria Agnesi (May 16, 1718-Jan. 9, 1799) Maria Agnesi wrote the first mathematics book by a woman that still survives and was a pioneer in the field of calculus.
- Agnodice (4th century BCE) Agnodice (sometimes known as Agnodike) was a physician and gynecologist practicing in Athens. Legend has it that she had to dress as a man because it was illegal for women to practice medicine.
- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (June 9, 1836-Dec. 17, 1917) Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was the first woman to successfully complete the medical qualifying exams in Great Britain and the first woman physician in Great Britain.
- Famous Female Scientists in History
- Famous Female Scientists Today
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Throughout the history of science, women have played an important role in discovering and developing elements, tools, and treatments that save and improve lives. The most famous female scientists were trailblazers who made their marks in physics, chemistry, and space flight and paved the way for the generations of women who followed in their footst...
Today's scientific community looks different than when Marie Curie's husband had to insist her name be added to the Nobel Prize for their joint research. As they lead research teams and make ground-breaking discoveries, these women continue building on the work of their predecessors and encourage more women to enter the field.
Follow in the footsteps of these famous female scientists by exploring topics like Introduction to Chemistry: Reactions and Ratios from Duke University, An Introduction to Interactive Programming in Python (Part 1) from Rice University, or AI for Medicinefrom Deeplearning.AI.
- Emilie du Chatelet (1706 – 1749) Gabrielle-Emilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the daughter of the French court’s chief of protocol, married the marquis du Chatelet in 1725.
- Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) Herschel was little more than the household drudge for her parents in Hanover, Germany (she would later describe herself as the “Cinderella of the family”), when her older brother, William, brought her to England in 1772 to run his household in Bath.
- Mary Anning (1799 – 1847) In 1811, Mary Anning’s brother spotted what he thought was a crocodile skeleton in a seaside cliff near the family’s Lyme Regis, England, home.
- Mary Somerville (1780 – 1872) Intrigued by the x’s and y’s in the answer to a math question in a ladies’ fashion magazine, 14-year-old Mary Fairfax of Scotland delved into the study of algebra and mathematics, defying her father’s injunction against such pursuits.
- Ada Lovelace, Mathematician. Dec. 10, 1815-Nov. 27, 1852. Lovelace is regarded as the first computer programmer — long before modern computers were invented.
- Marie Curie, Physicist and Chemist. Nov. 7, 1867-July 4, 1934. Chief among Curie’s many achievements include discovering radioactivity and inventing a mobile X-ray unit that was employed during World War I. With her husband, Pierre, Curie also discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium — and developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes.
- Janaki Ammal, Botanist. Nov. 4, 1897-Feb. 7, 1984. As India’s first female plant scientist, Ammal developed several hybrid species still grown today. She also advocated for protecting the biodiversity of India.
- Chien-Shiung Wu, Physicist. May 31, 1912-Feb. 16, 1997. Wu was the first scientist to confirm — and later refine — Enrico Fermi’s theory of radioactive beta decay.
- Tiera Guinn. This 21-year-old scientist hasn’t yet graduated from college, but Tiera Guinn’s already doing literal rocket science. The MIT senior is helping build a rocket for NASA that could be one of the biggest and most powerful ever made, according to WBRC News.
- Marie Curie. We all know the name of this physicist and chemist, but do you recall Marie Curie’s contributions to science? The Polish scientist studied at the Sorbonne, where she became the head of the physics lab there in the early 1900s — when women really did not teach science at European universities — and pioneered research in radioactivity.
- Elizabeth Blackwell. Elizabeth Blackwell, who was born in 1821, was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States (Geneva Medical College in upstate New York), became an activist for poor women’s health, and went on to found a medical school for women in England.
- Jane Goodall. The most famous primate scientist in history, Jane Goodall was renowned for her work with chimpanzees and as a champion of animal rights.
Not counting well-known women science Nobelists like Marie Curie or individuals such as Jane Goodall, Rosalind Franklin, and Rachel Carson, whose names appear in textbooks and, from time to time, even in the popular media, how many prominent or pioneering women scientists can you name?
List of inventions and discoveries by women; Index of women scientists articles; List of female scientists before the 20th century; List of female scientists in the 20th century; List of female scientists in the 21st century; List of female mathematicians; List of female Nobel laureates; Logology (science of science) (sexual bias) Matilda effect
