From discovering dark matter and radium to redefining social and cultural boundaries, these women have done it all. Here is a list of women in science who changed the world!
Data: discovermagazine.com
Mathematician
1815 to 1852
Lovelace wrote the first computer program in the world, a century before programmable computers were invented in 1941.
Physicist and Chemist
1867 to 1934
Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. She received the Nobel in Physics in 1903 for radiation and in Chemistry in 1911 for discovering radium and polonium.
Botanist
1897 to 1984
India’s first female botanist, she developed sugarcane crops for the Indian climate and saved the Silent Valley in Kerala from a hydroelectric project. She became the first female scientist to win the Padma Shri.
Physicist
1912 to 1997
A key member of the Manhattan Project, Wu was the first to confirm Enrico Fermi’s beta decay theory and designed the Wu experiment, leading to her male colleagues winning the Nobel Prize.
Mathematician
1918 to 2020
She played a pivotal role in US space missions including the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Mercury mission and the Space Shuttle. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Chemist
1920 to 1958
Known for her work on the double helix of DNA, her contributions were used by James Watson and Francis Crick to publish their findings. Four years after her death, they won a Nobel Prize for it.
Image: wikimedia.org/CHSL
Astronomer
1928 to 2016
One of the most influential astronomers of the 20th century, her groundbreaking work on galaxy rotation rates provided evidence of the existence of dark matter.
Image: wikimedia.org/NoirLab
Mathematician
1930 to Present
Dr. West’s work in mathematical modelling served as the foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Image: wikimedia.org/ Air Force Space Command Public Affairs/ Adrian Cadiz
Virologist and Molecular Biologist
1947 to 2020
The first scientist to clone and map HIV, her work led to the creation of a test for the virus.
Image: visualsonline.cancer.gov
Biochemist
1964 to present
Most known for co-developing CRISPR-Cas9, a groundbreaking genome editing technology, along with Emmanuelle Charpentier. They received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020.
Image: wikimedia.org/ The Royal Society/ Duncan.Hull
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