The contributions and discoveries of the world’s greatest scientists have the power to transform how people understand the world around them. Among these scientists are numerous women whose work in fields such as astronomy, chemistry, and medicine has changed the world. Throughout history, female scientists have played a vital role in discovering and developing elements, tools, and treatments that save and improve lives. This article contains five female scientists and their contributions and discoveries.
Dorothy Hodgkin
Dorothy Hodgkin is a British chemist who fell in love with science after learning about crystals at the age of ten. She went on to study chemistry and researched how to use X-ray crystallography. Later on, she used this technology to determine the atomic structures of biomolecules, including penicillin, B12, and insulin. Furthermore, Hodgkin used X-ray technology to treat World War I soldiers. Perhaps even more notable, she performed her work while suffering from the effects of rheumatoid arthritis.
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner is one of only two women to have an element named in her name. This element is known as meitnerium and has the atomic number 109. She was also the first physics professor in Germany and the first scientist to include the term ‘nuclear fission’ in a published paper. During her career, she discovered what causes the Auger Effect, explained how nuclear fission works, and uncovered the element protactinium. Unfortunately, Meitner faced significant discrimination as a female scientist and was therefore denied the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This prize was only awarded to her collaborator, Otto Hahn, for the discovery of nuclear fission in 1944.
Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper, also known as “Amazing Grace,” started her work in computing during World War II when she joined the Navy as a reserve officer. Hopper worked on the Harvard Mark I computer program and went on to develop the first compiler. She also programmed ‘Common Business-Oriented Language’, also known as COBOL. Additionally, Hopper was one of the first female officers in the United States Navy, where she served until she retired at the age of 79 in the Navy Reserve.
Chien-Shiung Wu
Chien-Shiung Wu was a physicist and was dubbed the “first lady of physics.” She went from a fishing village in China to working on the Manhattan Project in the United States. Wu was also the first person to confirm Fermi’s beta decay theory, which resulted in the discovery of how to produce quantities of uranium large enough to fuel the atomic bomb. Her experiment on radioactive atoms is now known as the Wu Experiment. Furthermore, Wu examined the way red blood cells change to cause sickle-cell anemia.
Alice Augusta Ball
Alice Augusta Ball made an important discovery that changed how doctors treat leprosy, which is a chronic disease that causes skin lesions and nerve damage. Ball was the first black woman to earn a master’s degree from and teach chemistry at the University of Hawaii. She worked on the makeup of plants, specifically Hawaii’s native kava plant, which had long been used as a skin treatment. She developed a method for injecting the plant’s oil as a treatment for leprosy. She died in 1916 at the age of 24. After her death, her research on the treatment of leprosy was taken over by another scientist. He published a paper on the subject but failed to credit Ball for her original work and presented her findings as his own. Many years later, Ball’s contributions to the field of medicine were properly recognized.
Sources:
https://www.coursera.org/articles/famous-female-scientists