Women in Science

1. Women in Science
1857-1957
Poulami Aich Mukherjee
mepoulami@gmail.com
2009

2. Women in Science
• The women scientists profiled here span around 1857-1957 and several
nationalities. Despite many barriers, women all over the world have
participated in unraveling the secrets of nature since the dawn of civilization.
As historian of science Naomi Oreskes said recently, “The question is not why
there haven’t been more women in science; the question is rather why we have
not heard more about them.”
• These women in science were also women specifically situated in time
and place. They also struggled in common with their male counterparts
against fascism, racism, and discrimination based on class and
ethnicity. Some achieved such pinnacles as the Nobel Prize, while
others have been nearly lost to history.

3. 513 Nobel winners in the sciences,
only 11 have been women
Physics
• Marie Curie (1903),
• Maria Goeppert Mayer (1963)
Chemistry
• Marie Curie (1911)
• Irene Joliot-Curie (1935)
• Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964)
Medicine
• Gerty Cori (1947)
• Rosalyn Yalow (1977)
• Barbara McClintock (1983)
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986)
• Gertrude Elion (1988)
• Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (1995)

4. Rosa Smith Eigenmann (1858-1947)
• First woman allowed to attend graduate-
level classes at Harvard University.
• First publishing in her own right at
Harvard.
• Collected and recorded 150 species of fish
with her husband.
• Biologist C.L. Hubbs “Rosa Smith was
indeed the first woman ichthyologist of any
accomplishments”

5. Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941)
• The first astronomer to classify the
heavens systematically
• Published catalogs of variable stars
including 300 she discovered
• She is the first recipient
of an honorary doctorate from Oxford
University.
• First woman elected an officer of the
American Astronomical Society
• Named the Curator of Astronomical
Photographs by Harvard University

6. Marie Curie (1867-1934)
• First woman to win a Nobel prize and
the first person to win two Nobel Prizes
• Nobel Prize in Physics (1903)
• Davy Medal (1903)
• Matteucci Medal (1904)
• Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)

7. Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972)
• The Gilbreth’s Invention: Work
Simplification
• developed strategies to help the ‘working
man’ and increase productivity for
manufacturers in a technique that has been
known as Time & Motion Studies
• taught Industrial Engineering courses at
various colleges

8. Roger Arliner Young (1899-1964)
• American scientist of zoology, biology
and marine biology
• First African American woman to
receive a doctorate degree in zoology
• Taught in the Howard University
and the University of Chicago

9. Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905-1993)
• a prolific astronomer noted for her
research into globular clusters
• best remembered for her astronomy
column, which ran from 1951 until
1981 in the Toronto Star
• Contribution on history of astronomy
• won the Annie J. Cannon Award in
Astronomy in 1949
• Won the Klumpke-Roberts Award in
1983.

10. Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972)
• a German-born American theoretical
physicist, and Nobel laureate in Physics for
proposing the nuclear shell model of the
atomic nucleus.
• She is the second female laureate in physics
after Marie Curie.
• Goeppert-Mayer explored theoretically the
possibility of the phenomenon of two-
photon absorption the unit for the two-
photon cross-section is named the Goeppert-
Mayer (GM) unit.

11. Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992)
• One of the first programmers of the Harvard
Mark I calculator
• Developed the first compiler for a computer
programming language
• 1969 -the first ‘man of the year’ award from
the Data Processing Management
Association.
• 1971 -The annual "Grace Murray Hopper
Award for Outstanding Young Computer
Professionals" was established in 1971 by
the Association for Computing Machinery.
• 1973 -became the first person from the
United States and the first woman of any
nationality to be made a Distinguished
Fellow of the British Computer Society.
• 1991 -She received the National Medal of
Technology.

12. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, OM
(1910-1994)
• British chemist, credited with the
discovery of protein crystallography.
• Hodgkin determined the three-
dimensional structures of the following
biomolecules:
• cholesterol in 1937
• penicillin in 1945
• vitamin B12 in 1954
• insulin in 1969
• as well as lactoglobulin, ferritin, and tobacco
mosaic virus.
• was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry.

13. Rosalind Elsie Franklin (1920-1958)
• an English biophysicist and X-ray
crystallographer who made important
contributions to the understanding of the
fine molecular structures of DNA, viruses,
coal and graphite. Franklin is still best
known for her work on the X-ray
diffraction images of DNA.
• Franklin led pioneering work on the
tobacco mosaic and polio viruses

14. •Indian women are relative new entrants in the field of science and engineering.
Despite considerable increase in the enrolment of women in higher education their
share in science and engineering education is still quit low.
•In particular their representation as faculty members involved in teaching and
research is less than one-twelfth in the best institute of higher education in science
and engineering. Yet despite their small number these women in science and
engineering represent the growing pool of women intelligent.
INDIAN WOMEN AND SCIENCE

15. Kadambini Ganguly (1861-1923)
• Was one of the first female graduates
of the British Empire
• The first female physician of South
Asia to be trained in European
medicine.
• The first Indian woman doctor
qualified to practice western medicine
• In 1892 she went to U.K. and acquired
LRCP (Edinburgh), LRCS (Glasgow),
and GFPS (Dublin)

16. Muthulakshmi Reddi (1886-1968)
• An eminent medical practitioner and social
reformer
• The first woman to be a member of any
legislature in India
• The first woman in the world to become the
Vice-President of a Legislature
• Founded Adyar Cancer Institute with help of
Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952
• Government of India conferred on her
Padma Bhushan in 1956 in recognition of
her meritorious services to the nation

17. Anna Mani (1819-2001)
• the distinguished Indian meteorologist, was
the former Deputy Director General of the
Indian Meteorological Department
• significant contributions in the field of
meteorological instrumentation
• pioneered research in the areas of solar
radiation, ozone and wind energy
measurements

18. Shakuntala Devi (1939-2013)
• The psychic math whiz whose mind
boggling calculations transcend human
limitations and leave computers in the
dust
• Holds an undisputed place in the
Guinness Book of Records for
multiplying in 1980 two randomly
chosen 13-digit numbers and giving the
correct answer in 28 seconds

19. Kalpana Chowla (1961-2003)
Posthumously awarded:
 Congressional Space Medal of Honor
 NASA Space Flight Medal
 NASA Distinguished Service Medal
 Defense Distinguished Service Medal
(DDSM).

20. Conclusion
In India there is a need:
• to collect the statistics of participation of women in Science
research and training
• encourage girl students to take up research in science as a
vocation
• help women get back into research after they take a break
for family for Balancing Career and Family
• bring about a change in the societal attitude which will
encourage pure science career for women
• increase participation of women in the power structure.