Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women in Science

Most people know the scientific greats simply by their last names—Newton, Galileo, and Einstein, to name a few. However, what about the name Meitner? Would that ring any bells? Would saying “Lise Meitner, a collaborator of Otto Hahn” help at all?

For many, especially the general public, Meitner’s name still wouldn’t be familiar. That’s why we’ve chosen to take this opportunity, during Women’s History Month, to showcase a few important female scientists.

While some of the aforementioned men suffered religious persecution in their pursuit of science, women often faced even more disheartening barriers. These hurdles included having no access to higher education or proper scientific tools, no lab space to conduct experiments, or having to operate in near poverty in their quest for discovery—all while also dealing with blatant sexism.

Compared to the revered findings of their male counterparts, records of these female pioneers were relatively rare. Nonetheless, a brief list of those women who persevered despite adversity includes:

Caroline Herschel (1750–1848)

As an astronomer, Caroline worked closely with her brother, Sir William Herschel, not only in studying the skies, but also in building telescopes. As a result, she discovered several comets, nebulae, and star clusters. In fact, Caroline was the first woman to:

• Discover a comet
• Have her work published by the Royal Society
• Be paid for scientific work

 

Marie Curie (1867–1934)

Known as the “Mother of Modern Physics,” Marie was most famous for discovering and first isolating radium and polonium, as well as defining the nature of radiation and beta rays. Marie also was the:

• First woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize
• First person to win a Nobel Prize in two different scientific disciplines: Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911)

Irene Curie-Joliot (1897–1956)

Daughter of Marie Curie, Irene followed her parents into the lab and studied the alpha rays emitted by polonium. She and her husband examined the structure of the atom, and together they discovered artificial radioactivity and produced radioactive isotopes.

 

Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958)

Rosalind was an X-ray crystallographer and biophysicist, who had taken X-ray photographs of DNA to help discern its molecular structure. She had almost figured out those structural details when the images were shown to James Watson and Francis Crick, who published their findings of DNA’s double-helix structure in Nature in 1953.

 

Lise Meitner (1878-1968)

Meitner collaborated with Otto Hahn on the study of radioactive elements, after Hahn discovered that uranium atoms could be split, she was about to calculate the energy created by the reaction and named it “nuclear fission.” While Hahn went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1944, Meitner was overlooked by the committee.

 

While there are many more historic female scientists that could be added to this list, the point we want to make is that we need to celebrate not only these women’s efforts, but also encourage female scientists today to persevere through struggles, overcome challenges, and never quit! Who knows—the next Marie Curie could be sitting in the lab next to you.

For more details about these and other women in science, go to:

• Famous Female Scientists
• Lady Science Blog
• Encyclopedia Britannica – Women in Science
• Smithsonian Magazine – “Ten Historic Female Scientists You Should Know”