Category: Birth Locations

418) Madeline Stuart

Courtesy of Twitter

418: Madeline Stuart

One of If Not the First Professional Models Born With Down Syndrome

Born: 13 November 1996, Brisbane, Australia

Madeline’s modeling journey began in 2015 when she decided to get healthier and lost over 20 kilograms (around 44 pounds).

She has now performed in dozens of fashion weeks and runways across the world including New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, and Paris Fashion Week. Her biggest dream is to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Madeline has her own dance studio and fashion line as well.

When she was born, Madeline’s mother Roseanne was told by doctors Madeline would never have the mental function of anyone over the age of seven, but Madeline has defied expectations enormously. She has also undergone several heart surgeries, including one when she was eight weeks old and then again in December of 2018.

Sources:

http://www.madelinestuartmodel.com/madelines-story/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/02/11/this-australian-fashion-model-is-high-demand-she-also-has-down-syndrome/

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/madeline-stuart-victorias-secret-fashion-show-down-syndrome-model

417) Gertrude Ederle

Courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

417: Gertrude Ederle

The First woman to Swim the English Channel

Born: 23 October 1905, New York City, New York, United States of America

Died: 30 November 2003, Wyckoff, New Jersey, United States of America

Olympic Gold Medalist; Gertrude also used to be the world record holder in several different swimming events. She even recovered from a spinal injury to swim at the 1939 World’s Fair.

Gertrude retired from professional swimming in the 1940’s after losing her hearing. The exact cause was never confirmed, with people suspecting either an illness like measles as a child, or even damage from her record-breaking swim across the English Channel. Whatever caused the damage, Gertrude spent the rest of her career as a swimming instructor for deaf children.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Only Woman by Immy Humes

The Who, the What, and the When: 65 Artists Illustrate the Secret Sidekicks of History by Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman, and Matt LaMothe

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gertrude-Ederle

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/01/sports/gertrude-ederle-the-first-woman-to-swim-across-the-english-channel-dies-at-98.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8142767/gertrude-ederle

416) Kubaba

Courtesy of Wikipedia

416: Kubaba

Sumerian King and the Only Female Listed on the Sumerian King’s List

Lived and Died: c. 25th Century BCE, Kish, Sumer (Present-day Iraq)

Other Translations: Kug-Baba or Kubau

The list claims she ruled for one hundred years around the Dynastic III Period of Sumerian History.

It is said she was originally a tavern keeper before rising up and becoming king—ruling in a time of peace and prosperity for her people.

Kubaba may have been the first woman ruler in known history.

In later times she was worshipped as a goddess and as a goddess her cult began in Carchemish (an ancient Sumerian city) before her popularity spread Westward and Northward to become a major goddess in the Neo-Hittite States.

It should be noted that some sources state the historical figure and the goddess do not represent the same person, and simply share a similar name.

Sources:

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/kubaba

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kubaba

http://semiramis-speaks.com/ku-bau-the-first-woman-ruler/

415) Marie Maynard Daly

Science History Institute

415: Marie Maynard Daly

Chemist Who Studied the Chemical Makeup of the Human Body

Born: 16 April 1921, Queens, New York, United States of America

Died: 28 October 2003, New York City, New York, United States of America

Marie was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in chemistry in the United States. After facing heavy gender bias and experiencing the struggles of being a minority in early 20th century America, Marie became committed to helping increase the number of minority students in both graduate science programs and medical school.

She studied how the human body worked on the chemical level with her first grant becoming a seven-year project on how proteins are constructed within the body.

Marie was also one of the main scientists who uncovered how clogged arteries and high cholesterol are caused in part by diet.

Sources:

https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/marie-maynard-daly

https://blackhistory.news.columbia.edu/people/marie-maynard-daly

http://ignite.globalfundforwomen.org/be-the-spark/marie-maynard-daly

414) Caroline Herschel

Courtesy of Wikipedia

"I'm now so accustomed to receiving honors, that I take them...without blushing."

414: Caroline Herschel

Astronomer and Pioneer in Celestial Cataloging

Born: 16 March 1750, Hanover, Germany

Died: 9 January 1848, Hanover, Germany

Caroline’s major contribution to the field are the discoveries of several comets (one of which now bears her name).

Her brother was an astronomer and she worked alongside him throughout their careers.

Caroline’s father wanted her trained and educated alongside her brothers, but her mother believed she should be raised to be a housewife or domestic servant instead. At the age of ten, Caroline fell ill with typhus, which permanently stunted her growth (she never grew taller than four foot three inches) and made her parents believe she would never marry and die a spinster.

After twelve more years of staying with her parents, Caroline’s brother stepped in and brought her to live with him when she was twenty-two.

Caroline was also a trained soprano singer.

She discovered three nebulae and eight comets during her career; becoming the first woman to ever discover a comet in the process. Caroline was also the first woman to earn a salary while working as an astronomer. Among various honors she earned, Caroline also became a member of the Royal Irish Academies of Sciences and an honorary member of England’s Royal Astronomical Society.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History Edited By Bonnie G Smith

Sources:

https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/herschel.html

https://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/bios/herschel/

https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/herschel.htm

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35074377/caroline-lucretia-herschel

413) Sybilla Righton Masters

Sybilla's Corn Mill Schematic for Her Patent

413: Sybilla Masters

Inventor and Patent Holder

Born: 1676, According to Wikipedia, She was Born in Bermuda

Died: 23 August 1720, Location Unknown

Sybilla was also the First Person in the American colonies to be granted an English patent.

She is the first known Caucasian female machinery inventor in the United States.

Sybilla’s first invention was a new way to grind corn down into meal for use in food and other products, effectively eliminating the need for heavy millstones. Her meal, which she called Tuscarora Rice, failed to become a hit in England because the English did not like the taste of American grits.

Her other invention allowed for straw and palmetto leaves from the West Indies to be weaved into hats and bonnets. This invention was a bit more successful, with Sybilla even creating a shop in London to sell her products.

Sybilla traveled to England in the hopes of attaining patents for her inventions and after three years of patiently waiting she was finally granted the patents from the king (it should be noted that at the time women could not be granted patents and so the patent is technically granted to her husband Thomas but mentions that Sybilla was the actual inventor of the products).

Sybilla holds the distinction of being the first and last Colonial woman from the modern United States to be granted an English patent.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Bygone Badass Broads by Mackenzi Lee

Sources:

https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi326.htm

http://theinventors.org/library/inventors/blmasters.htm

http://outlinesventure.com/masters-fund/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198697158/sybilla-masters

412) Elena Cornaro Piscopia

Courtesy of Wikipedia

412: Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia

The First Woman to Ever Receive a Doctoral Degree

Born: 5 June 1646, Venice, Italy

Died: 26 July 1684, Padua, Italy

Member of the Venetian Upper Class, Elena spoke and read Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Arabic, and her native Italian.

She wasn’t looking to get degrees from the University of Padua, but her father insisted. Elena then applied for a Doctor of Theology Degree but was denied by the Catholic church. So instead she got a Doctor of Philosophy degree becoming the first woman to get a PhD.

Elena also mastered the harpsichord, the clavichord, the harp, and the violin. She even composed her own music.

Elena never married and gave up her place in society to become a charity worker devoted to the poor. Her death is reported to have been caused by tuberculosis at the age of thirty-eight.

Today, Elena is remembered by a statue in her honor at the University of Padua, and a stained-glass window at Vassar College in the United States.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Who Knew? Women in History by Sarah Herman

Hypatia's Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity to the Late Nineteenth Century by Margaret Alic

Sources:

https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/piscopia.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elena-Cornaro

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/188198326/elena-lucrezia-cornaro_piscopia

411) Mary Agnes Chase

Courtesy of Wikipedia

411: Mary Agnes Chase

Botanist and Social Activist

Born: 29 April 1869, Iroquois County, Illinois, United States of America

Died: 24 September 1963, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Mary worked at the US Department of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution. For the USDA, she began working as a botanical illustrator before rising higher within the organization.

She had no formal schooling beyond grammar school.

Mary is known for her work on the study of grasses and for her pioneering work in the suffrage movement in the United States. She was jailed several times for her work in the movement and continued to fight for women’s rights even though she faced continual threats of being fired from the USDA.

Mary is credited with being the first, and to-date only, American woman to scale the highest mountain in South America (Aconcagua).

She was also an active member in the NAACP.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Sources:

https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/latin-american-research/mary-agnes-chase

http://earlywomeninscience.biodiversityexhibition.com/en/card/agnes-chase

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198697430/mary-agnes-chase

410) Florence Bascom

Courtesy of Wikipedia

410: Florence Bascom

Geologist & the First Female Geologist to Join the US Geological Survey

Born: 14 July 1862, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States of America

Died: 18 June 1945, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States of America

She joined the survey in 1896.

Florence was also the second woman in the United States to receive a PhD in Geology and the first woman to receive a PhD in any subject from Johns Hopkins University. She was also the first woman to present a paper before the Geological Society of Washington in 1901. In 1930, she became the first female officer of the Geological Society of America, being elected Vice President that year.

While attending Johns Hopkins she was forced to sit behind a screen in the back corner of the room to hide the fact that a woman had been inducted into the doctoral program.

Florence taught at two different schools and published over forty works on her studies. In 1901, she created Bryn Mawr’s Department of Geology.

Responsible for geographically mapping large portions of the United States, Florence also helped further our understanding of what formed the Appalachian Mountains.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Florence-Bascom

https://trowelblazers.com/florence-bascom/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24573802/florence-bascom