“The human mind contemplates [the virtues of Christ] with marvel. The heart imitates them with love.” 1071: Maria Gaetana Agnesi The First Woman to Write a Well-Known Calculus Textbook Born: 16 May 1718, Milan, Habsburg Crown Lands (Present-day Milan, Italy) Died: 9 January 1799, Milan, Habsburg Crown Lands (Present-day Milan, Italy) Maria was a linguist,…
1044: Melba Roy Mouton Assistant Chief of Research Programs at NASA Born: 1929, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America Died: 25 June 1990, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States of America That’s right, Melba was another Hidden Figure, though her story wasn’t highlighted in the film. In 1950, Melba graduated from Howard University with a master’s…
Just a quick note to celebrate this historic milestone. After gathering data and stories for five years, I am now proud to say the first 1,000 women have been posted to this website, where their stories will live on forever. We have seen criminals, victims, scientists, mathematicians, lawyers, advocates, survivors, artists, musicians, actresses, innkeepers, warriors,…
883: Mary Jackson One of NASA’s Hidden Figures Born: 9 April 1921, Hampton, Virginia, United States of America Died: 11 February 2005, Hampton, Virginia, United States of America Mary earned bachelor’s degrees in math and physical sciences in 1942. She worked as a teacher, bookkeeper, and secretary initially. She was married and had two children….
882: Dorothy Vaughan One of NASA’s Hidden Figures Born: 20 September 1910, Kansas City, Missouri, United States of America Died: 10 November 2008, Hampton, Virginia, United States of America Dorothy received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 1929. Dorothy was a math teacher in Virginia before World War II struck. In 1943, she took what…
407: Wang Zhenyi Astronomer and Author Born: 1768, Anhui Province, China Died: 1797, China Zhenyi was famous in her own time, during the Qing Dynasty, which broke feudal customs, especially the sources that state she taught male students. She contributed to the fields of astronomy, medicine, and poetry, all taught to her by her father…
384: Emmy Noether Mathematician Who is Known as the Most Creative Abstract Algebraist in Modern Times Born: 23 March 1882, Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany Died: 14 April 1935, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States of America Original Name: Amalie Noether When Emmy decided she wanted to study math she wasn’t actually allowed to take the classes at…
369: Sofia Kovalevskaya Mathematician and Education Rights Advocate Born: 15 January 1850, Moscow, Russia Died: 10 February 1891, Stockholm, Sweden Original/Alternate Spellings: Sofya, Sophie, or Sonya Sofia stated her exposure to math began at a young age when her room was repapered with her father’s old calculus notes rather than wallpaper (this despite the fact…
366: Maryam Mirzakhani Mathematician and Professor at Stanford University Born: 12 May 1977, Tehran, Iran Died: 15 July 2017, Palo Alto, California, United States of America Maryam was the first woman and the first Iranian to be awarded the Fields Medal. The award, which was first presented in 1936, is known as the Nobel of…
“NASA was a very professional organization. They didn’t have time to be concerned about what color I was.” 351: Katherine Johnson Physicist and Hidden Figure Born: 26 August 1918, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, United States of America Died: 24 February 2020, Newport News, Virginia, United States of America Katherine was awarded the Presidential Medal…