“The name of Emily Warren Roebling will…be inseparably associated with all that is admirable in human nature and all that is wonderful in the constructive world of art” -Abram Hewitt (On the Bridge itself): “An everlasting monument to the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman and of her capacity for that higher education from which she…
367: Maria Mitchell First Female Astronomer in the United States Born: 1 August 1818, Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States of America Died: 28 June 1898, Lynn, Massachusetts, United States of America Her name was pronounced Mariah (think Mariah Carey). Maria was also the first American scientist to discover a comet, the first woman elected to the…
365: May-Britt Moser Psychologist and Neuroscientist Born: 4 January 1963, Fosnavåg, Norway May-Britt is the department head of the Centre for Neural Computation at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014. Sharing the award with three others, the prize citation states, “For their discoveries…
364: Katia Krafft Geologist and Volcanologist Born: 17 April 1942, Soultz-Haut-Rhin, France Died: 3 June 1991, Mount Unzen, Japan Katia, alongside her husband, perished on a volcano’s slopes when it unexpectedly erupted. Around forty journalists and other volcanologists died with them. Katia and her husband studied hundreds if not thousands of volcanoes and hoped to…
360: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Biologist Specializing in Cell Development Born: 20 October 1942, Heyrothsberge, Germany Christiane received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995. She shared the prize with two others, and the citation for the award reads, “For their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development.” After high school she tried…
359: Patricia Bath Ophthalmologist & Laser Scientist Born: 4 November 1942, New York City, New York, United States of America Died: 30 May 2019, San Francisco, California, United States of America Patricia invented a new way of doing cataract surgery (called laserphaco). She was the first female ophthalmologist to be appointed to the faculty at…
356: Vera Rubin Astronomer Who Pioneered Work on Galaxy Rotation Rates Born: 23 July 1928, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America Died: 25 December 2016, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America Vera “uncovered the discrepancy between the predicted angular motion of galaxies and the observed motion” (Wikipedia). Today, she is most remembered as being…
354: Rosalyn Yalow Medical Physicist and Biochemist Born: 19 July 1921, Bronx, New York, United States of America Died: 30 May 2011, Bronx, New York, United States of America Rosalyn was rejected from several prominent universities’ graduate programs because she was Jewish and a woman (including Perdue). She was the only woman to hold a…
352: Jane C Wright Oncologist, Researcher, and Surgeon Noted For Her Pioneering Work in Chemotherapy Born: 30 November 1919, Manhattan, New York, United States of America Died: 19 February 2013, Guttenberg, New Jersey, United States of America Jane’s father was one of the first African American men to graduate from Harvard Medical college, setting the…
“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…