Great female scientists who changed our understanding of science

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At the echelon of scientific and technological academia the statistics has often favoured the male folks; in the sense that men have usually dominated the league of science greats, inventors and researchers, etc.

This scenario has been especially true when it comes to fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

According to the statistics from the National Girls Collaborative Project, women today, make up about 29 percent of the workforce in STEM fields, and are quite under-represented in fields of physics, engineering, and astronomy.

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This revelation or report does not in any way mean that women have not contributed substantially to scientific progress in our world as of today. Fact is that women have actually been behind some of the most significant discoveries in every STEM fields, ranging from chemistry to biology to even computing.

Today, I’d be sharing a report of some of the revolutionary female scientists, past and present, who made major scientific breakthroughs that still helps us in various scientific and technological fields today.

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1.) Ada Augusta Lovelace (1815 - 1852)

Ada Lovelace as a mathematician in England back in the early and mid-1800s, developed her own coding language and created what is considered as the first computer program, long before the invention of the first electronic computers.

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So, whether you are reading this on your smart phone, tablet or computer, we owe some gratitude to Ada Lovelace for her contribution towards the development of the earliest computer technology. A computer program ADA was named after the brilliant 19th-century mathematician.

Ada Lovelace also predicted the important value of computers in regards to its development and for mathematics and calculations. Her predictions later proved true, and in honour of Ada Lovelace’s achievements in the field of computer technology, the “International Lovelace Day” is celebrated and helps to raise the awareness of women in STEM fields.

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2.) Rosalind Franklin (1920 - 1958)

Rosalind Franklin’s work in no small measure aided the discovery of the structure of DNA. James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins may have won the Nobel Prize in 1962, for discovering the structure of DNA, but they owe their discovery to Rosalind Franklin who died of ovarian cancer in 1958.

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Rosalind Franklin learned the techniques of X-ray crystallography, and her work centered on X-ray diffraction, which involved taking X-ray photographs of DNA molecules. It was these X-ray photographs that aided James Watson to visualize the double helix structure of the DNA, and then proceeded to discovering the chemical structure of DNA.

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3.) Lise Meitner (1878 - 1968)

Lise Meitner, an Austrian and Swedish nuclear physicist discovered nuclear fission, a process through which larger atoms split into two or more smaller particles.

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Till date the various real world applications of fission are still very relevant. For instance, the most common type of nuclear reactor is the fission reactors. Fission is also essential for energy production. Fission is also the technology and chemistry behind the creation of atomic bombs.

Lise Meitner was the first German woman to achieve the position of a professor. She blazed science trails and proceeded to further her work at Sweden’s University College of Stockholm. Meitner’s colleague Otto Hahn went on to win a Nobel Prize for their scientific works.

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4.) Hilde Mangold (1898 - 1924)

A top pioneer of embryology, Hilde Mangold, who is a German Scientist, worked with her advisor, Hans Spemann, to uncover a breakthrough in understanding the development of amphibians.

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Hilde Mangold also discovered the Mangold-Spemann organizer which is a subset of cells required for the development of the nervous system. These were accomplished through grafting experiments done before the development of sterile lab conditions that are used for experiments today.

Hilde Mangold’s discoveries eventually helped developmental biologists to better understand the development of mammals, including human development.

Hilde Mangold died quite early in life before she could see the impact of her discoveries in the science community. Her advisor, Hans Spemann later won a Nobel Prize for advising Mangold’s work.

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5.) Jocelyn Bell (b. 1943)

Jocelyn Bell, an astrophysicist based in Britain was one of the great female scientists of our time. Jocelyn Bell discovered the first pulsar, while she was still a graduate student. The pulsar is a type of rapidly spinning, extremely dense neutron stars that emits strong electromagnetic radiations.

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Due to the strength of the radiations emitted from pulsars, Bell called the waves she observed ‘Little Green Men’ or LGMs, jokingly inferring that the radiations may have come from extraterrestrial forms.

In 1974, her advisor, Tony Hewish won the Nobel Prize in Physics, thanks to Jocelyn Bell’s work. And today, further studies on pulsars helps astrophysicists identify gravitational waves, which can signal the presence of star systems and these studies continue to expand our understanding of our universe till date.

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Reference: R1, R2, R3

Further Reading: 1, 2

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