Meet Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer
A "prophet of the computer age," she saw the potential for computers outside of pure mathematics
Neuroscience
McGill University
Meet Hypatia, the ancient mathematician who helped preserve seminal texts
Her dramatic death often overshadows her epic life, but it shouldn't
Biochemistry
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
There was so much more to Rachel Carson beyond 'Silent Spring'
The trained zoologist and a bureaucrat pushed for environmental safety her whole life
Ecology
Wake Forest University
Meet Mary Anning, a fossil hunter who changed the way we think about the history of life on Earth
The ichthyosaur she found helped prove extinction
Botany
University of Florida
Meet Mary Golda Ross, one of the first Native Americans in engineering
Much of her Cold War work on missiles is still classified today
Ecology
Wake Forest University
Meet Barbara McClintock, who used corn to decipher 'jumping genes'
Through meticulous crossbreeding, she showed that DNA is far more complicated than scientists originally thought
Neuroscience
LA Biomed
Meet Ynes Mexia, late-blooming botanist whose adventures rivaled Darwin's
Eighty years after her death, scientists are still processing the plants she collected
Marine Geology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Meet Helen Rodríguez-Trías, pediatrician-turned-healthcare activist
She pushed to end sterilization, legalize abortion, and give poor people access to quality care
Psychology and Nutrition
University of South Australia
Meet Jane Marcet, whose books made science accessible
She recreated her own informal learning process in print, to much success
Chemical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Three times Louise Slaughter used her microbiology training in Congress
The lawmaker, who died last month, pushed for public health reform
Microbiology
Four facts about Jane Goodall, primatologist, anthropologist, and activist
Her unorthodox research showed us that chimpanzees are far more human than we thought
Environmental Physiology
McMaster University
Meet Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astrophysicist who first noticed pulsars
Through sheer tenacity she has forged a career in a male-dominated field
Neuroscience
LA Biomed
Meet Katherine Johnson, the computer who helped send men to the moon
John Glenn wouldn't blast off until she double-checked the IBM's calculations
Ecology
Wake Forest University
Five facts about Rita Levi-Montalcini, who figured out how neurons grow
She bested anti-Semitism and sexism to have a Nobel-winning career
Neuroscience
McGill University
5 facts about Frances Hamerstrom, wildlife biologist, hunter, and savior of the prairie chicken
As a kid, she dissected blue jays and built a garden whose path was lined with poison ivy
Neuroscience
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Meet Vera Rubin, the stargazer who predicted dark matter
From childhood, she preferred 'to stay up and watch the stars than go to sleep'
Environmental Physiology
McMaster University
Meet Mamie Phipps Clark, the social psychologist who helped outlaw segregated schools
She became the first black woman to earn a PhD in psychology from Columbia University
Neuroscience
McGill University
Six facts about Gertrude Elion, a legend in drug discovery
She experienced many obstacles, but her perseverance and passion always won
Cell Biology
Carnegie Mellon University
Four facts about Marie Tharp, the woman whose art mapped the bottom of the sea
She discovered the Earth's 'backbone' even though men wouldn't let her on a ship for 17 years
Ecology
Wake Forest University
Remembering Ursula K. Le Guin, an inspiration to scientists
Le Guin was a testament to how fiction reveals truth, empathy, and the beauty of knowledge
Meet the barrier-breaking physicist hunting gravity with lasers
Nergis Mavalvala explores gravitational waves and quantum physics
Neuroscience
Northeastern University
5 facts about Marie Curie, chemist, physicist, and Nobel legend
She was the first woman to win one – much less two – Nobel Prizes
Neuroscience
McGill University
The prolific life of Wang Zhenyi, autodidact, astronomer, and poet
Progressive in science and art, she disregarded sexist norms of Qing-dynasty China
Genomics
University of Alberta
5 facts about Hedy Lamarr, star, inventor, wartime code maker
“Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid”
Computational Neuroscience
.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=faces&fit=crop&fm=jpg&h=400&q=70&w=600)
5 facts about Marjorie Lee Browne, African American math prodigy and pioneer
Breaking through barriers of race and gender, she pursued the beauty of pure math
Neuroscience
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
5 facts about Rosalind Franklin, DNA pioneer
She helped discover DNA, got snubbed by her contemporaries, and kept right on going
Evolutionary Biology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
5 facts about Jean Bartik, expert programmer of the world's first computer
"The ENIAC was a son of a b**** to program"
Neuroscience
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Five facts about Mae Jemison, doctor, dancer, and the first woman of color in space
You know she went to space. But do you know which TV show inspired her to go?
Molecular Pharmacology
University of Pittsburgh
Five facts about Mary Putnam Jacobi, medical pioneer and suffragette
She was a true renaissance woman
Neuroscience
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Five facts about Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space
Two decades before Sally Ride, a Soviet woman rose from obscurity to become the first female cosmonaut
Five facts about Linda Buck, olfactory pioneer
The Nobel Prize-winning biologist revolutionized how we think about our noses
Meet the astronomer who changed how we see the stars
Williamina Fleming pioneered a system for classifying stars and discovered the Horsehead Nebula
Maryam Mirzakhani died Friday. Her legacy lives on
The first woman to win a Fields Medal was only 40, but she revolutionized mathematics
Meet the "First Lady of Physics," "Queen of Nuclear Research," and destroyer of natural laws
Chien-Shiung Wu conducted some of the most elegant particle physics experiments of her time
Meet the chemist who engineered the first effective treatment of leprosy
Alice Augusta Ball’s died at the age of 24. Ninety years later, we finally started recognizing her contributions.
4 incredible fossils found by paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey
Meet the British anthropologist who completely changed our understanding of the hominid ancestral tree
Meet the woman who changed how we treat cancer
Jane Cooke Wright saved millions by making chemotherapy more effective
Meet the physicist who helped discover three fundamental particles
Most scientists spend their careers hoping for a single big discovery. Sau Lan Wu has had three and is still searching for more.
Meet the first black woman to earn a PhD in chemistry
Marie Maynard Daly worked at a time when our understanding of DNA was changing in big ways
Meet the botanist who made sugarcane sweeter and snuck a squirrel into England
Janaki Ammal lived simply. Her life was anything but.
3 incredible stories from the life of nanoscience pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus
The “Queen of Carbon” didn’t earn her title by playing by the rules