Girl Geeks, Unite!!
From math to computers to chemistry to space, women have found ways to break down barriers and make their mark. For years, women dabbled in the science fields thanks to brothers and husbands who appreciated their perspectives. Only in the last 150 years or so did women find a way to break out to make names on their own, with their own research.
This lens is part of a series celebrating the great achievements of women over the years in fields such as politics, sports, business, science and more.
"You have to reach a level of comfort with that risk."
- Sally Ride
Space Exploration: All about Valentina
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (; born 6 March 1937) is the first woman in space, now a retired Soviet cosmonaut. Out of more than four hundred applicants and then out of five finalists, she was selected to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 and become the first woman to fly in space. On this mission, lasting almost three days in space, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight.
Before being recruited as a cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker and an amateur parachutist. After the female cosmonaut group was dissolved in 1969, she became a prominent member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, holding various political offices. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, she retired from politics but remains revered as a hero in Russia.
Space Exploration: First Woman To ...
- 1786 - Caroline Herschel becomes the first woman to discover a comet, the first of eight she would discover between 1786 and 1797. In 1787, she began reciving an annual salary from the king for her work as her brother's assistant, making her the first woman officially recognized in a scientific job. In 1828 the Royal Astronomical Society presented her with their Gold Medal - no woman would be awarded it again until Vera Rubin in 1996 - and in 1835 the society elected her as an honorary member. The asteroid 281 Lucretia was named after Caroline's second given name; C. Herschel crater in the Sinus Iridium on the Moon was also named in her honour.
- 1953 - Jerrie Cobb is the first woman in the U.S. to undergo astronaut testing. NASA, however, cancels the women's program in 1963.
- 1963 - USSR cosmonaut Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space and the first woman in orbit.
- 1983 - Dr. Sally K. Ride becomes the first American woman to be sent into space.
- 1995 - Lt. Col. Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot a space shuttle. Four years later, she would be the first woman space shuttle commander.
- 2007 - Dr. Peggy Whitson, an American astronaut, becomes the first woman to command the International Space Station.
Space Exploration: More on American Female Astronauts
Medicine: All About Dorothea Erxleben
Dorothea Christiane Erxleben née Leporin (November 13 1715 in Quedlinburg ? June 13 1762 in Quedlinburg) was the first female medical doctor in GermanySchiebinger, L. (1990): "The Anatomy of Difference: Race and Sex in Eighteenth-Century Science" p. 399, Eighteenth Century Studies 23(3) pp. 387-405.
Erxleben was instructed in medicine by her father from an early ageSutherland, M. (1985): Women Who Teach in Universities (Trentham Books) p. 118. The Italian scientist Laura Bassi's university professorship inspired Erxleben to fight for her right to practise medicine, and in 1742 she published a tract arguing that women should be allowed to attend universityOffen, K. (2000): European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History (Stanford University Press) p. 43. After being admitted to study by a dispensation of Frederick the Great, Erxleben received her M.D. from the University of Halle in 1754. She went on to analyse the obstacles preventing women from studying, among them housekeeping and family.
Dorothea was the mother of Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben.
Medicine: First Woman To ...
- 350 BC - Agnodice, the first female doctor and gynecologist, was a young woman of the Athenian high society frustrated by the law that banned women from studying. Encouraged by her father, she cut her hair and dressed like a man so that she could attend classes, particularly those of famous physician Herophilus. In the year 350 BC, she obtained the highest marks in the medicine test and became a gynecologist, still hiding her real identity.
- 12th century A.D. - The Salerno School was the first medical school in Europe not run by a religious organization and had female doctors on staff. One possible explanation goes back to Muslim control of the city during the Crusades. In Islamic society, only women physicians could examine women patients. This may explain why women doctors were included on the integrated staff of the Salerno School, which included Jews, Arabs, women, and Christians. Trota or Trotula was the most famous of the women teachers at Salerno.
- 1754 - Dorothea Erxleben received a medical degree in 1754 from the German University of Halle, the first woman to do so. Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the U.S. receive a medical degree in 1849.
- ~1866 - Lucy Hobbs Taylor graduated from the Ohio College of Dentistry in Cincinnati, Ohio, the second dental school in the world, as the world's first fully-trained woman dentist.
- 1978 - Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, is born in England. Her parents had tried to conceive for nine years before undergoing the extremely experimental treatment.
"A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."
- Grace Murray Hopper
General Science: All About Grace Hopper
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 ? January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Naval officer. A pioneer in the field, she was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, and she developed the first compiler for a computer programming language. Because of the breadth of her accomplishments and her naval rank, she is sometimes referred to as "Amazing Grace". The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) (see below) was named for her.
Other Science Related Fields: First Woman To ...
- 1809 - Mary Kies becomes the first woman to receive a patent in the U.S. for a method of weaving straw with silk.
- 1904 - Electrical engineer and suffragette Hertha Ayrton becomes the first woman to read a paper on her work at the Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy.
- 1940s-1950s - Grace Hopper was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I calculator in the 1940s, and she developed the first compiler for a computer programming language, COBOL, in the 1950s.
- 2007 - Frances Allen, a fellow emerita at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center, was given the award for her contributions in the area of program optimization, a way of modifying a program to run more efficiently and improve performance.
Science: More On These Amazing Women
First Woman To ... The Series
Are You a Woman Science Geek?
Let's hear from you!
spirituality wrote...
Madame Curie invented the x-ray didn't she? She did work with her husband, but that's one of the usual shortcuts these women had to use (being the daughter of... also helped)
Posted April 26, 2008
LeslieBrenner wrote...
Great lens, 5 stars! Here are a couple more women scientists:
A woman, Rosalind Franklin, took X-ray photos of DNA that contributed directly to the discovery of the double helix. Her male partners won the Nobel Prize for the discovery and stole all the credit in 1962.
Catherine Greene was said to have developed the plans to separate cotton and seed--the cotton gin. Under her direction, her employee Eli Whitney constructed the device and applied for the patent, which she was too embarrassed to apply for.
Posted April 19, 2008
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by SusanVillasLewis
Basic gal from the Dallas area who has a lot to say!! I'm working on lens related to my odd-ball interests, as well as some tying back to my husband'...
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