Science, a field where it is often believed that Men do it all. The discoveries, the breakthrough inventions and other dimensions to science, it is a belief that renders worldwide, it is the men who are making science work really. But have you ever known about the women who have changed the world, breaking boundaries and pushing hard through this male-dominated field? If not, you should. For, there have been women who have made significant strides in science, whose contribution cannot be brushed under the carpet, or left lying in oblivion.
Florence Rena Sabin once said, “It matters little whether men or women have the more brains; all we women need to do to exert our proper influence is just to use all the brains we have.”
Today, on February 11, we celebrate International day of Girls and Women in Science. Here is a detailed description of the women who have done remarkable work in science, and are worth mentioning:
Marie Curie (Physicist and Chemist)
This has to be the first name that comes to our mind when we think about the female scientists. Marie Curie was a polish-french physicist and chemist who did some astounding work on radioactivity. She discovered radioactive elements polonium and radium along with her husband, Pierre. Curie also developed techniques to isolate radioactive isotopes. A major achievement of Curie was invention of a mobile X-ray unit that was deployed during the World War I.
To those who do not know, Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize in 1903. This was her first in Physics, the second was for Chemistry. That made her the first person to be awarded twice in history.
It was Marie Curie’s work that laid the foundation for the development of X-rays in surgery and atomic physics. Curie also championed for the use of radium in treating humors.
Jankie Ammal (Botanist)
Indians, do you really know about the first female plant scientist of the country? She is Janaki Ammal, a scientist who worked notably in Botany and Cytology. Janaki got her education in US and Madras. She taught at the Women’s Christian College and worked at the Sugarcane breeding Institute. Before coming back to India, her work even extended overseas to England.
After her return to India, Janaki led the reorganization of the Botanical Survey of India, where she immensely contributed to genetics and plant breeding. Her scientific achivements can be called groundbreaking, owing to the fact that she was a woman into this field who lived for botanical science serving as an inspiration for the generations to come. Janaki’s work spanned across medicinal plants, cytogenetics and ethnobotany, that made her a versatile scientist.
Janaki’s contributions towards botanical science and her remarkable work was recognized by the Government of India, when she was awarded with the Padma Shri. Apart from this, she also earned some prestigious fellowships.
Vera Rubin (Astronomer)
Vera Rubin is known for her work on galaxy rotation rates, where she provided evidence of the existence of dark matter (that holds our universe together). Her work and contribution to the field is considered to be one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century.
She made it to PHD and then serving as the researcher and priofessor after overcoming various barriers, later on advocating for women in science. Out of all her discoveries, the most significant one has to be of the dark matter. Even though Rubin could never win the Nobel Prize, she was awarded with other honors like National Medal for Science. Rubin continues to inspire and is recognized widely for her work in astronomy.
Rosalind Franklin (Chemist)
The double helix structure of DNA…do you know who discovered that? Probably not. The revolutionary discovery was made by Rosalind Franklin, a British chemist. She wasn’t given full credit for this, and the contributions were used by James Watson and Francis Crick where they published their own findings. Franklin at the start of her career worked on properties of carbon, which was crucial to the war effort.
A groundbreaking career had a premature end when, Franklin died untimely due to ovarian cancer aged 37. After four years of her death, Franklin’s male colleagues were awarded with the Nobel Prize, ironically no mention of Franklin or contributions anywhere. Had she lived, Franklin would have done some more work for Science and the society. She died an unsung hero, no one really knows about her or the work that she did.
Dorothy Hodgkin (Researcher and Chemist)
Dorothy Hodgkin was the eldest of four daughters in her family, who fought to be enrolled in a school where the boys were only allowed to study chemistry. She attained an honors in Chemistry and later on a PHD from Cambridge. She undertook research mapping the structure of cholesterol and examining the structure of penicillin.
Later in her career, Hodgkin focussed on the structure of insulin building the first model of the insulin molecule. For this Dorothy won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her “determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.” She is the only British woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Science, the third woman for Chemistry and fifth woman for Science.
These are only five women, history has seen many. Women who fought, women who discovered, and women who rose in a male centric field. There contributions shall never go in vain, neither for science nor for the society. Barbara McClintock, Elizabeth Garett Anderson, Grace Hopper, Valentina Tareshkova, Ada Lovelace, Mary Maynard Dally, Lise Meitner, Inge Lehmann, and Katherine Johnson among others. Let us continue appreciating women’s work and their contributions in various fields of work. And the next time, if you feel women have nothing to do with science, better give yourself a reality check, when they can discover the structure of DNA, insulin and much more…they surely have a lot to do with Science and the field of discovery. Suneeta Williams is still in space, and here on Earth too, a team of women is successfully ensuring India’s Mission on Mars! Let us better appreciate Women in Science…