The Greatest Women in Science History

Pasteur, Bohr, Einstein…we are all familiar with the great male scientists who have contributed greatly to the knowledge and progress of the human race. Less well known are those women scientists without whose work our understanding would be greatly impoverished. From Merit Ptah to Marie Curie to Evelyn Boyd Granville, the ranks of the greatest scientists have always included women.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi — d. 1799 AD

Mary Anning — d. 1847 AD

Arate of Cyrene — 5^th century BC

Anna Atkins — d. 1871 AD

Hertha Marks Ayrton — d. 1923 AD

S Josephine Baker — d. 1945 AD

Olive Ann Beech — d. 1993 AD

Ruth Benedict — d. 1948

Laura Bassi — d. 1778 AD

Elizabeth Blackwell — d. 1910 AD

Sophia Brahe — 17^th cent. AD

Elizabeth Knight Britton — d. 1934 AD

Mary E Britton — d. 1925 AD

Margaret Burbidge — 20^th cent. AD

Mary Whiton Calkins — d. 1929 AD

Annie Jump Cannon — d. 1941 AD

Margaret Cavendish — d. 1674 AD

Cornelia Clapp — d. 1934 AD

Jane Colden — d. 1766 AD

Bessie Coleman — d. 1926 AD

Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz — d. 1695 AD

Marie Cunitz — d. 1664 AD

Marie Curie — d. 1934 AD

Emilie Marquise de Chatelet De Breteuil — d. 1749 AD

Bessie Delaney — d. 1995 AD

Sadie Delaney — d. 1925 AD

En Hedu'Anna — d. 2250 BC

Alice Fletcher — d. 1923 AD

Williamina Fleming — d. 1911 AD

Rosalind Elsie Franklin — d. 1958 AD

Gargi — ca. 500 BC

Sophia Germain — d. 1831 AD

Kate Gleason — d. 1933 AD

Evelyn Boyd Granville — 20^th cent. AD

Anna J Harrison — d. 1998 AD

Herrad — d. 1195 AD

Caroline Lucretia Herschel — d. 1848 AD

Hildegard von Bingen — d. 1179 AD

Hipparchia — ca. 300 BC

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin — d. 1994 AD

Grace Hopper — d. 1992 AD

Margaret Murray Huggins — d. 1915 AD

Hypatia — d. 415 AD

Mary Kies — d. 1837 AD

Maria Margarethe Kirch — d. 1720 AD

Sofia Kovalevskia — d. 1891 AD

Bertha Lamme — d. 1943 AD

Nichole-Reine Lepaute — d. 1789 AD

Henrietta Swan Leavitt — d. 1921 AD

Lady Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace — d. 1852 AD

Margaret E Matlby — d. 1944 AD

Anna Morandi Manzolini — d. 1774 AD

Maria Goeppert Mayer — d. 1972 AD

Barbara McClintock — d. 1992 AD

Lise Meitner — d. 1968 AD

Maud Menten — d. 1960 AD

Maria Sibylla Merian — d. 1717 AD

Maria Mitchell — d. 1889 AD

Tarquinia Molza — d. 1617 AD

Julia Morgan — d. 1957 AD

Florence Nightingale — d. 1910 AD

Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin — d. 1979

Eliza Luca Pickney — d. 1793 AD

Christine di Pisan — d. 1430 AD

Elena Cornaro Piscopia — d. 1684 AD

Beatrix Potter — d. 1943 AD

Merit Ptah — ca. 2700 BC

Ellen Swallow Richards — d. 1911 AD

Emily Roebling — d. 1903 AD

Georgia Dwelle Rooks — d. 1977 AD

Patsy Sherman — 20^th cent. AD

Si Ling Chi — ca. 2700 BC

Mary Sommerville — d. 1872 AD

Nettie Stevens — d. 1912 AD

Ida Eva Tacke — d. 1979 AD

Lucy Hobbs Taylor — d. 1910 AD

Maria Telkes — d. 1995 AD

Theano — ca. 6^th cent. BC

M Carey Thomas — d. 1922 AD

Margaret Floy Washburn — d. 1939 AD

Sarah F Whiting — d. 1927 AD

Dorothy Wrinch — d. 1976 AD

Chien Shiung Wu — d. 1997 AD

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow — 20^th cent.