We have finally reached the month of March and as some of you may know, this is the month when we celebrate all women from all races and backgrounds.
Given my interest in the sciences and my passion for the major I’m currently pursuing in STEM, I thought “what better way to commemorate women and feel inspired this month than to celebrate women who have contributed largely to the field I’m interested in working in?”. And behold! Here I have compiled a list of some of the most interesting and motivating women in STEM throughout history.
Ada Lovelace
First off we have the lovely Ada Lovelace who grew up fascinated with learning mathematics. At just 17 years old she started to better understand the workings of the so-called “Babbage Engine”. 10 years later, she translated an article on the Analytical Engine by Luigi Menabrea and added some original operations to the aforementioned work she wrote. Apart from these equations, she talked about the possibility of a machine being able to produce things that are not necessarily calculations through the use of symbols and numbers; along with proposing a mechanism for “looping”, which is when an engine automatically repeats an action. After making these discoveries, she became known as the “first programmer”. Interestingly enough, a computer language called “Ada” is actually named after her!
Marie Curie
The legend herself, Marie Curie was a trailblazer in the field of chemistry and is well known for discovering Polonium and Radium as independent elements. Her purpose was actually to discover the different therapeutic abilities of radium. Unfortunately, in her quest to analyze both these elements, she had to deal with many radioactive substances, and this has been linked to her death on many occasions. Nonetheless, her work was recognized by countless scientists and she was a member of many scientific and honorary societies. She also earned a Nobel Prize in Physics along with her husband and Becquerel in 1903, a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911 (she was actually the first woman to earn one), the Davy Medal of the Royal Society along with her husband in 1903, and a gram of radium from President Harding in 1921 as recognition for her work.
Rosalind Franklin
Now, how could I talk about badass women in STEM without mentioning the one and only Rosalind Franklin?Her life had been greatly devoted to studying the structures of various organic matter after majoring in physical chemistry at Cambridge University. She started out by analyzing the structure of carbon and published about 19 articles on all her findings. Later on, by working with the technique of x-ray diffraction, she could provide a description of DNA’s structure (a double helix structure), something that had only been theorized about by Watson and Crick. Unfortunately, her contribution to this great discovery has been largely ignored for years. Even to the point in which no recognition was granted to her in the Nobel Prize given to Watson and Crick for their “discovery” on the previously mentioned structure. Nevertheless, later on in her life, she decided to focus more on plant viruses and successfully published 21 articles on her findings.
Gladys West
It’s 7 p.m. and you’re on your way to a get-together your friend’s arranged at a new restaurant. Truth is, you have no idea how to get there, and the thought of driving aimlessly during the nighttime hoping that by some miracle you’ll arrive at your destination does not sound like a good idea. What do you use to get there in a quicker and safer way? Yep, the amazing GPS! Also known as the Global Positioning System.
Well, Gladys West (this truly inspiring woman seen here in this picture) was born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in a family of farmers. As an African American living during the times of segregation, her only hope was to learn as much as she could in school, and prove herself to others in the future. What did she do in order to accomplish this? You guessed it. She invented the GPS.
In her younger years, given her economically disadvantaged background, she could not afford college, so she had to work hard and be at the top of her class in order to get a full scholarship at Virginia State College. She also worked part-time as a babysitter in order to pay for her room and board. After graduating, working as a teacher, and then earning her Master’s in Mathematics, she was hired by a naval base in Dahlgren, Virginia to work as a programmer. Her work eventually led her to program an IBM 7030 Stretch computer that made calculations for constructing a proper earth model. This is what would later develop into what we have today in our phones as a means to get to places.
Flossie Wong-Staal
Wong-Staal, born in Guangzhou, China, was the scientist to clone HIV and determine the function of its genes after getting a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from UCLA. Her work contributed to scientifically proving that HIV is the cause of AIDS. She also proved that some retroviruses can be carcinogenic.
Later on in her career, she became the founder of the Center for AIDS research at the University of California San Diego in 1990, and then co-founded a company called Immusol that fabricated biological pharmaceuticals.
As years have gone by and more space has been created for women to grow in fields that were once dominated by men, we begin to see how we are also as capable as men of achieving great things and being considered bright, innovative, and resilient.
Driven by their need to stand out and bring forth a new wave of women in STEM, these women have made discoveries in various science-related topics and have helped in the development of indispensable technologies of today’s day and age.
Here’s to breaking stereotypes and working towards a world that believes in equity of the sexes!