Science > Medicine Archives - Page 3 of 107

Elizabeth Bugie

In 1944, Albert Schatz, Elizabeth Bugie and Selman Waksman published their discovery of streptomycin, yet when Waksman and Schatz patented it, her name was left off the application.

Trota of Salerno

Trota of Salerno was one of the most well-known physicians of the 12th century and is considered the world’s first gynaecologist.

When Matilda J. Clerk wanted to study medicine at Achimota College, her father had to petition the head of the British colonial government, the Governor of the Gold Coast, for a special waiver. She became the first Ghanaian woman with a western medical degree, and she was the only candidate of any gender to pass the first preliminary medical baccalaureate examinations in 1942.

Helen Evans

One of the “Edinburgh Seven” at the first university in Britain to admit women.

Andromachi Papanikolaou

While the Pap test is named for Greek pathologist Georgios Papanikolaou, few people acknowledge that it was his wife, Andromachi “Mary” Papanikolaou, who spent more than 20 years having her own cervix scraped on a daily basis to provide the testing materials he needed, in addition to managing his laboratory and recruiting her friends to donate their own samples as well.

Annie Graham

Lt. Col. Annie Graham was the highest-ranking army nurse serving in the Vietnam War to die in the line of duty.

Guirandana de Lay

Executed in 1461, Spanish healer Guirandana de Lay was a typical example of a witch hunt victim, who were often used as scapegoats for illness and other woes.

Marian Koshland

Immunologist Marian Koshland is known for discovering that the differences in antibodies’ amino acid make-up explain how efficient and effective they are at fighting off foreign elements.

Dr Marthe Gautier

Marthe Gautier was studying Down Syndrome when she noticed an extra chromosome while studying cell samples from a patient. Due to her poorly equipped lab—she had only a low-power microscope—she couldn’t identify or photograph the chromosome.