Elizabeth Lee Hazen

Nystatin, one of the first effective antifungal medicines, was discovered in 1950 by two women scientists: Elizabeth Lee Hazen (1885–1975) and Rachel Fuller Brown (1898–1980)

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Rachel Fuller Brown

Nystatin, one of the first effective antifungal medicines, was discovered in 1950 by two women scientists: Elizabeth Lee Hazen (1885–1975) and Rachel Fuller Brown (1898–1980)

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Dr Mildred Cohn

Mildred Cohn (1913–2009) was interested in how chemical reactions take place, that is, how the molecules of each reactant come apart and how their atoms reassemble themselves into new molecules, and the role that enzymes play in this process.

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Rosalyn Sussman Yalow

Working out of an old janitor’s closet for a laboratory, the team of Rosalyn Yalow and Solomon Berson went on to do groundbreaking research in techniques for the early detection of diseases, including radioimmunoassay, for which Yalow received the Nobel Prize.

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Jane Marcet

In her 1806 book Conversations on Chemistry, Marcet an influential science writer, taught chemistry lessons through fictional conversations between a teacher and her two female students. This popular book went through numerous editions and was published in many different languages.

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Stephanie Kwolek

In 1965 Stephanie Kwolek created the first of a family of synthetic fibers of exceptional strength and stiffness. The best-known member is Kevlar, a material used in protective vests as well as in boats, airplanes, ropes, cables, and much more—in total about 200 applications.

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Susan Solomon

In 1986 Susan Solomon provided the most conclusive evidence for the theory proposed 13 years earlier that CFCs could be destroying the protective layer of ozone in the earth’s upper atmosphere.

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Maud Leonora Menten

Seminal work published in 1912 by Leonor Michaelis (1875–1949) and Maud Leonora Menten (1879–1960), a German man and a Canadian woman, cast light on the reasons why enzymes are so efficient.

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Dr Nancy T Chang

After attending Harvard Medical School, Nancy Chang’s career trajectory led her to cofound Tanox (now part of Genentech), a company that sought remedies for asthma and allergies through genetic engineering.

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