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.
Fang, who lived during the first century BCE, was the earliest recorded woman alchemist in China. She reputedly discovered a way to turn mercury into silver—one interpretation is that she used a chemical technique to extract silver from ores using mercury.
One of China’s most famous women doctors, active in the 1400s and 1500s
Canada’s first woman to be a professional geologist
Italian pharmacist Sabina Baldoncelli completed all the coursework to earn a degree in the subject circa 1807.
Rocket scientist Yvonne Brill did brilliant work in rocket propulsion and invented the electrothermal hydrazine thruster (used in controlling satellites), improving both engine performance and propulsion reliability.
Biochemist Barbara Low discovered the elemental components of penicillin that enabled mass production and conversion into other antibiotic compounds. Until then, the life-saving drug had not been successfully synthesised.
Charlotte Murchison collected and studied fossils, with other geologists of the time studying and publishing works about fossils in her collection.
1700s Germany astronomer
Neuroscientist Candace Pert discovered the opiate receptor—key to explaining how endorphins and opioids work chemically in the body—and was the first person to isolate the T cell receptor.