In 1978, more than 100 years after its founding, the American Chemical Society (ACS), one of the world’s largest scientific organizations, elected a woman as its leader for the very first time. Anna Jane Harrison had served as a chemistry professor at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts since 1945.
The heavy elements, which include plutonium, are hard to produce and exist only briefly, yet one woman has dedicated her career to capturing and analyzing them, making important discoveries about the nature of nuclear fission.
American biochemist and pharmacologist,who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
A husband-and-wife team of biochemists revolutionized diagnostic urine testing with their invention of an easy-to-use, chemically coated paper dipstick that measures a patient’s blood sugar by changing color when dipped in a urine sample.
Pioneering molecular biologist, influential science administrator, and leader in science policy and advocacy.
Her simple, rapid method for assessing newborn viability, the “Apgar score,” has long been standard practice.
Chemist whose x-ray diffraction studies provided crucial clues to the structure of DNA and quantitatively confirmed the Watson-Crick DNA model
In 1983, at the age of 81, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on “mobile genetic elements,” that is, genetic transposition, or the ability of genes to change position on the chromosome. McClintock was the first woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in that category.
Medical philanthropist, political strategist, and health activist Mary Lasker acted as the catalyst for the rapid growth of the biomedical research enterprise in the United States after World War II.
Polish-New Zealand welfare worker and community leader