Biologist Marion Bidder worked as a lecturer and director of studies at Newnham College for more than ten years before marrying in 1899. Suddenly her published works were all about domestic economy—even though she’d married a fellow biologist.
Marion Brickwedde held a B.S. in chemistry (1929) and M.S. in physics (1930), and went on to teach physics at George Washington University and Pennsylvania State University, and served on the research staffs of the U.S. National Bureau of Standards and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
One of the “Edinburgh Seven” at the first university in Britain to admit women.
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.
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.
1978 National Inventor of the Year (US) Barbara Askins waited until her children were in school to finish her chemistry Bachelors and Masters degrees, then went on to work for NASA, developing a new way to process film using radioactive materials. The astronomical and geological images she worked on held much more detail, making them significantly more valuable to scientists, and her process was also applied to x-rays and restoration of old photos.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) finally had to let a woman on board a research vessel in 1959 when oceanographer Betty Bunce secured funding for an expedition with herself as chief scientist—no Bunce meant no funding and therefore no expedition.
1600s French chemist who published La Chymie Charitable et Facile, en Faveur des Dames (Easy Chemistry for Women)
Lt. Col. Annie Graham was the highest-ranking army nurse serving in the Vietnam War to die in the line of duty.