Mary
Anning
Born: May 21,
1799 in Lyme Regis, England
Died: March 9, 1847 in Lyme Regis, England
Mary Anning
is often called one of the greatest fossil finders ever.
She was born to a poor family who lived off of charity
and money from fossil discoveries from the seaside cliffs
of Lyme Regis after the death her father in 1810. Mary
is credited with finding the first of many fossil specimens
in England (Ichthyosaurs - her brother found most of this
fossil, a nearly complete Plesiosaurus, a Pterodactylus
macronyx, a Squaloraja and a Plesiosaurus macrocephalus).
Many of her
discoveries ended up in museums and private collections
where she rarely received credit because of her gender,
socioeconomic status and limited formal education. Late
in life she was honored by the British Association for
the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of
London, became the first Honorary Member of the Dorset
County Museum and her obituary was published in the Quarterly
Journal of the Geological Society.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/anning.html
Elizabeth
Garret Anderson
Born: 1836 in London, England
Died: 1917
After meeting
Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to qualify as a doctor
in the United States, Elizabeth Garret Anderson decided
she also wanted to pursue a career in medicine. She obtained
a certificate that enabled her to become a doctor and
established a medical practice in London. She was the
first British woman to qualify as a doctor. She was determined
to earn a medical degree, and after learning French she
passed the exams. However, the British Medical Register
refused to recognize her degree. She continued her medical
career however, and opened the New Hospital for Women
in London, which was staffed entirely by women. She also
partnered with Sophia Jex-Blake to establish a London
Medical School for women. Later, she was elected the first
mayor of England and became a member of the Women's Social
and Political Union.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/WandersonE.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/medicine/nonint/indust/ht/inhtid1.shtml
Ada
Bryon, Lady Lovelace
Born: December 10, 1815 in London, England
Died: November 27, 1852 in London, England
Ada Bryon was
born into elite London society, however she never met
her father, the romantic poet Lord Byron. Ada's mother
did not want her daughter to be anything like her father
and had her tutored in mathematics and music. Raised around
London academics, Ada was encouraged to pursue advanced
mathematical studies. Her fame, as a pioneer in computer
science, came from her translation and extensive notes
on Charles Baggage's Analytical Engine. She understood
the material just as well as Baggage but was much better
at explaining its uses and potential, she even anticipated
that the technology could eventually lead to computer
generated music.
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/ada-bio.html
http://sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html
Marie
Curie
Born: November 7, 1867 in Warsaw, Poland
Died: 1934
Before marrying
Pierre Curie, Marie studied mathematics, chemistry and
physics in Paris. After marrying the physics instructor
Curie, they began to do research on radioactive substances.
Through their research they discovered two highly radioactive
elements, radium and polonium. This discovery won her
and her husband the 1903 Nobel Prize for physics. After
Pierre died, Marie went on to win the 1911 Nobel Prize
for chemistry for studying the chemical properties of
radium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize,
as well as the first person to win two. In 1934, Marie
Curie died of leukemia, possibly brought on by high exposure
to radiation.
http://www.iei.ie/steps/history/mariecurie.html
http://www.aip.org/history/curie/contents.htm
Gertrude
Elion
Born: 1918 in New York City, NY
Died: February 1999
Gertrude Elion
spent her life searching for cures to deadly diseases
such as cancer and leukemia. She was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Medicine in 1998, as well as inducted into the
Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991. The death of her grandfather
from cancer in 1933 pushed her towards her research in
chemistry. She had hopes of finding cures for the disease.
Elion, in collaboration with others, changed the face
of medicine. Their research built on understanding human
physiology. In 1953 Elion helped develop two drugs that
interfered with the reproductive process of cancer cells
called 6-MP, which caused remission in 40% of children
with leukemia. She also had a hand in the development
of many other drugs, including Zovirax for viral herpes
and Septra for bacterial infections.
http://www.inventorsmuseum.com/gertrudeelion.htm
Rosalind
Franklin
Born: July 25, 1920 in London, England
Died: April 16, 1958 in London, England
Rosalind Franklin
was a woman surrounded by controversy. She was responsible
for much of the research and discovery work of the structure
of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). She earned a doctorate
in physical chemistry from Cambridge University in 1945.
After Cambridge, she went to work in a lab where she met
Maurice Wilkins, whom was to be her peer, though she was
often treated as a technical assistant. Franklin persisted
on the DNA research, and around 1951 came very close to
solving the DNA structure. She was beaten to publication
due to friction between Wilkins and herself. Wilkins had
shown one of her crystallographic portraits of DNA to
James Watson, who, after having seen the portrait immediately
understood the structure. Much debate over the credit
owed to Franklin continues. Watson, Wilkins and Francis
Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize for the double-helix
model of DNA shortly after Franklin's death due to ovarian
cancer.
Franklin later
did work on the tobacco mosaic virus and on the polio
virus.
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/franklin.html
