February 11th is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is a day to celebrate all the amazing women in science, and their many accomplishments.
Marie Curie
Marie Curie is a Polish physicist and chemist. She was a pioneer in radioactivity research. Along with her husband, their research lead to the isolation of polonium and radium, which consequently lead to her death. Curie was the first and only women to win two Nobel Prizes.
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin is known for work in discovering the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, coal, and graphite. Her x-ray diffraction images of DNA lead to the discovery of its double helix structure.
Augusta Ada King-Noel, Countess of Lovelace
Augusta Ada King-Noel was a member of the English nobility. Her mother wanted her to be educated in mathematics, something that wasn’t done in her day. King-Noel is recognized as the first computer programmer.
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist. She warned of the misuse of pesticides after World War II. She lead an environmental movement, and is credited with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Sally Ride
Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. She joined NASA in 1978. On June 18, 1983 she went into space aboard the Orbiter Challenger. Ride remains the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, she was 32 at the time of her first mission.
“Hidden Figures”
The movie Hidden Figures chronicles the story of some of the women who worked as “computers” for the NASA space program in the 1960s. Katherine Johnson was one of those women. Her calculations help to send sent spacecrafts into orbit and eventually to the Moon.
