Women’s History Month 2023: Celebrating Women in Science

Women have been involved in science since ancient times, but their work has often been overlooked, undervalued or erased by history. Despite facing many barriers and challenges, such as discrimination, prejudice and lack of opportunities, women have persevered and made significant discoveries and innovations that have changed the world. Some of the most famous women which we admire in science, include:

• Marie Curie, a physicist and chemist who discovered the elements polonium and radium, and pioneered the study of radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in different sciences (physics and chemistry).

• Katherine Johnson, a mathematician who worked at NASA and calculated the trajectories for many space missions, including Apollo 11. She was one of the “hidden figures” whose story was brought to light by a book and a movie of the same name.

• Rosalind Franklin, a biophysicist, took the crucial X-ray image that revealed the structure of DNA. Her work was instrumental for James Watson and Francis Crick to propose their famous double helix model, but she did not receive proper credit or recognition until after her death.

• Chien-Shiung Wu, a physicist, who conducted an experiment that proved that parity symmetry does not hold for weak interactions. She also contributed to the Manhattan Project and helped develop more efficient methods for separating uranium isotopes.

• Alice Augusta Ball, a chemist who developed an effective treatment for leprosy using chaulmoogra oil. She was the first African American woman to earn a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii, but she died before she could publish her findings.

These are just some examples of women who have made remarkable scientific contributions. There are many more women whose names we should know and whose stories we should tell. Women’s History Month is an opportunity to learn about them, appreciate them and inspire future generations of women scientists.

One such woman who deserves our admiration is JoAnn E. Manson, a professor at Harvard Medical School who is considered the most successful female scientist in the world right now. She is known for her pioneering research in epidemiology and women’s health. She has led several large-scale clinical trials on hormone therapy, vitamin D supplementation, and aspirin use for preventing chronic diseases among women. She has also published over 1,000 articles in peer-reviewed journals and received numerous awards and honors for her scientific excellence.

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