Women in Science are innovators, boundary pushers and are, for all intents and purposes, highly stoic individuals.
The world around us presents problems to solve and questions to answer. For years scientific women have worked to answer these questions and, for years, society has put obstacles in their way.
From the prevention of access to education to creation gender bias climates in science departments or organisations, women were faced with the additional challenge of solving the problem of gender inequality whilst attempting to decipher the secrets of the universe.
But as Carl Sagan once said:
Carl Sagan
“Science is a way of thinking, much more than a body of knowledge.”
There have been highly inspirational and exceptional women throughout history who possessed this way of thinking.
They possessed the ability to overcome obstacles, learn from the challenges presented to them and invent, innovate and problem solve.
Here are some of these innovators, creators and exceptional women in science.
1. Laura Bassi
Laura Bassi was the first woman to earn a professorship in the field of science. Bassi received her doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Bologna, Italy in 1732 and later went on to earn a University chair in physics. She spent her professional career teaching and experimenting with Newtonian physics and in her lifetime she wrote 28 papers. Laura Bassi was the first of her kind, turning the education status quo on its head and becoming a very significant contributor to the field of physics. Which, in the early 1700’s, would take some serious dedication and passion.
2. Alicia Boole Stott
Alicia Boole Stott was born in Cork in 1860 to mother Mary Boole and father George Boole (famous mathematician who helped establish modern symbolic logic). When Alicia was 4 years of age, her father passed and her mother and sisters moved to London. Alicia never received a formal education. She was a self-taught mathematician who developed a fascination and insight into geometry. Boole Stott was an avid investigator the fourth dimensions and is responsible for coining the term ‘Polyotope for a convex solid. Having never held an academic position, Alicia Boole Stott, made a number of valuable contributions to the field, receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of Groningen. Never succumbing the to the obstacles but rather seeing them as opportunities, Boole Stott used her creative nature and alternate perspective to make her mark in the world of mathematics.
3.Lilian Bland
Born in Kent in 1878, she moved to Carnmoney near Belfast after her mother died and was raised by her aunt and her father. Inspired by the Wright Brothers and their aviation innovation, Bland began her own experimentation of flight. In 1910, only 7 years after the Wright Brothers had taken flight, Lilian Bland became the first women in Ireland to build and fly her own plane. The Mayfly, Bland’s aircraft became airborne briefly on its first venture and following engineering developments such as adding a 20 horsepower engine and her aunt’s ear trumpet and a whiskey bottle to fill in for a fuel tank, the Mayfly flew for more than a quarter of a mile and at an altitude of about 30ft. Bland continued along this path and became a plane builder with the nickname “the Flying Feminist” dispelling all gender stereotypes taking to engines and to the skies.
4. Tracy Ryan
Tracy Ryan is an ex-CIT, herbal science student that is making science beautiful. She is an entrepreneur who is putting to bed any societal expectations of women and of mothers. Ryan started her business ‘Bia Beauty’ in her spare room, with a new baby and a €3,000 loan from a friend and now sells to over 100 stores nationwide. Bia Beauty uses edible ingredients in all their products. Tracy Ryan used her knowledge and training herbal sciences to come up with the perfect skin care products.
“I had an idea about skincare: if you couldn’t eat the ingredients, then you should not be putting them on your skin, as your skin absorbs about 60% of what you put on it. So I began researching ingredients. “
Tracy Ryan, Irish Examiner 2015
5. Katie Mack
Katie Mack in an American Astrophysicist who prides herself on being a science communicator and ‘speaking out’ about science.
She currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Physics at North Carolina State University, where she is also a member of the Leadership in Public Science Cluster. Katie has the wonderful ability to take her complex and intricate knowledge of the Universe and make it accessible, interesting and fun for those who are not scientifically inclined.
As a publicly funded scientist, it’s part of my job to share my knowledge and expertise with people outside the world of science and academia.
Katie Mack
These are but a few women in science who have developed their ideas and innovations and have made a huge difference in the world, not in spite of being women but because they are women.
With innovation creativity and curiosity, women continue to discover new things in science and create a thousand new frontiers for those who long for adventure.
If you are an interested and innovative woman in science you should check out our EXXCEL programme – for the real boundary breakers.
