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Born in 1805 in Jamaica, Mary Seacole was a pioneering nurse.
As a child, Mary learned traditional healing methods from her mother. Her mixed race family had few civil rights & could not vote, hold public office or enter many professions.
Known as 'Mother Seacole’ during the Crimean War, Mary helped wounded soldiers heal & find comfort.
In 1857, she published her memoirs, 'The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands'. https://www.maryseacoletrust.org.uk/learn-about-mary/ #HistoryRemix #history #science
Read Mary’s Story - Mary Seacole Trust, Life, Work & Achievements of Mary Seacole
Photograph: Amoret Tanner/Alamy. The above picture depicts Mary seated in front of a wide valley, beside a tent, next to a camp stool and table full of medicine bottles. Mary is wearing a military looking outfit (thought to have been self-designed).Mary Seacole Trust, Life, Work & Achievements of Mary Seacole
Henrietta “Etty” Darwin was born in 1843, the eldest of Charles Darwin’s daughters to reach adulthood.
She became a key editor of her father’s scientific writing, most notably The Descent of Man & Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871.
Charles Darwin considered Etty a “dear coadjutor, fellow-labourer” & lively member of an intellectually stimulating household. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/unpublished-journal-offers-new-take-on-darwins-daughter #science #HistoryRemix
Unpublished journal offers new take on Darwin’s daughter
A small, lockable leather diary - kept in the vast archives of Cambridge University Library - has led to a reassessment of one of the key relationships inUniversity of Cambridge
Born in 1894, physicist Marietta Blau’s research led to a way to capture the tracks of speeding subatomic particles.
In 1937, Blau & Hertha Wambacher made a discovery that launched the field of particle physics. But she was forced to pause her work in 1938 bc of the Nazis.
Blau was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize but never won. Cecil F. Powell later built on her work & earned the Nobel Prize in Physics. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-dark-stars-of-marietta-blau/ #history #science #historyremix
The Dark Stars of Marietta Blau | Science History Institute
A scientist pitted hard work and ingenuity against the constraints she faced as a Jewish woman.Science History Institute
When I post about #science & #history, I tend to highlight the trailblazers we don’t usually read or hear about in #HistoryRemix.
But tonight I want to share this beautifully composed piece about Nikola Tesla.
While his inventions are legendary, you may not know how Tesla’s OCD shaped his approach to science & ultimately led to his world-changing ideas. It also left him isolated & alone. But he still experienced deep connection by caring for birds. https://nautil.us/teslas-pigeon-460446/
Born in 1885, Clara Belle Williams became the 1st Black graduate of New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts (now NMSU).
While a student, many professors did not allow her into lecture halls so she took notes from the hallway. When she graduated in 1937, commencement ceremonies were canceled bc a group of students refused to walk with her.
Williams persevered despite discrimination, earning recognition as a teacher & lifelong learner. https://libexhibits.nmsu.edu/onlinexhibits/cbwilliams/index.html #HistoryRemix #history
Born in 1896, biochemist Gerty Theresa Cori became the 1st woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (and the 3rd to win a Nobel Prize).
Cori faced gender discrimination & was marginalized for years. But she never gave up.
With her husband Carl, she discovered how glycogen is broken down & eventually stored as an energy source (aka the “Cori cycle”). They also identified the Cori ester. http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/women/cori.htm #HistoryRemix #science #history
In 1894, a Boston man bet another $20K that no woman could travel around the world by bicycle.
So Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, then penniless, learned to bike & set out to prove him wrong & earn prize money.
From 1894-95, she did just that (sailing between continents). Kopchovsky kept her husband & family a secret, using the alias Londonderry. She won $10K for her accomplishment & returned to raise her family.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/jun/25/1894/annie-cohen-kopchovsky #HistoryRemix #history
First woman to cycle the globe begins journey | Jewish Women's Archive
Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, known as Annie Londonderry, began a round-the-world bicycle trip. She became the first woman to travel around the globe by bicycle.Jewish Women's Archive
Born in 1794, pioneering marine biologist Jeannette Villepreux-Power collected specimens from local fisherman in Sicily for study. She built a natural history collection & was especially interested in cephalopods like octopus & squid 🐙.
Villepreux-Power invented the modern aquarium was one of the first people to observe living cephalopods & their behaviors.
Unfortunately, much of her work & collections were lost in a shipwreck in 1843. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Villepreux-Power #HistoryRemix #science #history
Born in 1938, Jeanne Hoff, was the 1st openly transgender psychiatrist. She used her voice to speak out for others, such as a Black transgender woman diagnosed by doctors w “mental retardation" & “sexual perversion” due to her gender identity.
Hoff shared her transition experience in a documentary to encourage her transgender patients to live openly & confidently. She passed away earlier this Fall & absolutely belongs in #HistoryRemix.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/jeanne-hoff-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G00.yoQ3.XAMf8tJ0HHtn&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
#history #science #lgbtqia
Born in 1848, Caroline Still Anderson completed high school at 15. When she enrolled at Oberlin College, she was the only Black student in her class.
Anderson went on to become a physician, driven to improve the social & political conditions of Black people. She also served as a prominent a social reformer in Philadelphian society.
http://stillfamily.library.temple.edu/stillfamily/exhibits/show/william-still/historical-perspective/biography-of-caroline-still-an #HistoryRemix #history #science
Born in 1918, Gertrude Elion faced discrimination in #science, unable to get a job as a woman. So she volunteered as a lab dishwasher, earning enough $ for grad work at NYU, where she was the only woman in chemistry classes.
Eventually Elion helped revolutionize medicine w George Hitchings. They figured out how to interfere with cell growth, leading to effective drugs for treating leukemia, gout, malaria, herpes & more, earning a 1988 Nobel Prize. https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/women-scientists/gertrude-elion.html #HistoryRemix #history
Gertrude Elion - American Chemical Society
Gertrude Elion and colleague George Hitchings went off the beaten path of trial-and-error drug development to revolutionize drug making.American Chemical Society
Educator, scientist & writer Ana Roqué de Duprey was born in Puerto Rico in 1853.
Known as the “Flower of the Valley” for her work in botany, Roqué wrote the Botany of the Antilles, the most comprehensive study of flora in the Caribbean & was instrumental in the fight for the Puerto Rican woman’s right to vote.
Roqué founded several girls-only schools & the College of Mayagüez, later the Mayagüez Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ana-roque-de-duprey #HistoryRemix #history #science
Ana Roqué de Duprey
Ana Roqué de Duprey, a prolific educator, writer, and scientist, founded the first woman’s suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917.National Women's History Museum
A woman. An immigrant. A scientist.
A Nobel Prize winner. And thanks to her pioneering research, a #COVID19 vaccine.
Dr. Katalin Karikó. https://www.statnews.com/2020/11/10/the-story-of-mrna-how-a-once-dismissed-idea-became-a-leading-technology-in-the-covid-vaccine-race/ #HistoryRemix #science #history
The story of mRNA: From a loose idea to a tool that may help curb Covid
Scientists have dreamed about the possibilities of custom-made messenger RNA. The pandemic may turn those possibilities into realilty.Jonathan Saltzman — Boston Globe (STAT)
Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī was born ~780. He not only revolutionized algebra, but his contributions in mathematics, astronomy & geography have been central to hundreds of years of scientific advances.
Known as the father of algebra, al-Khwārizmī became one of the most influential thinkers of all time. The terms algebra & algorithm are derived from his name & work. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666184/ #HistoryRemix #history #science #math
Born in 1896, Ida Noddack was the first scientist to suggest the principle behind nuclear fission. But Otto Hahn demonstrated this (with Lise Meitner! & Fritz Strassmann) & he won the Nobel prize.
Noddack also discovered rhenium (atomic #75) & predicted #43, but couldn’t confirm it experimentally, so Segrè & Perrier were later credited.
She tried to speak up that the ideas for fission & #43 began with her, but it lost her credibility. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2014.0009 #HistoryRemix #history #science
Born in 1897, Janaki Ammal was a pioneering botanist who studied plant breeding, genetics & cytogenetics.
Ammal overcame both gender & caste discrimination & was the first Indian woman to obtain a Ph.D. in botany in the U.S.
Her research was crucial for developing high-yield varieties of sugarcane, eggplant & magnolias. Ammal also promoted conservation & was a pioneer of indigenous approaches to the environment. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/pioneering-female-botanist-who-sweetened-nation-and-saved-valley-180972765/ #HistoryRemix #science #history #plants
The Pioneering Female Botanist Who Sweetened a Nation and Saved a Valley
One of India’s finest plant scientists, Janaki Ammal spurred her country to protect its rich tropical diversityLeila McNeill (Smithsonian Magazine)
Very pleased to see NYT acknowledge Lise Meitner.
Meitner developed the theory of nuclear fission & newly translated letters show she was barred from sharing credit for the Nobel Prize-winning discovery because she was Jewish & a woman. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/science/lise-meitner-fission-nobel.html?unlocked_article_code=JGbPgv1zYxrgU0vMDkmURf0UPTTjuLHgCJ7dTnWeFmWslaXwaWhZQ2CW6dr-HuF0MeGqXSfyQV0XyOgw7VTABLw9yJxUG8Jd9xQMrPqsNiNcVd3g1GwsxckwQMW5awE4g9aTqtT-TQbgs1PG5BpMDmUsqcAuapMB798_kyVYaEEXUwILTeojASGJ6ZvwXa5e-LpMvbl3o47_ZtX4JPzngzAvKys52S_L9v2O8h3vH0JYmLSlYmeokZCyl1NmKI_ZXmKyeExgLGB165ODtBkLtFvRRkCofN7uTN2imyfz20LJtbVEy1RdwZ6hqJZf8pvRMlD8yz-OjfYq7wLSbNw5k4zs0hAs&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science #history #HistoryRemix
Born in 1910, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin perfected X-ray crystallography, a type of imaging using X-rays to determine a molecule’s three-dimensional structure.
She determined the structures of insulin, penicillin & vitamin B12, leading to tremendous advances in medicine.
Hodgkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She also advocated for world peace, campaigning against both the Vietnam War & nuclear weapons. https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/dorothy-hodgkin #HistoryRemix #science #history
The Nobel Prize | Women who changed science | Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
“Captured for life by chemistry and by crystals,” as she described it, Dorothy Hodgkin turned a childhood interest in crystals into the ground-breaking use of X-ray crystallography to “see” the molecules of penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin.www.nobelprize.org
In 1916, 23 yr old chemist Alice Ball discovered a breakthrough in treatment for Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease). She was the 1st woman & 1st Black chemistry professor at UHawaii.
Tragically, Ball passed away months after her discovery due to complications from a lab accident.
What happened next? Arthur Dean, head of her dept, continued the work publishing Ball’s process as “Dean’s method.”
Fortunately, a colleague spoke up & the name was changed to “Ball’s method.” #HistoryRemix #science #history
Katherine Esau, born in 1898 in Ukraine, was a pioneering botanist who studied plant anatomy & viruses.
Esau began studying agriculture in 1916 in Moscow. Her family fled to Berlin & ultimately arrived in the US in 1922.
Esau earned a PhD & her research on plant structure spanned 7 decades. She wrote 6 textbooks & was the 6th woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences.
In 1989, Esau received the National Medal of Science. https://ccber.ucsb.edu/ucsb-natural-history-collections-library-and-historical-information-katherine-esau/life-katherine #HistoryRemix #science #history
The Life of Katherine Esau | CCBER
Growing up in Russia: The Esau Family Katherine Esau was born on April 3, 1898, in the city of Ekaterinoslav in the Ukraine. The city was named after Catherine the Great (as was Katherine Esau.ccber.ucsb.edu
Born in 1861, Nettie Stevens received her PhD in 1903. She went on to discover sex chromosomes in mealworms. Until then, it was believed that the mother or environment determined males & females.
But... Edmund Beecher Wilson published first. He may have seen Stevens' results & also didn't quite get everything right.
Stevens' work had the correct conclusion, but Wilson is most often credited with this discovery.
https://www.vox.com/2016/7/7/12105830/nettie-stevens-genetics-gender-sex-chromosomes #HistoryRemix #history #science
Nettie Stevens discovered XY sex chromosomes. She didn't get credit because she had two X’s.
For most of human history, how babies became male or female was an absolute mystery.Brian Resnick (Vox)
Born in 1838, Margaret Knight invented a machine that could efficiently build paper bags with a design that made packing easier.
And right on cue - for those who follow #HistoryRemix - a man tried to steal credit.
Charles Annan glimpsed her prototype & filed a patent. Thankfully, many people had seen Knight's invention + she had the blueprints.
Knight took Annan to court & won! She received her patent in 1871 & went on to receive dozens more. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/meet-female-inventor-behind-mass-market-paper-bags-180968469/ #history #design
Meet the Female Inventor Behind Mass-Market Paper Bags
A self-taught engineer, Margaret Knight bagged a valuable patent, at a time when few women held intellectual propertyRyan P. Smith (Smithsonian Magazine)
"Christopher Nolan's #Oppenheimer explores the work of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer & colleagues to create the atomic bomb.
Yet, the film fails to depict a key part of the story, using 2 female scientists as stand-ins for ALL of the women who contributed."
Hundreds of women were essential to the Manhattan Project, including Nobel Prize winning physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer. But they are largely absent in the #film.
https://www.businessinsider.com/women-manhattan-project-christopher-nolan-oppenheimer-completely-ignored-2023-7 #HistoryRemix #science #history
The women that Nolan's new film 'Oppenheimer' completely ignored
Women serving in key roles like explosion techs, librarians, and hematologists were essential to the Manhattan Project.Katie Hawkinson (Insider)
Born in 1928, Vera Rubin set her sights on Princeton, but they wouldn’t accept female grad students in astronomy. So she earned her master’s from Cornell & PhD from Georgetown.
In 1965, Rubin became the 1st woman allowed to observe at the Palomar Observatory. She went on to find evidence for the existence of dark matter.
In 1993, Rubin was awarded the National Medal of Science. But curiously, she was not awarded a Nobel Prize. https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/04/18/vera-rubin-interview-women-in-science/ #HistoryRemix #science #space #history
Pioneering Astronomer Vera Rubin on Women in Science, Dark Matter, and Our Never-Ending Quest to Know the Universe
“We’re still groping for the truth… Science consists of continually making better and better what has been usable in the past.”The Marginalian
Happy birthday Rosalind Franklin!
Rosalind Franklin’s research was crucial to discovering DNA’s double helix structure. But she never received proper acknowledgement for her contribution.
James Watson & Francis Crick were awarded the credit & Nobel Prize, but their work was only possible bc they saw her unpublished data & X-ray diffraction images. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/science/rosalind-franklin-dna.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science #history #HistoryRemix
Untangling Rosalind Franklin’s Role in DNA Discovery, 70 Years On
Historians have long debated the role that Dr. Franklin played in identifying the double helix. A new opinion essay argues that she was an “equal contributor.”Emily Anthes (The New York Times)
Dr. Gladys West grew up in 1930s VA. She had limited opportunities as a black girl in the south, but went on to become a mathematician.
In the 1950s, West helped program the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator. Later, she worked on modeling the shape of the Earth & helped develop satellite geodesy models, a foundation of GPS.
West was not formally credited for her work until 2018 when the VA General Assembly honored her contributions. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladys_West #HistoryRemix #history #science
Ynes Mexia was born in 1870 & became one of the most successful botanists in the world.
At a time when most people felt women couldn't travel alone, she did - A woman of color in her 50s & 60s. Mexia traveled the Americas for 13 years, collecting >145,000 #plants & discovering >50 new species.
She was a fierce conservationist & early pioneer fighting to preserve the redwood forests of California. She also advocated for Indigenous rights. https://www.nps.gov/people/ynes-mexia.htm #HistoryRemix #science #history
Born in 1804, Janet Taylor was a brilliant mathematician, astronomer, author & inventor. She wrote books, founded an academy & ran a manufacturing business for nautical instruments - many she designed herself.
Between 1617-1852, 79 patents were awarded for nautical instruments & Taylor was the only woman among them.
Sadly, Taylor died bankrupt in obscurity. Her death certificate only records her occupation as a “Teacher of Navigation.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Taylor #HistoryRemix #history #science
Born in the late 1800s, Dr. Inez Beverly Prosser became the first Black woman to earn a PhD in psychology.
Her dissertation on school integration concluded that Black children in integrated schools had a harder time — a controversial finding before Brown v. Board of Ed.
Dr. Prosser also helped several Black students receive funding for college. Tragically, she passed away just one year after earning her PhD at ~38 in a car accident. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2008/11/prosser #HistoryRemix #women #science
America's first black female psychologist
Despite the odds, Inez Beverly Prosser earned her doctorate in psychology 75 years ago and went on to do historic work, though her life was abruptly cut short.https://www.apa.org
Dr. Margaret Chung was born in CA in 1889. As a med student, she wore masculine clothing & referred to herself as “Mike.” She became the first Chinese American female physician & applied to be a medical missionary, but was rejected due to her race.
In the 1920’s, Chung founded one of the first Western medical clinics in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She advocated for Chinese Americans & pushed for the inclusion of women in the US military. https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-margaret-mom-chung.htm #HistoryRemix #history #medicine
Born in India in 1962, Dr. Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian woman in #space in 1997.
In 2003, she was on the Columbia, when insulation broke off, depressurizing the shuttle. All 7 crew members died.
7 asteroids + 7 hills on Mars were named after them.
https://www.space.com/17056-kalpana-chawla-biography.html #HistoryRemix #science
“When you look at the stars & the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system." - Chawla, 1997
Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia disaster
Astronaut Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman in space.Nola Taylor Tillman (Space)
Born in 1919, Isabella Aiona Abbott became the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in #science.
A preeminent marine botanist, Abbott became the 1st woman & 1st person of color to become a full professor in Stanford’s Biology dept. She wrote 8 books, >150 articles & was awarded the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal by the National Academy of Sciences.
In 2005, Abbott was named a “Living Treasure of Hawaii” by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. https://woc.aises.org/content/isabella-aiona-abbott-becoming-“first-lady-limu” #HistoryRemix #history
Born in 1906, computer scientist Grace Hopper invented the first compiler for computer programming language & was among the first programmers of the Harvard Mk1 computer.
Hopper popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages & paved the way to develop COBOL (an early high-level programming language). She originated the term "bug" to describe computer glitches & became a celebrated Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
https://news.yale.edu/2017/02/10/grace-murray-hopper-1906-1992-legacy-innovation-and-service #HistoryRemix #science #history
Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992): A legacy of innovation and service
On Feb. 11, President Peter Salovey announced that he and the Yale Corporation had voted to change the name of Calhoun College, one of the university's undergraduate residential colleges, to honor alumna Grace Murray Hopper.YaleNews
Born in 1902, botanist & cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock became a pioneer in modern genetics by changing our understanding of inheritance.
She proposed that genomic replication does not always follow a consistent pattern, which wasn’t widely accepted at the time. She also contributed new cytogenetic research techniques & was the first scientist to correctly speculate about epigenetics.
In 1983, McClintock was awarded a Nobel Prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/barbara-mcclintock #HistoryRemix #science #history
The Nobel Prize | Women who changed science | Barbara McClintock
Throughout her career, Barbara McClintock studied the cytogenetics of maize, making discoveries so far beyond the understanding of the time that other scientists essentially ignored her work for more than a decade.www.nobelprize.org
Beatrix Potter is best remembered for her charming tales of Peter Rabbit, but did you know she also studied #science?
Potter collected & examined beetles, butterflies, plants, bird eggs, shells, rocks, fossils & especially fungi. She conducted experiments & wrote a scientific paper with her own illustrations, presented at the Linnean Society of London. However, as a woman in the Victorian era, she couldn’t even attend the meeting. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/arts/design/beatrix-potter-peter-rabbit-science.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #HistoryRemix #history #art #books
Beatrix Potter Is More Than the Creator of Peter Rabbit
An exhibition in Nashville of Beatrix Potter’s works explores her love of the world of science and the challenges facing women of the Victorian era.Tanya Mohn (The New York Times)
Rosalind Franklin update!
“A new paper based on long-lost documents confirms that DNA discoverer Rosalind Franklin should be credited for discovering the double helix.”
https://www.livescience.com/health/genetics/rosalind-franklin-knew-dna-was-a-helix-before-watson-and-crick-unpublished-material-reveals?fbclid=IwAR3AhaUWlB4QejBW6ESk1IAn-IPKqF8PUUs4KHPbZ2jMnQcCgCDcGPOjA74#lgymp4kotadc1a3pafg #HistoryRemix #history #science /2
