Special Report
Women in Science
Smithsonian.com is sharing the stories of women scientists who also changed the world, but were written out of history. These pioneers paved the way for future generations of women scientists and explorers. But spotlighting their stories is about more than just augmenting women’s history. It's about understanding the cultural attitudes, historical forces and social realities that made science what it is today—and what it will be tomorrow.
The Woman Who Stood Between America and a Generation of 'Thalidomide Babies'
How the United States escaped a national tragedy in the 1960s
The Scientist Who Defined the Greenhouse Effect, But Didn’t Get the Credit
Eunice Foote’s career highlights the subtle forms of discrimination that have kept women on the sidelines of science
The Lady Anatomist Who Brought Dead Bodies to Light
Anna Morandi was the brains and the skilled hand of an unusual husband-wife partnership
Featured Story
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When Girls Studied Planets And the Sky Had No Limits
Maria Mitchell, America's first female astronomer, flourished at a time when both sexes “swept the sky”
The History of Breeding Mice for Science Begins With a Woman in a Barn
Far more than a mouse fancier, Abbie Lathrop helped establish the standard mouse model and pioneered research into cancer inheritance
How a Pioneering Botanist Broke Down Japan’s Gender Barriers
Kono Yasui was the first Japanese woman to publish in an academic journal, forging a new path for women in her country
This 19th Century "Lady Doctor" Helped Usher Indian Women Into Medicine
Ananabai Joshee dedicated her career to treating women and helped blaze a path for international doctors training in the U.S.
The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Women Who Helped Win the Space Race
A new book and movie document the accomplishments of NASA’s black “human computers” whose work was at the heart of the country’s greatest battles
The Woman Who Transformed How We Teach Geography
By blending education and activism, Zonia Baber made geography a means of uniting—not conquering—the globe
The Forgotten Women Scientists Who Fled the Holocaust for the United States
A new project from Northeastern University traces the journeys of 80 women who attempted to escape Europe and find new lives in America during World War II
Related Stories
Fifty Years Ago, a Grad Student’s Discovery Changed the Course of Astrophysics
By identifying the first pulsars, Jocelyn Bell Burnell set the stage for discoveries in black holes and gravitational waves
Ada Lovelace, “The world’s first computer programmer.” In the mid 1800s, she predicted that machines would compose music and forward scientific progress, based on her experiences programming Charles Babbage’s “Analytical Engine,” to calculate Bernoulli numbers." />
These Bold Illustrations Celebrate the Incredible Contributions of Women in Science
A designer's touch brings the achievements and faces of female pioneers to a wider audience
Seeing Is Believing: How Marie Tharp Changed Geology Forever
Marie Tharp's maps helped prove continental drift was real. But her work was initially dismissed as "girl talk"
How Marie Curie Brought X-Ray Machines To the Battlefield
During World War I, the scientist invented a mobile x-ray unit, called a "Little Curie," and trained 150 women to operate it
This Feminist Psychologist-Turned-Rock-Star Led a Full Life of Resistance
Naomi Weisstein fought against the idea of women as objects in both the fields of psychology and rock 'n roll
In "The Glass Universe," Dava Sobel Brings the Women 'Computers' of Harvard Observatory to Light
Women are at the center of a new book that delights not in isolated genius, but in collaboration and cooperation
These Four Black Women Inventors Reimagined the Technology of the Home
By designating the realm of technology as 'male,' we overlook key inventions that took place in the domestic sphere
How an Environmental Activist Became a Pioneer for Climate Justice in India
Reducing India’s emissions will take more than science—it will take a new paradigm of de-colonialism, says Sunita Narain
The Unheralded Contributions of Klara Dan von Neumann
Despite having no formal mathematical training, she was a key figure in creating the computer that would later launch modern weather prediction
Meet the Little-Known Math Genius Who Helped America Reach the Stars
It’s time for Mary Golda Ross to be remembered as an aerospace pioneer