The Nation’s First Black Female Doctor Blazed a Path for Women in Medicine. But She Was Left Out of the Story for Decades
After earning a medical degree in 1864, Rebecca Lee Crumpler died in obscurity and was buried without a headstone
How an 18th-Century Female Physicist Broke Boundaries and Inspired the Generations Who Followed
Cristina Roccati graduated from the University of Bologna when few other Italian women earned degrees, and she taught physics for decades
A Century Ago, Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Showed Us What Stars Are Made Of
The trailblazing Harvard scientist, who documented the dominance of hydrogen and helium in stars, is still inspiring researchers today
The Talented and Valiant Female Surgeon Who Joined Allied Forces in WWII and Broke Barriers Along the Way
Prohibited from serving with the U.S. Army as a medical officer, Barbara Stimson was commissioned by the British—and helped open the American military to female doctors
How Alice Hamilton Waged a One-Woman Campaign to Get the Lead Out of Everything
At first a crusader for workplace safety, the trained physician railed against the use of the toxic and ubiquitous material
NASA’s Starliner Astronauts Take Their First Spacewalk Together After Roughly Eight Months on the ISS
The nearly 5.5-hour feat set a record for astronaut Sunita Williams, who became the woman with the most time spent on spacewalks in history
These Fascinating Objects Show How the Palace of Versailles Drove Surprising Scientific Advances in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Titled “Versailles: Science and Splendor,” a new exhibition illustrates how the royal court encouraged innovation during the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI
These Five Trailblazing American Women Will Be Featured on Quarters in 2025
The U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program has announced its fourth and final group of honorees from throughout American history
The ‘Penicillin Girls’ Made One of the World’s Most Life-Saving Discoveries Possible
The true, forgotten and sometimes-stinky history of the cohort who took Alexander Fleming’s innovation and forever changed the face of modern medicine
Meet the Italian ‘Fruit Detective’ Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table
Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis
How Artists, Writers and Scientists of the Past Documented Climate Change
An exhibition at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens explores how Western intellectuals viewed the climate crisis between 1780 and 1930
Meet the Forgotten Woman Who Revolutionized Microbiology With a Simple Kitchen Staple
Fanny Angelina Hesse introduced agar to the life sciences in 1881. A trove of unpublished family papers sheds new light on her many accomplishments
This Doctor Pioneered Counting Calories a Century Ago, and We’re Still Dealing With the Consequences
When Lulu Hunt Peters brought Americans a new method for weighing their dinner options, she launched a century of diet fads that left us hungry for a better way to keep our bodies strong and healthy
Ellen Ochoa, Former NASA Astronaut and First Hispanic Woman in Space, Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
The former Johnson Space Center director logged four space shuttle flights and 1,000 hours in orbit over her 30-year career
Untold Stories of American History
Why Debutantes Volunteered to Be Horse-Riding Couriers in Rural Kentucky
Between the 1920s and 1940s, wealthy young women signed up to run errands and carry messages for the Frontier Nursing Service, whose nurse-midwives provided care to patients in hard-to-reach areas
Building Used by Marie Curie Saved From Demolition
Cultural heritage supporters are hoping to see the facility listed as a protected site
Northern Europe and the British Isles
The World’s Smallest Reindeer Get Their Day in the Sun
On Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, a rare animal is thriving—for now
The Globe-Trotting Scholar Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aztecs
Anthropologist Zelia Nuttall transformed the way we think of ancient Mesoamerica
Women Report Rampant Sexual Harassment and Assault at Antarctica’s McMurdo Research Station
Speaking publicly for the first time, women detailed incidents of violence that had been minimized by employers, per an exposé in the Associated Press
‘Barbie’ Makes History, Becoming First Billion-Dollar Movie Directed Solely by a Woman
Greta Gerwig’s movie challenges dated notions about the box-office appeal of films centered on women
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