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Women's History

Sarah Stewart circa 1950.

Women Who Shaped History

The Woman Who Revealed the Missing Link Between Viruses and Cancer

Today, vaccinating against cervical cancer is routine. But before Sarah Stewart, scientists dismissed the idea of a cancer-preventing vaccine as ludicrous

Wyoming women voting.

Women Who Shaped History

Women Have Been Voting in Wyoming for 150 Years, and Here Is How the State Is Celebrating

To mark the anniversary, Wyoming is delivering an impressive lineup of events, from a reenactment of the first vote to female-focused exhibits and retreats

Irene Peden conducted groundbreaking work in Antarctica to measure the propagation of radio waves through the ice sheets, revealing properties of the ice below.

Women Who Shaped History

Trailblazing Engineer Irene Peden Broke Antarctic Barriers for Women

Originally told she could not go to Antarctica without another woman to accompany her, Peden now has a line of cliffs on the continent named in her honor

From left to right: Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Jane Vercaine, Barbara Deming, Kady Vandeurs, Carol Grosberg and others lead a protest at City Hall

Women Who Shaped History

New York City Monument Will Honor Transgender Activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera

The two women were instrumental in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and spent their lives advocating for marginalized groups

Women were involved with the computing field from its earliest days.

Women Who Shaped History

The Gendered History of Human Computers

It’s ironic that women today must fight for equality in Silicon Valley. After all, their math skills helped launch the digital age

New Research

Worn-Out Teeth Expand the Narrative of the Ancient Egyptian Career Woman

Wear patterns suggest a woman buried in the ancient city of Mendes processed papyrus reeds, a job women were not previously known to do

Norma Miller photographed in 2015

Norma Miller, the ‘Queen of Swing,’ Has Died at 99

An electric performer of the Lindy Hop, Miller dazzled audiences on stage and screen

At nearly 91, Dr. Ruth is still committed to the cause

Women Who Shaped History

Dr. Ruth Changed the Way America Talked About Sex

A new documentary chronicles the revolution Ruth Westheimer brought to the air

The Awakening, February 20, 1915 Chromolithograph

Nine Women’s History Exhibits to See This Year

Museums around the country are celebrating how the contributions of remarkable women changed everything from human rights to mariachi music

Suranne Jones stars as Anne Lister in "Gentleman Jack."

Women Who Shaped History

The 19th-Century Lesbian Landowner Who Set Out to Find a Wife

A new HBO series explores the remarkable life of Anne Lister, based on her voluminous and intimate diaries

Young Thug wore a dress by designer Alessandro Trincone on the cover of his 2016 mixtape

Boston Museum Launches First Large-Scale Exhibition on Non-Binary Fashion

The show features a tuxedo worn by Marlene Dietrich, a suit worn by David Bowie and contemporary designs by Rei Kawakubo

Shortly after the first human space flight, the Soviet Union began planning to send a woman to space.

The First Group of Female Cosmonauts Were Trained to Conquer the Final Frontier

Two decades before the first American woman flew to space, a group of female cosmonauts trained in Star City of the Soviet Union 

Margaret Dayhoff was a pioneer of using computers to tackle some of the biggest scientific questions of the day.

How Margaret Dayhoff Brought Modern Computing to Biology

The pioneer of bioinformatics modeled Earth’s primordial atmosphere with Carl Sagan and made a vast protein database still used today

In 1917 when it was highly unusual for women to protest, a suffrage procession walked the streets of Washington, D.C. towards the White House carrying purple, white and gold banners.

Women Who Shaped History

How Women Got the Vote Is a Far More Complex Story Than the History Textbooks Reveal

An immersive story about the bold and diverse women who helped secure the right to vote is on view at the National Portrait Gallery

Twitter helped identify the identities of the women involved in excavations at Skara Brae, Orkney, in 1929.

Internet Sleuths Were on the Case to Name the Women Archaeologists in These Excavation Photos

A caption in a book about the excavation at Skara Brae, Scotland, had identified them as ‘visitors’ to the dig

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Smithsonian Voices

Works of Pioneering Photographer Constance Stuart Larrabee to Be Digitized

The work of Constance Stuart Larrabee, a pioneering photographer, will soon be digitized

The 404th AFS Band pictured in Fort Des Moines

Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Military’s Only All-Black Female Band Battled the War Department and Won

The women of the 404th Armed Service Forces band raised morale and funds for the military, but they had to fight discrimination to do so

Ingenious Women

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 property

Roxie Laybourne's work changed the role of museums in public life by turning the Smithsonian’s collection of thousands of birds into an applied science tool.

Meet Roxie Laybourne, the Feather Detective Who Changed Aviation

A new Sidedoor episode tells the story of Roxy Laybourne, a Smithsonian scientist who pioneered the field of forensic ornithology

Jennifer Levasseur from the National Air and Space Museum notes that the museum’s supply of popular astronaut foods is less comprehensive than its collection of rejects. “We only get what they didn’t eat (above: Apollo 17's spiced fruit cereal is now in the collections)."

Rita Rapp Fed America’s Space Travelers

NASA’s food packages now in the collections of the Air and Space Museum tell the story of how a physiologist brought better eating to outer space

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