(This is an excerpt of a Research Story I did for an education class.)
In the following pages, I have attempted to briefly highlight the life and specific achievements of important women scientists. The order of appearance is done (approximately) by the times of their discoveries.
Madame Lavoisier (1758-1836)
In 1771, when she was 14 years old, Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze married Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry (Brody 19). She began to study chemistry and became collaborator in her husband╒s lab. Her skills and knowledge were encouraged and respected by her husband as well as other scientists who frequented their house for discussions. One visitor, Arthur Young wrote:
╥Madame Lavoisier, a lively, sensible, scientific lady, had prepared a dejeune Anglois of tea and coffee; but her conversation on Mr. Kirwan╒s Essay on Phlogiston, which she is translating from the English, and on other subjects, which a woman of understanding, who works with her husband in his laboratory, knows how to adorn, was the vest repast.╙ (21)
She learned English and became proficient enough in it to be able to translate her husbands papers. She also translated important papers in English into French, e. g. a paper by the Irish chemist Richard Kirwan (19). She did not only translate the Kirwan╒s paper but added notes to it (19). In addition to being a translator, she also illustrated her husband╒s books (21).
Madame Lavoisier showed great promise in her studies and skills. In fact, it is hard to distinguish her work from her husband╒s (Alic 96). Their work replaced the ╥magic╙ of alchemy and ushered in the systematic scientific principles (96). But due to the social and political pressures at the time, she was unable to develop her own career (Brody 21). She had to settle for a position as her husband╒s assistant and secretary.
Jane Marcet (1769-1858)
Jane Marcet is best known because of her book Conversations on Chemistry. This book had 16 editions and many imitators (Kass-Simon and Farnes 307). Her book was used as a chemistry text book at many women╒s colleges. There is also evidence that men at mechanic╒s institutes and medical apprentices used this book as well (Lindee 9). Besides being a successful textbook in its time, Marcet╒s book is historically recognized because of its affect on one young bookbinder. This bookbinder was Michael Faraday. He developed a love of science while reading and binding Marcet╒s book. This love inspired him to seek a career in science, where his name is now immortal (9).
Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934)
Marie Curie is probably the most recognized, if not the only known, women scientist. She has made great discoveries in the fields of chemistry and physics. Marie Curie╒s study on the high amounts of radioactivity in natural minerals led her to believe that these minerals must contain an extra radioactive substance, a new element (Craig 34). This work began to intrigue her husband, so much so that he temporarily left his own studies to join Marie in hers (Craig 34).
In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered two new elements: polonium (84) and radium (88). They shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Henri Becquerel in 1903 for their study of radioactivity (35). Pierre was accidentally killed in a traffic accident in 1906, but Marie continued her work with radium and the study of radioactive elements, although she became more reclusive (35). In 1911, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for her discovery of polonium and radium and for the isolation of radium (done in 1910) (35). Marie Curie is the only person, male or female, to have won two Nobel science prizes in different fields of science (Spradley 657).
In spite of her great achievements, Marie Curie was not elected to the French Academy because she was a foreigner (Polish) and a woman (Craig 35). Her work is even more astounding when you look at the conditions she endured. She died from leukemia because of the amount of radiation she had been exposed to over her career, but she must have been very strong to have lived to be 67 (35). It has been estimated that while she was pregnant, with daughters Irene (1902) and Eve(1904), Marie was exposed to 30 times today╒s limits of radiation from aqueous solutions and more than one hundred times today╒s limits of radon gas (35). Both children were born healthy. Even Marie and Pierre╒s laboratory notebooks, 85 years later, are still dangerously radioactive (34). By not only surviving but also thriving under these conditions, one must conclude that Marie Curie was meant to be.
Mileva (Einstein-) Maric
Recent studies have found that Mileva Maric may have been a major contributor to three of Albert Einstein╒s papers published in 1905 (╥Mrs. Einstein╙ 25). These papers are believed to be the ground work for the theory of relativity. Evidence from a Russian physicist╒s book says that the original manuscript of these papers were to be published under the name ╥Einstein-Maric╙ (25). Some feel that Mileva should be known as ╥the woman who did Einstein╒s mathematics╙ (25).
Maric and Einstein were divorced in 1919 (25). As part of the settlement, Einstein agreed to give Mileva the prize money if he ever won the Nobel Prize. He kept his promise. Does this suggest some form of compensation for her work? (25)
Emmy Noether (1882-1935)
Emmy Noether was primarily a mathematician, but her early work on invariants contributes greatly to physics. In 1916, she developed a mathematical theorem (╥Noether╒s Theorem╙) which determined the relationship between invariance under coordinate transformation and conservation laws (Brush 14). From this theorem, David Hilbert was able to link gravity and electromagnetic fields with a single set of equations (14). ╥Noether╒s Theorem╙ was a contribution to theoretical physics. This is significant because women were not thought of as being competent in the theoretical explorations of science (Kass-Simon and Farnes 190).
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-1979)
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was an astronomer. In 1925, as a graduate student at Harvard, she presented the hypothesis that stars are composed primarily of hydrogen and helium (Brush 14). She did this by extending a theory by an Indian physicist M. N. Saha. Henry Norris Russell was a respected expert, and he told Cecilia that her claim was impossible (14). Because of his status, Cecilia inserted the following statement into her dissertation: ╥The enormous abundance derived for these elements in the stellar atmosphere is almost certainly not real.╙ (15) She carefully footnoted this sentence to show this conclusion was relying on Russell╒s expertise. Later, Russell himself concluded that Cecilia had been right (15).
Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971)
Kathleen Lonsdale╒s major work was done in the filed X-ray crystallography, a field in chemistry. By using X-ray crystallography, Lonsdale was able to determine the planarity of the benzene ring. This was important because it helped explain the structure and reactivity of benzene (Brush 15). Brush states that despite the importance of this discovery, Kathleen Lonsdale is absent from every textbook he╒s examined (15). I took this as a challenge, so I searched my chemistry texts, too. Kathleen Lonsdale is no where to be found, but the planarity of the benzene ring is very prevalent.
Lonsdale╒s later work established the reality of s and p electrons and their representation by molecular orbitals (Kass-Simon and Farnes 356). She also did important work on diamonds. One rare hexagonal form meteoritic diamond was named for her, ╥lonsdaleite╙ (356). Her efforts were recognized by the British royalty which gave her the title of Dame Kathleen (358).
Irene Joliot Curie (1897-1956)
Irene Joliot-Curie is the elder daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie. Like her mother, Irene was married to another chemist, Frederic Joliot. They worked together as a team. In 1932, their research set the basis for the discovery of the neutron (Spradley 661). They also had a near miss in 1937 with the discovery of the fission isotope (661). In addition to these near misses, the Joliot-Curie╒s did make an important discovery. They synthesized a new radioactive element. They were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935 for their work on artificially induced radioactivity (659). Also like her mother, Irene, after having been heavily exposed to radiation all her life, died of leukemia at age 53 (Craig 35).
Ida Tacke Noddack
Ida Noddack suggested in 1933 that the cause of the Fermi experiments might be due to the break up of the nucleus of the atom (Kass-Simon and Farnes 193). This suggestion is the hypothesis for nuclear fission. The idea was radical for anyone to believe at the time (194). In addition to proposing the idea of nuclear fission, Noddack discovered two new elements. She, along with her husband Walter Noddack, discovered the elements rhenium and masurium in 1925 (194).
Inge Lehmann
Inge Lehmann was a seismologist. She was interested in the nature of the physical state of the interior of the earth. In 1936, she proposed, contrary to the view at that time, that the earth had a small inner core (Brush 13). Many believed the earth had a liquid core, but by analyzing seismic records of earthquakes. Some current theories about the earth╒s magnetic poles suggests the inner core may provide the earth with a source of energy to drive it (16).
Lise Meitner (1878-1968)
Ida Noddack is credited with the hypothesis of nuclear fission, but it was Lise Meitner who gave an explanation of it. It is believed that Ida Noddack suggested the hypothesis of nuclear fission to Lise Meitner (Kass-Simon 194).
Lise Meitner work in Germany with Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman. She was forced to leave Germany during their work because of the rise of the Nazis and her Jewish heritage (Brush 16). Hahn wrote to Meitner about their findings. Meitner and her nephew worked on a theoretical explanation of their results. Their explanation was the theory of nuclear fission (16). Hahn alone received the Noble prize for this discovery. Many science historians feel that Meitner╒s contributions were invaluable to and respected by Hahn, so much so that she deserves to be listed as one of the discovers of nuclear fission (16).
Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906-1972)
Maria Goeppert-Mayer studied the experimental properties of the nuclei. In 1948, she developed the shell model for the nucleus (Spradley 661). She was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963. She was the only woman since Marie Curie to win a Nobel Prize in physics (661). Her married status caused her to be discriminated against when it came to position and pay (Kass-Simon and Farnes 200). In 1960, Maria received her first regular professorship at UC San Diego (Spradley 1989).
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958)
Rosalind Franklin is credited by many as one of the discoverers of the double helix shape of DNA. Franklin was an X-ray crystallographer. She was invited to work at Kings College because of her expertise in X-ray crystallography (Kass-Simon and Farnes 235). Maurice Wilkins was a member of the group studying DNA at Kings College. He was under the impression that Franklin was hires as his assistant. Franklin, on the other hand, believed she would be working as an equal colleague (235). The letter inviting Franklin to join in the DNA project can be interpreted either way (235).
Franklin had determined there were two forms of DNA, A and B (236). She had taken pictures of both these forms and began to focus on form A first. This was unfortunate. As it turned out, the picture she had of form B showed the perfect double helix structure of the DNA molecule. She placed this picture in her desk drawer. Wilkins, feeling she was an assistant, helped himself to this picture without her knowledge. Watson and Crick (who won the Noble Prize for ╥discovering╙ the structure of DNA) benefited enormously from unethical practices by Franklin╒s coworkers. Wilkins showed them Franklin╒s picture of form B, and Professor Max Perutz gave them a privileged paper of Franklin╒s which showed the invaluable calculations for the spacings along the molecule (361). Watson and Crick had not been able to get a picture of DNA with the same clarity as Franklin╒s. Now they didn╒t have to take one. They gained all the information they needed to make their model from Franklin╒s pirated experimental data (236).
No one is sure what would have happened if Franklin╒s work had remained hers and Watson and Crick had been forced to take their own pictures of the molecule. Regardless of what would have happened, Franklin╒s work was taken from her without her knowledge and without giving her proper credit (237).
Chien-shiung Wu (1912- )
Chien-shiung Wu is an experimental physicist with expertise in beta decay. In 1957 Wu performed experiments to prove the theory of nonconservation of parity which was suggested by Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang (Brush 16). Lee and Yang received the Nobel Prize for their hypothesis, but Wu received nothing for verifying it (17). She is well known and respected inside the scientific community, but she is unknown to the average student probably because her work is too advanced to be covered in introductory physics courses (17).
Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910- )
Dorothy Hodgkin analyzed the structure of penicillin and vitamin B12 by X-ray crystallography (Kass-Simon and Farnes 372). In 1963 she received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for determining the molecular structure of these molecules. Her later work included the determination of the molecular structure of insulin (372). All of these discoveries had profound effects in the filed of biochemistry.
Brody, Judit. ╥Behind Every Great Scientist...╙ New Scientist. December 24/13, 1987: 19-21.
Brush, Stephen R. ╥Women in Physical Science: From Drudges to Discoveries.╙ The Physics Teacher. January 1985: 11-19.
Craig, Peter. ╥The Light and Brilliancy of Marie Curie.╙ New Scientist. July 26, 1984: 32-35.
Kass-Simon, G., and Patricia Farnes. Women of Science: Righting the Record. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Lindee, M. Susan. ╥The American Career of Jane Marcet╒s Conversations on Chemistry, 1806-1853.╙ Isis. 82 (1991):8-23.
Spradley, Joseph L. ╥Women and the Elements: The Role of Women in Element and Fission Discoveries.╙ The Physics Teacher. 27 ( 1989): 656-662.
╥Was the First Mrs. Einstein a Genius, Too?╙ New Scientist. March 3, 1990.
Another interesting book that shows the sexism in science is "The Double Helix" by James Watson (A Norton Critical Edition). Watson has some very "kind" words about his encounters with Rosalind Franklin.
