Female scientists

The daughter of a famous mathematician, Hypatia lived in Egypt almost 2,000 years ago. A formidable scholar in her own right, Hypatia studied philosophy and astronomy and was regarded as the most important mathematician of her time. She was threatened throughout her career and ultimately killed for being a female scholar by Christians who believed that women should not be intellectuals. 

Hypatia was born in the year 370 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt, where her father Theon was a mathematician and astronomer. Alexandria was considered to be the center of learning at the time.

Hypatia was a renowned teacher of high–level mathematics. She was greatly admired by her students (all of whom were male) and her public lectures were very popular.

Hypatia wrote many scrolls (books did not exist) analyzing mathematical theories and explaining philosophy. Unfortunately a fire destroyed the library at Alexandria and all her work was lost. 

Debate exists among historians as to whether Hypatia invented the astrolabe, a device used by astronomers and navigators to measure the inclined position of a celestial body.  Hypatia certainly constructed astrolabes and understood how to use them throughout her career.

Hypatia was tortured and then murdered by a mob of Christians around 415 A.D. They then spread rumors that she had been working with the Devil. 

Polish scientist Marie Curie was a pioneer in the world of radioactivity. She is the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize despite heavy discrimination and even threats throughout her career. Due to her close work with radioactive materials, Marie died from advanced leukemia in 1934. She and others had no idea about the dangerous properties of radioactive substances. 

Marie was not allowed to attend university in Russia–occupied Poland because she was female. She instead studied secretly from home while she saved money to leave Poland.

Marie met her future husband while looking for a larger lab space for herself. Their mutual interest in science brought them together and they married and worked together as a team.

Marie was curious as to why uranium emitted rays without a power source. Her hypothesis was groundbreaking. She theorized that the emissions were part of the atomic chemistry of uranium. 

Her subatomic hypothesis was revolutionary because at the time it was thought that the atom was the smallest unit of matter. Marie’s theory meant that subatomic particles existed. 

Marie’s work in studying radioactive ore led to the discovery of 2 new elements: polonium, named after Poland and radium, named after the Latin word for rays.

Marie won 2 Nobel Prizes for her work. When she was awarded the second, she was so heavily ridiculed and bullied that organizers asked her not to come to the ceremony. After advice from Albert Einstein she courageously attended anyway. 

Tu Youyou is the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize for her work in creating a drug that has saved millions of lives. Tu isolated the active ingredient found in a plant traditionally used to treat malaria and developed a life saving medication. The ingredient discovered is now the leading drug dispensed to fight the disease. 

In 1969 Chairman Mao directly ordered Tu to find a cure for malaria. She was head of the top secret research group Mission 523.

The research group studied ancient medical texts to see how the disease was treated in the past. 

In one text (which was hundreds of years old) Tu found a reference to sweet wormwood being used to treat the disease.

Tu isolated the active ingredient, now known as artemisinin by soaking the herb and created a medicine which is used to treat malaria. 

The first human test subject Tu used was herself.

Despite winning a Nobel Prize for medicine Tu does not have a medical degree or a PhD.