Women’s History Month, celebrated every March, is a month to commemorate the accomplishments of many women across the globe. There are many historical women who have made important contributions to the field of STEM but are often overlooked. For example, most people are familiar with Marie Curie and Sally Ride, but what about Ada Lovelace, Maria Mitchell, or Rosalind Franklin? This March, Women’s History Month gives us the perfect opportunity to bring attention to these amazing women and their significant discoveries in the field of STEM.
Ada Lovelace
Ever since she was young, Ada Lovelace had a wide imagination. For example, when she was just 12-years-old, she wrote her own book called, “Flyology,” where she documented her discoveries and the progress she made while researching how to fly. In 1833, Lovelace met mathematician Charles Babbage, who showed her his calculating machine, the “Difference Machine,” and was fascinated by its capabilities. Lovelace also translated Luigi Federico Menabrea’s paper which detailed another invention of Babbage’s, the “Analytical Engine,” from French into English, and wrote her own notes which were about three times as long as the original. In 1843, her version was published, where she detailed how Babbage’s invention worked, its use of the Jacquard loom, and many other significant pieces of information. Most notably, she discovered and recorded how Babbage’s machine could be used to perform calculations which could produce the sequence of Bernoulli numbers, which is considered by many to be the first computer program. Therefore, Lovelace is now often regarded as the world’s first computer programmer.
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin is one of the many women whose accomplishments and discoveries were overshadowed by men who worked with her. In her case, it was James Watson and Francis Crick who may have used her work without her permission. Watson even went on to publish his famous book in 1968 called “The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA” which portrayed Franklin as an “evil figure–a schoolmarmish, shrewish person,” according to Nathaniel Comfort, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. While working at King’s College with a group of biophysicists, Franklin mastered the process of using X-ray crystallography to study DNA, and shared some of her significant discoveries during a seminar. It was in May 1952, when Franklin captured the famous “Photograph 51,” which showed evidence of the DNA’s B form double helical structure. However, Franklin shifted her focus from this picture to the A form of DNA instead, which eventually led to her photo and research being shown to Watson. Despite Watson and Crick eventually receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for their discoveries, Rosalind Franklin remains a significant contributor to the discovery of the double helix.
Katherine Johnson
You may recognize Katherine Johnson from Hidden Figures, the popular book written by Margot Lee Shetterly detailing the true story of three black female mathematicians who worked at NASA. Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918, and her interest for mathematics sparked when she was just 10-years-old. After flying ahead in school and graduating from high school at just 14 years of age, Johnson then went on to graduate from West Virginia State University at just 18-years-old, with a bachelor’s in both mathematics and French. Here, Johnson managed to gain the attention of professor W.W. Shiefflin Claytor, the third African American to obtain a PhD in mathematics, and he soon became her mentor. However, Johnson did not immediately become a research mathematician after graduating like she intended; instead she became a teacher because of the limited job opportunities available to women of color. It was not until 1953 when Johnson officially began working at the Langley laboratory at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Her first major accomplishment came in 1961, when she performed the trajectory analysis for Freedom 7 which made Alan Shepard the first US astronaut to travel in space. Prior to this, in 1960, Johnson co-authored a report with engineer Ted Skopinski which marked the first time a woman in the Flight Research Division gained credit as the author of a research report. Johnson went on to contribute to many more pivotal points in US space history, including the 1962 orbital mission of John Glenn and 1969 moon landing of Neil Armstrong. All of these accomplishments led Katherine Johnson to receiving the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama on November 24, 2015.
Maria Mitchell
Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 to a Quaker family who promoted equal education for girls. She therefore started her education at a young age, and when she was just 12-years-old, Mitchell assisted her father with calculating the position of their home after witnessing a solar eclipse. Mitchell also started her own school that taught girls about math and science after finishing her own education when she was 16. For the next twenty years after 1836, Mitchell worked in the Nantucket Atheneum as a librarian and would spend her free time with her father, who built an observatory. He taught her astronomy, mathematics, and navigation, which helped shape her growing interest in astronomy. On October 1, 1847, Mitchell made one of her biggest accomplishments: discovering a comet. This comet would eventually be named “Miss Mitchell’s Comet” and earn her a gold medal for her discovery which led her to become the first woman to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1848. She was also one of the first women to be employed by the American government where she conducted calculations for the US Coastal Survey. In addition to being an accomplished astronomer, Mitchell carried on her parents legacy by participating in both the anti-slavery movement and suffrage movements. Following the Civil War, she was even hired by Matthew Vassar to work at Vassar College, where she used a twelve-inch telescope to study the surfaces of Jupiter and Saturn. She also made lasting impacts on her female students, where she helped to publish their work in journals which were typically only inclusive of men. You can now visit the Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket to learn more about her!
Conclusion
From groundbreaking discoveries to new inventions, these are just a few stories about women who deserve more recognition. Whether you are interested in the field of STEM or not, it is important to learn about and honor these contributions especially since so many women were looked down upon when they made their discoveries. Here are a few names of other amazing women in history: Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Blackwell, Grace Hopper, and Mae Jemison. Take some time to see what incredible discoveries they have made and any others that you may come across. These women continue to inspire future generations of young scientists, inventors, and doctors and show us that even in the face of adversity, it is possible to succeed.
Works Cited
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