List of female scientists before the 21st century

Émilie du Châtelet.

Please note: this is an historical list, intended to deal with the time period when women working in science were rare. For this reason, this list ends with the 20th century.

Antiquity

• Agamede (12th century BCE), (possibly mythical) physician in Ancient Greece
• Aglaonike (2nd century BCE), the first woman astronomer in Ancient Greece
• Agnodike (4th century BCE), the first woman physician to practice legally in Athens
• Arete of Cyrene (5th–4th centuries BCE), natural and moral philosopher, North Africa
• Artemisia of Caria (c. 300 BCE), botanist^{[citation needed]}
• Aspasia of Miletus (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist
• Cleopatra the Alchemist - identity is unclear, but her book, The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, is first recorded as existing in the 2nd century A.D./C.E. in Alexandria.
• Diotima of Mantinea (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist, ancient Greece (sources vary as to her historicity; possibly a fictionalized character based on Aspasia of Miletus)
• Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE), Sumerian/Akkadian astronomer and poet
• Hypatia of Alexandria (370–415), mathematician and astronomer, Egypt

• Lastheneia of Mantinea, (5th century BCE), one of Plato's only female students
• Mary the Jewess (1st or 2nd century CE), alchemist
• Merit Ptah (c. 2700 BCE), Egyptian physician
• Pythias of Assos (4th century BCE), marine zoologist^{[citation needed]}
• Tapputi-Belatekallim ([2] first mentioned in a clay tablet dating to 2000 BCE), Babylonian perfumer, the first person in history recorded as using a chemical process
• Theano (6th century BCE), philosopher, mathematician and physician

Middle Ages

• Abella (14th century), Italian physician
• Bettina d'Andrea (d. 1335), Italian lawyer and philosopher
• Novella d'Andrea (d. 1333), Italian lawyer
• Hildegard von Bingen (1099–1179), German natural philosopher
• Dorotea Bocchi (fl. 1390), Italian professor of medicine
• Constance Calenda (15th century), Italian surgeon specialising in diseases of the eye
• Constanza, Italian physician
• Calrice di Durisio (15th century), Italian physician
• Jacobina Félicie (fl. 1322), Italian physician
• Alessandra Giliani (fl. 1318), Italian anatomist
• Rebecca de Guarna (14th century), Italian physician

• Heloise (12th century), French mathematician and physician
• Herrad of Landsberg (c.1130–1195), German/French author of the encyclopedia and technological compendium Garden of Delight
• Maria Incarnata, Italian surgeon
• Lilavati (c. 12th century), daughter featured in Bhāskara II's treatise on mathematics, who solves mathematical exercises
• Margarita (14th century), Italian physician
• Thomasia de Mattio, Italian physician
• Mercuriade (14th century), Italian physician and surgeon
• Empress Theodora (500–545), Byzantine philosopher and mathematician
• Trotula of Salerno (c. 1090), Italian physician
• Walborg and Karin Jota (c. 1350), Swedish officials of the court

15th to 17th centuries

• Anna Åkerhjelm (1647–1693), Swedish traveller and amateur archeologist.
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689), British astronomer
• Juliana (fl. 1460), British natural historian
• Celia Grillo Borromeo (1684–1777), Italian natural philosopher
• Sophia Brahe (1556–1643), Danish astronomer and chemist
• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), natural philosopher
• Laura Cereta (1469–1499), humanist
• Isabella Cortese, (fl. 1561), Italian alchemist
• Maria Cunitz (1610–1664), Silesian astronomer
• Jeanne Dumée (fl. 1680), French astronomer

• Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (1618–1680), German natural philosopher
• Beatriz Galindo (1465–1534), Spanish physician
• Elisabetha Koopman Hevelius (1647–1693), astronomer, wife of Johannes Hevelius
• Hedvig Eleonora Klingenstierna, (17th century) Swedish lecturer in Latin at Linköping University
• Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), naturalist
• Tarquinia Molza (1542–1617), Italian natural philosopher
• Elena Cornaro Piscopia (1646–1684), Italian mathematician and the first female PhD
• Jane Sharp (fl. 1671), British midwife
• Elinor Sneshell (fl. 1593), surgeon

18th century

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799), Italian mathematician
• Maria Ardinghelli (1728–1825), Italian mathematician and physicist
• Anna Atkins (1799–1871), British botanist
• Giuseppa Eleonora Barbapiccola (c. 1702–1740), natural philosopher, translator
• Laura Bassi (1711–1778), Italian physicist
• Margaret Bryan (c. 1760–1815), British natural philosopher
• Maria Christina Bruhn (1732–1802), Swedish inventor
• Elsa Beata Bunge (1734–1819), Swedish botanist
• Maria Medina Coeli (1764–1846), Italian physician.
• Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749), French mathematician and physicist
• Jane Colden (1724–1766), American biologist
• Maria Dalle Donne (1778–1842), Italian physician
• Marie-Jeanne de Lalande (1760–1832), French astronomer
• Eva Ekeblad (1724–1786), Swedish agronomist
• Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723–1792), French astronomer
• Dorothea Leporin Erxleben (1715–1762), German physician
• Elizabeth Fulhame (fl. 1794), British chemist

• Sophie Germain (1776–1831), elasticity theory, number theory
• Lucia Galeazzi Galvani (1743–1788), Italian physician
• Catherine Littlefield Greene (1755–1814), American inventor
• Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), German-British astronomer
• Josephine Kablick (1787–1863), Botanist
• Maria Margarethe Kirch, (1670–1720), German astronomer
• Marie Paulze Lavoisier (1758–1836), French chemist and illustrator
• Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716–1774), Italian physician and anatomist
• Maria Pettracini (1759–1791), Italian anatomist and physician
• Louise du Pierry (1746– fl. 1807), French astronomer
• Faustina Pignatelli (d. 1785), Italian physicist
• Christina Roccati (1732–1797)
• Clotilde Tambroni (1758–1817), Italian philologist and linguistic
• Petronella Johanna de Timmerman (1723–1786), Dutch scientist
• Wang Zhenyi (astronomer) (1768–1797), Chinese astronomer

19th century

• Lovisa Årberg (1801–1881) first woman doctor and surgeon in Sweden.
• Elizabeth Cary Agassiz (1822–1907), American natural historian
• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917), British physician
• Mary Anning (1799–1847), British natural historian
• Amalia Assur (1803–1889), Swedish dentist
• Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854–1923), British physicist
• Sara Josephine Baker (1873–1945), American doctor (child hygiene pioneer)
• Florence Bascom (1862–1945), American geologist
• Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), British geologist
• Isabella Bird Bishop (1831–1904), British natural historian
• Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), American physician
• Emily Blackwell (1826–1910 ), American physician
• Marie Gillain Boivin (1773–1841), French midwife
• Elizabeth Brown (d. 1899), British astronomer
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), American psychologist
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer
• Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869–1963), American biologist
• Cornelia Clapp (1849–1934), American zoologist
• Agnes Mary Clerke (1842–1907), British astronomer
• Anna Botsford Comstock (1854–1930), American natural historian
• Florence Cushman American astronomer
• Lydia Maria Adams DeWitt (1859–1928) American pathologist
• Amalie Dietrich (1821–1891), German natural historian
• Maria Dalle Donne (1778–1842), Italian physician
• Marie Durocher (1809–1893), Brazilian obstetrician, midwife and physician
• Alice Eastwood (1859–1953), American biologist
• Rosa Smith Eigenmann (1858–1947), American biologist
• Mileva Einstein-Maric (1875–1948), Serbian/Swiss physicist
• Ellen Eglui (19th century)
• Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838–1923), American ethnologist
• Williamina Fleming (1857–1911), Scottish/American astronomer
• Rosalie Fougelberg (1841–1911) , Swedish dentist
• Melanie Hahnemann (1800–1878), French homepath
• Hanna Hammarström (1829–1909), Swedish inventor
• Louise Hammarström (1849–1917), Swedish chemist
• Johanna Hedén (1837–1912), Swedish midwife, feldsher and barber.
• Margaret Lindsay Murray Huggins (1848–1915), British astronomer
• Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857–1945), American biologist
• Maria Jansson (1788–1842), known as Kisamor, Swedish physician
• Sophia Jex-Blake (1840–1912), British physician
• Mary Kies (19th century), American inventor
• Helen Dean King (1869–1955), American biologist

• Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), Russian mathematician (partial differential equations, rotating solids, Abelian functions)
• Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847–1930), American psychologist
• Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868–1921), American astronomer
• Jane Webb Loudon (1807–1858), British botanist
• Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace (1815–1851), British mathematician
• Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860–1944), American physicist
• Jane Haldimand Marcet (1769–1858), British natural philosopher
• Annie Russell Maunder (1868–1947), Irish astronomer
• Antonia Caetana Maury (1866–1952), American astronomer
• Olive Thorne Miller (1831–1918), American natural historian
• Maria Mitchell (1818–1889), American astronomer
• Johanna Mestorf (1828–1909), German prehistoric archaeologist
• Mary Murtfeldt (1848–1913), American biologist
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), British nurse and statistician
• Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828–1901), British biologist
• Edith Marion Patch (1876–1954), American biologist
• Mary Engle Pennington (1872–1952), American chemist
• Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884), American science educator
• Vera Popova (1867-1896), Russian chemist
• Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), British mycologist
• Emmy Rappe (1835–1896), Swedish nurse
• Mary Jane Rathbun (1860–1943), American marine biologist
• Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911), American industrial and environmental chemist
• Emily Roebling (1844–1903), American civil engineer
• Clémence Royer (1830–1902), French anthropologist
• Ethel Sargant (1863–1918), British biologist
• Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), American geographer
• Annie Lorrain Smith (1854–1937), British lichenologist and mycologist
• Mary Somerville (1780–1872), British physicist
• Anna Sundström (1785-1871), Swedish chemist
• Mary Treat (1830–1923), American naturalist
• Nettie Stevens (1861–1912), American geneticist
• Lucy Hobbs Taylor (1833–1910), American dentist
• Praskovja Uvarova (1840-1924), Russian archaeologist
• Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794–1871), French marine biologist
• Mary Walker (1832–1919), American surgeon
• Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939), American psychologist
• Sarah Frances Whiting (1846–1927), American astronomer and physicist [3]
• Mary Watson Whitney (1847–1921), American astronomer
• Karolina Widerström (1856–1949), Swedish physician
• Anna Winlock (1857–1904), American astronomer

20th century

• Faye Ajzenberg-Selove (1926– ) [4], American nuclear physicist, (2007 US National Medal of Science)
• Fredika Mikles Robertson, American cancer researcher
• Claudia Alexander, American planetary scientist
• E. K. Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), Indian botanist
• Asha Kolte, Indian Biologist (1941–) [5][6]
• Betsy Ancker-Johnson (1929–) [7], American plasma physicist
• Caroline Austin, British molecular biologist [8]
• Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854–1923), British mathematician and electrical engineer (electric arcs, sand ripples, invention of several devices, geometry) [9]
• Zonia Baber (1862–1955), American geographer and geologist
• Milla Baldo-Ceolin [10], Italian particle physicist
• Yvonne Barr (1932–), British virologist (co-discovery of Epstein-Barr virus)
• Gillian Bates, British geneticist (Huntingdon's disease)
• Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), American anthropologist
• Val Beral (1946–), British–Australian epidemiologist
• Susan Blackmore (1951–), British science writer (memetics, evolutionary theory, consciousness, parapsychology)
• Mary Adela Blagg (1858–1944), British astronomer
• Marietta Blau (1894–1970) [11], German experimental particle physicist
• Katharine Blodgett (1898–1979) [12], American thin-film physicist
• Christiane Bonnelle [13], French spectroscopist
• Alice Middleton Boring (1883–1955), American biologist
• Lera Boroditsky, American psychologist
• Jenny Rosenthal Bramley (1909–1997), Lithuanian-American physicist [14], [15]
• Harriet Brooks (1876–1933) [16], American radiation physicist
• Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919–2004), American surgeon
• A. Catrina Bryce (1956–), Scottish laser scientist
• Linda B. Buck (1947–), American neuroscientist (Nobel prize for olfactory receptors)
• Margaret Burbidge (1919–), British astrophysicist [17]
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943–), British astrophysicist (discovery of radio pulsars) [18]
• Nina Byers (1930–) [19], American physicist
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer
• Mary L. Cartwright (1900–1998) [20]
• Yvette Cauchois (1908–1999) [21]
• Margaret Chan (1947–), Chinese-Canadian health administrator; director of the World Health Organization
• Martha Chase (1927–2003), American molecular biologist
• Amanda Chessell computer scientist
• Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (1923–) [22], French theoretical physicist
• Patricia Cladis (1937–) [23]
• Astrid Cleve (1875–1968), Swedish chemist
• Janine Connes [24]
• Esther Conwell (1922–) [25]
• Ursula M. Cowgill, American biologist and anthropologist
• Suzanne Cory (1942–), Australian immunologist/cancer researcher
• Heather Couper (1949–), British astronomer (astronomy popularisation, science education)
• Gerty Theresa Cori (1896–1957), American biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947)
• Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934), Polish-French chemist (pioneer in radiology, discovery of polonium and radium) [26]
• Janet Darbyshire, British epidemiologist
• Ingrid Daubechies, (1954–) Belgian mathematician (Wavelets - first woman to receive the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics)
• Eleanor Davies-Colley (1874–1934), British surgeon (first female FRCS)
• Cécile DeWitt-Morette (1922–) [27]
• Louise Dolan [28]
• Nancy M. Dowdy (1938–) [29]
• Mildred Dresselhaus (1930–) [30]
• Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902–1959) important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine.[31]
• Helen T. Edwards (1936–) [32]
• Tatjana Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa (1876–1964) [33]
• Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999), American biochemist (Nobel prize for drug development)
• Magda Ericson (1929–) [34]
• Sandra Faber (1944–) [35]
• Claire Fagin, American health-care researcher
• Dian Fossey (1932–1985), American zoologist [36]
• Rosalind Franklin (1920–1957), British physical chemist and crystallographer
• Ursula Franklin (1921–), Canadian metallurgist, research physicist, author and educator
• Judy Franz (1938–) [37]
• Phyllis S. Freier (1921–1992) [38]
• Mary K. Gaillard (1939–) [39]
• Birutė Galdikas (1946–), German primatologist and conservationist
• Fanny Gates (1872–1931) [40]
• Kate Gleason (1865–1933), American engineer
• Ellen Gleditsch (1879–1968) [41]
• Claire F. Gmachl, American physicist
• Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972), German-American physicist [42]
• Jane Goodall (1934–), British biologist, primatologist [43]
• Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911–1998) [44]
• Sulamith Goldhaber (1923–1965) [45]
• Evelyn Boyd Granville (1924–)
• Susan Greenfield (1951–), British neurophysiologist (neurophysiology of the brain, popularisation of science)
• Gail Hanson (1947–) [46]
• Anna J. Harrison (1912–1998), American organic chemist
• Evans Hayward (1922–) [47]
• Caroline Herzenberg (1932–) [48]

• Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994), British X-ray crystallographer [49]
• Grace Hopper (1906–1992), American computer scientist
• Clara Immerwahr (1870–1915), German chemist
• Shirley Jackson (physicist) (1946–) [50]
• Bertha Swirles Jeffreys (1903–1999) [51]
• Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956), French chemist and nuclear physicist [52]
• Lorella M. Jones (1943–1995), American particle physicist [53]
• Carole Jordan (1941–), British solar physicist
• Renata Kallosh (1943–) [54]
• Berta Karlik (1904–1990) [55]
• Bruria Kaufman (1918–2010 ) [56]
• Marcia Keith (1859–1950) [57]
• Ann Kiessling (1942–)
• Margaret Kivelson (1928–) [58]
• Dorothea Klumpke (1861–1942), American-born astronomer
• Noemie Benczer Koller (1933–) [59]
• Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf (1922–2010) [60]
• Stephanie Kwolek (1923–), American chemist, inventor of Kevlar
• Elizabeth Laird (1874–1969) [61]
• Henrietta Leavitt, (1868–1921), American astronomer (periodicity of variable stars)
• Juliet Lee-Franzini (1933–) [62]
• Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) [63]
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–), Italian neurologist (Nobel prize for growth factors)
• Kathleen Lonsdale (1903–1971) [64]
• Misha Mahowald (1963–1996), American neuroscientist [65]
• Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860–1944), American physicist [66]
• Louisa Martindale (1872–1966), British surgeon
• Lynn Margulis (1938–), American biologist
• Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), American geneticist
• Anne McLaren (1927–2007), British developmental biologist
• Helen Megaw (1907–) [67]
• Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian nuclear physicist (pioneering nuclear physics, discovery of nuclear fission, protactinum, and the Auger effect)
• Maud Menten (1879–1960), Canadian biochemist
• Kirstine Meyer (1861–1941) [68]
• Luise Meyer-Schutzmeister (1915–1981) [69]
• Ann Haven Morgan (1882–1966), American zoologist
• Anna Nagurney Canadian-born, US operations researcher/management scientist focusing on networks
• Chiara Nappi, Italian American physicist
• Ann Nelson (1958–), American physicist
• Marcia Neugebauer, [70]
• Gertrude Neumark (1927–) [71]
• Ida Tacke Noddack (1896–1979) [72]
• Emmy Noether (1882–1935), German mathematician and theoretical physicist (symmetries and conservation laws) [73]
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1942–), German geneticist and developmental biologist (Nobel prize for homeobox genes)
• Daphne Osborne (1930–2006), British plant physiologist (plant hormones)
• Donna Osif (20th century), meteorologist [74]
• Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1978), British-American astronomer
• Marguerite Perey (1909–1975) [75]
• Rózsa Péter (1905–1977) Hungarian mathematician
• Melba Phillips (1907–2004) [76]
• Agnes Pockels (1862–1935) [77]
• P. Ya. Polubarinova-Kochina (1899–) [78]
• Edith Quimby (1891–1982) [79]
• Helen Quinn (1943–) [80]
• Lisa Randall (1962–), American physicist
• F. Gwendolen Rees (1906–1994), British parasitologist
• Anita Roberts (1942–2006), American molecular biologist, "mother of TGF-Beta"
• Vera Rubin (1928–) [81]
• Myriam Sarachik (1933–) [82]
• Bice Sechi-Zorn (1928–1984) [83]
• Johanna Levelt Sengers [84]
• Patsy Sherman (20th century)
• Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898–1990), American astronomer
• Hertha Sponer (1895–1968) [85]
• Margaret A. Stanley, British virologist and epithelial biologist
• Phyllis Starkey (1947–) British biochemist and medical researcher
• Isabelle Stone (1868–1944) [86], American thin-film physicist and educator
• Ida Noddack Tacke (1896–1978), German chemist and physicist
• Maria Telkes (1900–1995), Hungarian-American biophysicist
• Jean Thomas, British biochemist (chromatin)
• Karen Vousden, British cancer researcher
• Katharine Way (1903–1995) [87]
• Mary Olliden Weaver (20th century), inventor
• Elsie Widdowson (1908–2000) [88], British nutritionist
• Margo Wilson (1945–), Canadian evolutionary psychologist
• Fiona Wood, (1958–), British-Australian plastic surgeon
• Leona Woods (1919–1986), American nuclear physicist
• Dorothy Wrinch (1894–1976), British mathematician and theoretical biochemist
• Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997), Chinese-American physicist (nuclear physics, (non) conservation of parity) [89]
• Sau Lan Wu [90], Chinese-American particle physicist
• Xide Xie (Hsi-teh Hsieh) (1921–2000) [91]
• Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921–), American medical physicist (Nobel prize for radioimmunoassay) [92]

See also

• Female Nobel Prize laureates
• List of female mathematicians

References

• Herzenberg, Caroline L. 1986. Women Scientists from Antiquity to the Present: An Index. Locust Hill Press. ISBN 0-933951-01-9
• Howard S. The Hidden Giants, ch. 2, (Lulu.com; 2006) (accessed 22 August 2007)
• Howes, Ruth H. and Caroline L. Herzenberg. 1999. Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project. Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-719-7
• Ogilvie, M. B. 1986. Women in Science. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-15031-X
• Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics website at UCLA
• Walsh JJ. 'Medieval Women Physicians' in Old Time Makers of Medicine: The Story of the Students and Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle Ages, ch. 8, (Fordham University Press; 1911) (accessed 22 August 2007)

External links

• 4000 Years of Women in Science
• Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics
• Most influential British women in the history of science (selected by Royal Society panel)
• 10 Famous Women Scientists in History