List of female scientists before the 20th century

Portrait of Émilie du Châtelet by Maurice Quentin de La Tour.

This is a 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.

See also: List of 21st-century women scientists

Antiquity

• Aemilia (c. 300-363), Gallo-Roman physician
• 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
• Aspasia (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist
• Aspasia the Physician (fl. 1st century CE), Greek physician
• Cleopatra the Alchemist - wrote the alchemical book, Chrysopoeia, or "gold-making".
• 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 (370–415), mathematician and astronomer, Egypt

• Lastheneia of Mantinea, (5th century BCE), student of Plato
• Mary the Jewess (1st or 2nd century CE), alchemist
• Merit Ptah (c. 2700 BCE), Egyptian physician
• Peseshet Egyptian physician (Fourth Dynasty)
• Pythias of Assos (4th century BCE), marine zoologist
• Tapputi-Belatekallim (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
• Adelle of the Saracens (12th-century), Italian physician.
• Adelmota of Carrara (14th-century), Italian physician.
• Hildegard of Bingen (1099–1179), German natural philosopher
• Dorotea Bucca (fl. 1390), Italian professor of medicine
• Calrice di Durisio (15th century), Italian physician
• Constance Calenda (15th century), Italian surgeon specialising in diseases of the eye
• Constanza, 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
• Magistra Hersend (floruit 1249–1259) French surgeon
• Maria Incarnata, Italian surgeon
• Anna Komnene (1083-1153), Greek physician
• 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
• Dame Péronelle (1292-1319), French herbalist
• Empress Theodora (500–545), Byzantine philosopher and mathematician
• Trota of Salerno (12th century), Italian physician
• Walborg and Karin Jota (c. 1350), Swedish officials of the court

Herrad of Landsbert

16th century

• Sophia Brahe (1556–1643), Danish astronomer and chemist
• Isabella Cortese, (fl. 1561), Italian alchemist
• Loredana Marcello (d. 1572), Venetian botanist
• Tarquinia Molza (1542–1617), Italian natural philosopher
• Catherine de Parthenay (1554-1631) French mathematician
• Elinor Sneshell (fl. 1593), surgeon

17th century

• Anna Åkerhjelm (1647–1693), Swedish traveller and amateur archeologist.
• Ann Baynard (1672-1697) British Natural philosopher
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689), British translator of an astronomical work
• Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine (1618–1680), German natural philosopher
• Celia Grillo Borromeo (1684–1777), Italian natural philosopher
• Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), natural philosopher
• Marie Crous (fl. 1640), French mathematician
• Maria Cunitz (1610–1664), Silesian astronomer
• Jeanne Dumée (fl. 1680), French astronomer
• Maria Clara Eimmart (1676 - 1707), German astronomer
• Eleanor Glanville (1654 – 1709), English entomologist
• Elisabeth Hevelius (1647–1693), astronomer, wife of Johannes Hevelius
• Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), naturalist
• Marie Meurdrac (c. 1610–1680), French chemist and alchemist
• Elena Cornaro Piscopia (1646–1684), Italian mathematician and the first female PhD
• Marguerite de la Sablière (1640?-1693), French natural philosopher
• Jane Sharp (fl. 1671), British midwife
• Titia Brongersma (1650–1700), Frisian archaeologist, poet
• Elizabeth Walker (1623 - 1690), British pharmacist

Margaret Cavendish

18th century

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799), Italian mathematician
• Geneviève Charlotte d'Arconville (1720-1805) French anatomist
• Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen (1751-1827), German astronomer
• Maria Angela Ardinghelli (1728–1825), Italian mathematician and physicist
• Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818), British natural history collector
• Giuseppa Barbapiccola (c. 1702–1740), natural philosopher, translator
• Laura Bassi (1711–1778), Italian physicist
• Marie Marguerite Bihéron (1719-1795), French anatomist
• Jacoba van den Brande (1735-1794), Dutch founder of first all-female science academy
• Maria Christina Bruhn (1732–1802), Swedish inventor
• Margaret Bryan (c. 1760–1815), British natural philosopher
• Elsa Beata Bunge (1734–1819), Swedish botanist
• María Andrea Casamayor (1700-1780), Spanish mathematician
• Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749), French mathematician and physicist
• Maria Medina Coeli (1764–1846), Italian physician.
• Jane Colden (1724–1766), American biologist
• Maria Dalle Donne (1778–1842), Italian physician
• Eva Ekeblad (1724–1786), Swedish agronomist
• Dorothea Erxleben (1715–1762), German physician
• Charlotta Frölich (1698–1770), Swedish agronomist and historian
• Elizabeth Fulhame (fl. 1794), British chemist
• Lucia Galeazzi Galvani (1743–1788), Italian physician
• Sophie Germain (1776–1831), elasticity theory, number theory
• Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi (1760–1830), Italian botanist
• Catherine Littlefield Greene (1755–1814), American inventor
• Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), German-British astronomer
• Josephine Kablick (1787–1863), Botanist
• Christine Kirch (1696–1782), German astronomer
• Margaretha Kirch (1703-1744), German astronomer
• Maria Margarethe Kirch, (1670–1720), German astronomer
• Marie Lachapelle (1769-1821), French midwife
• Marie-Jeanne de Lalande (1760–1832), French astronomer
• Marie Paulze Lavoisier (1758–1836), French chemist and illustrator
• Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723–1792), French astronomer
• Elisabeth Christina von Linné (1743–1782), Swedish botanist
• Martha Daniell Logan (1704-1779), American horticulturalist
• Eliza Lucas (1722–1793), American agronomist
• Maria Lullin (1750-1831), Swiss entomologist.
• Catharine Macaulay (1731-1791), British social scientist
• Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716–1774), Italian physician and anatomist
• Sybilla Masters (1675-1720) patent for a corn mill
• Maria Petraccini (1759–1791), Italian anatomist and physician
• Louise du Pierry (1746– fl. 1807), French astronomer
• Marie Anne Victoire Pigeon (1724-1767) French mathematician
• Faustina Pignatelli (d. 1785), Italian physicist
• Eliza Luca Pinckney (1723–1766) indigo dye pioneer
• Cristina Roccati (1732–1797) Italian physics teacher
• Lady Hester Stanhope (1776-1839) British archaeologist
• Clotilde Tambroni (1758–1817), Italian philologist and linguistic
• Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville (1720-1805), French chemist
• Petronella Johanna de Timmerman (1723–1786), Dutch scientist
• Wang Zhenyi (astronomer) (1768–1797), Chinese astronomer

19th century

Anthropology

• Maria Czaplicka (1884-1921), Polish cultural anthropologist
• Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838–1923), American ethnologist
• Johanna Mestorf (1828–1909), German prehistoric archaeologist
• Margaret Murray (1863-1963) British anthropologist
• Clémence Royer (1830–1902), French anthropologist
• Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), American geographer
• Praskovja Uvarova (1840–1924), Russian archaeologist

Archeology

• Zsófia Torma (1832–1899), Hungarian archeologist, paleologist, anthropologist

Astronomy

• Mary Albertson (1838-1914), American botanist and astronomer
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer
• Agnes Mary Clerke (1842–1907), British astronomer
• Florence Cushman (1860-1940) American astronomer
• Williamina Fleming (1857–1911), Scottish/American astronomer
• Margaret Lindsay Murray Huggins (1848–1915), British astronomer
• Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868–1921), American astronomer
• Annie Russell Maunder (1868–1947), Irish astronomer
• Antonia Caetana Maury (1866–1952), American astronomer
• Maria Mitchell (1818–1889), American astronomer
• Isis Pogson (1852-1945), British astronomer
• Caterina Scarpellini (1808–1873), Italian astronomer
• Sarah Frances Whiting (1846–1927), American astronomer and physicist
• Mary Watson Whitney (1847–1921), American astronomer
• Anna Winlock (1857–1904), American astronomer

Biology or natural history

Mary Anning

• Frances Acton (1793–1881) British botanist
• Elizabeth Cary Agassiz (1822–1907), American natural historian
• Mary Albertson (1838-1914), American botanist and astronomer
• Mary Anning (1799–1847), British natural historian
• Emily Arnesen (1876-1928), Norwegian zoologist
• Anna Atkins (1799–1871), British botanist
• Harriet Henrietta Beaufort (1778-1865), British botanist
• Isabella Bird Bishop (1831–1904), British natural historian
• Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869–1963), American biologist
• Cornelia Clapp (1849–1934), American zoologist
• Anna Botsford Comstock (1854–1930), American natural historian
• Clara Eaton Cummings (1855-1906), American botanist
• Lydia Maria Adams DeWitt (1859–1928) American pathologist
• Mary Cynthia Dickerson (1866–1923), American herpetologist, museum curator and writer
• Amalie Dietrich (1821–1891), German natural historian
• Alice Eastwood (1859–1953), American biologist
• Rosa Smith Eigenmann (1858–1947), American biologist
• Olga Fedtschenko (1845–1921), Russian botanist
• Maria Elizabeth Fernald (1839–1919), American entomologist
• Susanna Phelps Gage (1857–1915), American embryologist and comparative anatomist
• Amelia Griffiths (1768–1858), British phycologist
• Susan Hallowell (1835-1911), American botanist
• Gabrielle Howard (1876-1930), British plant physiologist
• Ellen Hutchins (1785-1815), Irish botanist
• Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857–1945), American biologist
• Alice Johnson (zoologist) (1860–1940), English zoologist
• Helen Dean King (1869–1955), American biologist
• Matilda Lăcătușu, (1925-) Romanian entymologist
• Marie-Anne Libert (1782-1865), Belgian botanist and mycologist
• Friederike Lienig (1790-1855), German-Baltic entomologyst
• Olive Thorne Miller (1831–1918), American natural historian
• Maria Gugelberg von Moos (1836–1918), Swiss botanist
• Margaretta Morris (1797–1867), American entomologist
• Mary Murtfeldt (1848–1913), American biologist
• Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828–1901), British biologist
• Edith Marion Patch (1876–1954), American biologist
• Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), British mycologist
• Mary Jane Rathbun (1860–1943), American marine biologist
• Ethel Sargant (1863–1918), British biologist
• Hazel Schmoll (1890–1990), American botanist working on plant life in Colorado
• Lilian Sheldon (1862–1942), English zoologist
• Alexandra Smirnoff (1838-1913) Finnish pomologist
• Annie Lorrain Smith (1854–1937), British lichenologist and mycologist
• Emilie Snethlage (1868-1929), German-Brazilian naturalist and ornithologist
• Nettie Stevens (1861–1912), American geneticist
• Jantina Tammes (1871 - 1947), Dutch botanist and geneticist
• Charlotte De Bernier Taylor (1806–1863), American entomologist
• Mary Treat (1830–1923), American naturalist
• Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794–1871), French marine biologist
• Anna Maria Walker (c. 1778–1852), Scottish botanist
• Mary Anne Whitby (1784-1850), English breeder of silkworms

Chemistry

• Vera Bogdanovskaia (1868-1897), Russian chemist
• Ida Freund (1863-1914), first woman to be a university chemistry lecturer in the United Kingdom
• Louise Hammarström (1849–1917), Swedish chemist
• Edith Humphrey (1875–1978), probably the first British woman to gain a doctorate in chemistry
• Julia Lermontova (1846-1919), Russian chemist
• Laura Linton (1853-1915), American chemist
• Rachel Lloyd (1839-1900)
• Muriel Wheldale Onslow (1880–1932), British biochemist
• Marie Pasteur (1826–1910), French chemist and bacteriologist
• Mary Engle Pennington (1872–1952), American chemist
• Agnes Pockels (1862-1935), German chemist
• Vera Popova (1867–1896), Russian chemist
• Anna Sundström (1785–1871), Swedish chemist
• Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911), American industrial and environmental chemist
• Anna Volkova (1800–1876), Russian chemist
• Nadezhda Olimpievna Ziber-Shumova (d. 1914), Russian chemist

Engineers

• Emily Roebling (1844–1903), American civil engineer

Geology

• Florence Bascom (1862–1945), American geologist
• Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), British geologist
• Mary Buckland (1797-1857), British paleontologist and marine biologist
• Margaret Crosfield (1859-1952), British paleontologist and geologist
• Maria Gordon (1896-1939), Scottish geologist
• Mary Emilie Holmes (1850–1906), American geologist and educator
• Charlotte Murchison (1788 - 1869), Scottish geologist
• Elizabeth Philpot (1780-1857), British paleontologist

Inventors

• Mary Brush (19th century), American inventor
• Ellen Eglui (19th century) inventor
• Hanna Hammarström (1829–1909), Swedish inventor
• Mary Kies (1752 – 1837), American inventor

Mathematics

• Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), Russian mathematician (partial differential equations, rotating solids, Abelian functions)
• Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace (1815–1851), British mathematician
• Emilie Martin (1869- 1936), American mathematician
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), British statistician and nurse
• Emmy Noether(1882-1935), German mathematician

Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (Ada Lovelace)

• Dorothy Vaughan (1910–2008), American mathematician, worked at NACA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory

Microbiology

• Alice Catherine Evans (1881–1975), American microbiologist

Medicine

• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917), British physician
• Hedda Andersson (1861-1950), Swedish physician
• Lovisa Årberg (1801–1881), first woman doctor and surgeon in Sweden
• Amalia Assur (1803–1889), Swedish dentist
• Sara Josephine Baker (1873–1945), American doctor (child hygiene pioneer)
• Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), American physician
• Emily Blackwell (1826–1910 ), American physician
• Marie Boivin (1773–1841), French writer on obstetrics
• Maria Dalle Donne (1778–1842), Italian physician
• Marie Durocher (1809–1893), Brazilian obstetrician, midwife and physician
• Rosalie Fougelberg (1841–1911), Swedish dentist
• Johanna Hedén (1837–1912), Swedish midwife, feldsher and barber
• Maria Jansson (1788–1842), known as Kisamor, Swedish physician
• Sophia Jex-Blake (1840–1912), British physician
• Varvara Kashevarova Rudneva (1844–1899), Russian physician
• Emmy Rappe (1835–1896), Swedish nurse
• Florence R. Sabin (1871-1953), American medical scientist
• Regina von Siebold (1771-1849), German physician and obstetrician
• Charlotte von Siebold (1788-1859) German physician and gynecologist
• Anna Stecksén (1870-1904), Swedish pathologist
• Lucy Hobbs Taylor (1833–1910), American dentist
• Isala Van Diest (1842–1916), first female medical doctor and female university graduate in Belgium
• Mary Walker (1832–1919), American surgeon
• Karolina Widerström (1856–1949), Swedish physician
• Rachel Alcock (1862-1939), British physiologist

Nuclear physics

• Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian, Swedish, nuclear physicist

Physics

• Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854–1923), British physicist
• Mileva Einstein-Maric (1875–1948), Serbian/Swiss physicist
• Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860–1944), American physicist
• Mary Somerville (1780–1872), British physicist, Polymath

Psychology

• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), American psychologist
• Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847–1930), American psychologist
• Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939), American psychologist

Science education

• Jane Webb Loudon (1807–1858), Writer of introductory gardening books
• Jane Marcet (1769–1858), Writer of introductory science books
• Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884), American science educator
• Josephine Silone Yates (?-1912), American chemistry professor

Sociology

• Jane Addams (1860-1935), American sociologist
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), American sociologist
• Beatrice Webb (1858-1943), English sociologist and economist

20th century

Anthropology

Margaret Mead

• Katharine Bartlett (1907–2001), American physical anthropologist, museum curator
• Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), American anthropologist
• Dina Dahbany-Miraglia (born 1938), American Yemini linguistic anthropologist, educator
• Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) American folklorist and anthropologist
• Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American anthropologist
• Grete Mostny (1914–1991), Austrian-born Chilean anthropologist and archaeologist
• Miriam Tildesley (1883–1979), British anthropologist
• Mildred Trotter (1899-1991), American forensic anthropologist
• Camilla Wedgwood (1901-1955), British/Australian anthropologist
• Alba Zaluar (born 1942), Brazilian anthropologist specializing in urban anthropology

Archaeology

• Sonia Alconini (1965-), Bolivian archaeologist of the Formative Period of the Lake Titicaca basin
• Jole Bovio Marconi (1897–1986), Italian archaeologist and prehistorian
• Perla Fuscaldo (born 1941), Argentine egyptologist
• Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994), Lithuanian archaeologist (Kurgan hypothesis)
• Rosemary Joyce (1956), American archaeologist who uncovered chocolate's archaeological record and studies Honduran pre-history
• Hanna Rydh (1891-1964), Swedish archaeologist and prehistorian

Astronomy

• Claudia Alexander (1964-), American planetary scientist
• Mary Adela Blagg (1858–1944), British astronomer
• Margaret Burbidge (1919–), British astrophysicist
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943–), Northern Irish-British astrophysicist
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer
• Janine Connes, French astronomer
• A. Grace Cook (1887-1958), British astronomer
• Heather Couper (1949–), British astronomer (astronomy popularisation, science education)
• Joy Crisp, American planetary scientist
• Sandra Faber (1944–), American astronomer
• Pamela Gay (1973-), American astronomer
• Vera Fedorovna Gaze (1899-1954) Russian astronomer (planet 2388 Gase an Gaze Crater on Venus are named for her)
• Julie Vinter Hansen (1890-1960), Danish astronomer
• Martha Haynes (1951-), American astronomer
• Lisa Kaltenegger - Austrian/American astronomer
• Dorothea Klumpke (1861–1942), American-born astronomer
• Henrietta Leavitt, (1868–1921), American astronomer (periodicity of variable stars)
• Evelyn Leland (c.1870–c.1930), American astronomer working at the Harvard College Observatory
• Priyamvada Natarajan, Indian/American astrophysicist
• Carolyn Porco (1953–), American planetary scientist
• Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1978), British-American astronomer
• Ruby Payne-Scott (1912–1981), Australian radio astronomer
• Vera Rubin (1928–), American astronomer
• Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898–1990), American astronomer
• Jill Tarter (1944–), American astronomer
• Beatrice Tinsley (1941–1981), New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist
• Maria Zuber (1958-), American planetary scientist

Biology

Barbara McClintock

• Nora Lilian Alcock (1874–1972), British plant pathologist
• Alice Alldredge, (1949-) American oceanographer and researcher of marine snow, discover of Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) and demersal zooplankton
• June Almeida (1930–2007), British virologist
• E. K. Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), Indian botanist
• Yvonne Barr (1932–), British virologist (co-discovery of Epstein-Barr virus)
• Lela Viola Barton (1901–1967), American botanist
• Kathleen Basford (1916–1998), British botanist
• Gillian Bates, British geneticist (Huntington's disease)
• Val Beral (1946–), British–Australian epidemiologist
• Grace Berlin (1897–1982), American ecologist, ornithologist and historian
• Agathe L. van Beverwijk (1907–1963), Dutch mycologist
• Idelisa Bonnelly (1931-), Dominican Republic marine biologist
• Alice Middleton Boring (1883–1955), American biologist
• Annette Frances Braun (1911–1968), American entomologist, expert on microlepidoptera
• Linda B. Buck (1947–), American neuroscientist (Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 for olfactory receptors)
• Hildred Mary Butler (1906–1975), Australian microbiologist
• Esther Byrnes (1867–1946), American biologist and science teacher
• Bertha Cady (1873–1956), American entomologist and educator
• Audrey Cahn (1905–2008) Australian microbiologist and nutritionist
• Eleanor Carothers (1882–1957), American zoologist, geneticist and cytologist
• Rachel Carson (1907–1964), American marine biologist and conservationist
• Edith Katherine Cash (1890–1992), American mycologist and lichenologist
• Martha Chase (1927–2003), American molecular biologist
• Mary-Dell Chilton (1939–), American molecular biologist
• Theresa Clay (1911–1995), English entomologist
• Edith Clements (1874–1971), American botanist and pioneer of botanical ecology
• Elzada Clover (1897–1980), American botanist
• Ursula M. Cowgill, American biologist and anthropologist
• Gerty Theresa Cori (1896–1957), American biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947)
• Suzanne Cory (1942–), Australian immunologist/cancer researcher
• Janet Darbyshire, British epidemiologist
• Gertrude Crotty Davenport (1866–1946), American zoologist and eugenicist
• Sophie Charlotte Ducker (1909–2004), Australian botanist
• Sophia Eckerson (1880–1954), American botanist
• Sylvia Edlund (1945–2014), Canadian botanist
• Charlotte Elliott (1883-1974), American plant physiologist
• Charlotte Cortlandt Ellis (1874–1956), American botanist
• Rhoda Erdmann (1870–1935), German cell biologist
• Katherine Esau (1898–1997), German-American botanist
• Edna H. Fawcett (1879–1960), American botanist
• Catherine Feuillet (1965-), French molecular biologist who was the first scientist to map the wheat chromosome 3B
• Dian Fossey (1932–1985), American zoologist
• Birutė Galdikas (1946–), German primatologist and conservationist
• Margaret Sylvia Gilliland (1917–1990), Australian biochemist
• Jane Goodall (1934–), British biologist, primatologist
• Isabella Gordon (1901–1988), Scottish marine biologist
• Susan Greenfield (1951–), British neurophysiologist (neurophysiology of the brain, popularisation of science)
• Charlotte Elliott (1883–1974), American plant physiologist
• Constance Endicott Hartt (1900–1984), American botanist
• Eliza Amy Hodgson (1888–1983), New Zealand botanist
• Lena B. Smithers Hughes (1905–1987), American botanist, developed strains of the Valencia orange
• Asha V. Kolte, Indian biologist (1941–)
• Marian Koshland (1921–1997), American immunologist
• Frances Adams Le Sueur (1919–1995), British botanist and ornithologist
• Margaret Reed Lewis (1881–1970), American cell biologist and embryologist
• Maria Carmelo Lico (1927–1985), Italo-Argentinian-Brazilian neuroscientist
• Gloria Lim (1930-), Singaporean mycologist, first woman Dean of the Faculty of Science, University of Singapore
• Misha Mahowald (1963–1996), American neuroscientist
• Lynn Margulis (1938–2011), American biologist
• Deborah Martin-Downs, Canadian aquatic biologist, ecologist
• Sara Branham Matthews (1888–1962), American microbiologist
• Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), American geneticist, Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine 1983
• Eileen McCracken (1920–1988), Irish botanist
• Ruth Colvin Starrett McGuire (1893–1950), American plant pathologist
• Anne McLaren (1927–2007), British developmental biologist
• Ethel Irene McLennan (1891–1983), Australian botanist
• Eunice Thomas Miner, American biologist, executive director of the New York Academy of Sciences 1939–1967
• Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012), Italian neurologist (Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine 1986 for growth factors)
• Ann Haven Morgan (1882–1966), American zoologist
• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (1942–), German geneticist and developmental biologist (Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine 1995 forhomeobox genes)
• Ida Shepard Oldroyd (1856–1940), American conchologist
• Daphne Osborne (1930–2006), British plant physiologist (plant hormones)
• Mary Parke (1908–1989), British marine botanist specialising in phycology, the study of algae
• Jane E. Parker (1960– ), British botanist who researches the immune responses of plants
• Eva J. Pell (1948–), American plant pathologist
• Theodora Lisle Prankerd (1878–1939), British botanist
• Joan Beauchamp Procter (1897–1931), British zoologist (herpetologist)
• F. Gwendolen Rees (1906–1994), British parasitologist
• Anita Roberts (1942–2006), American molecular biologist, "mother of TGF-Beta"
• Gudrun Ruud (1882–1958), Norwegian zoologist specializing in embryology
• Idah Sithole-Niang (1957-), biochemist focusing on cowpea production and disease
• Margaret A. Stanley, British virologist and epithelial biologist
• Phyllis Starkey (1947–) British biochemist and medical researcher
• Magda Staudinger (Latvian: Magda Štaudingere) (1902-1997), Latvian-German biologist and chemist
• Sarah Stewart (1905-1976), Mexican American microbiologist (discovered the Polyomavirus)
• Ragnhild Sundby (1922–2006), Norwegian zoologist
• Maria Telkes (1900–1995), Hungarian-American biophysicist
• Lydia Villa-Komaroff (1947–), Mexican American molecular cellular biologist
• Karen Vousden, British cancer researcher
• Elisabeth Vrba, South African paleontologist
• Marvalee Wake (born 1939), American biologist researching limbless amphibians, educator
• Jane C. Wright (1919–2013), American oncologist
• Kono Yasui (1880–1971), Japanese cytologist
• Eleanor Anne Young (1925–2007), American nutritionist and educator

Chemistry

Alice Ball

• Maria Abbracchio, (1956-) Italian pharmacologist who works with purinergic receptors and identified GPR17. On Reuter's most cited list since 2006.
• Barbara Askins (1939-), American chemist
• Alice Ball (1892-1916), American chemist
• Ulrike Beisiegel (1952-), German biochemist, researcher of liver fats and first female president of the University of Göttingen
• Anne Beloff-Chain (1921–1991), British biochemist
• Jeannette Brown (born 1934), medicinal chemist, writer, educator
• Astrid Cleve (1875–1968), Swedish chemist
• Seetha Coleman-Kammula (1950-) Indian chemist and plastics designer, turned environmentalist
• Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934), Polish-French chemist (pioneer in radiology, discovery of polonium and radium), Nobel prize in physics 1903 and Nobel prize in chemistry 1911
• Mary Campbell Dawbarn (1902–1982), Australian biochemist
• Moira Lenore Dynon (1920–1976), Australian chemist
• Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999), American biochemist (Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988 for drug development)
• Rosalind Franklin (1920–1957), British physical chemist and crystallographer
• Ellen Gleditsch (1879–1968), Norwegian radiochemist
• Jenny Glusker (born 1931), British biochemist, educator
• Emīlija Gudriniece (1920-2004), Latvian chemist and academic
• Anna J. Harrison (1912–1998), American organic chemist
• Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994), British crystallographer, Nobel prize in chemistry 1964
• Clara Immerwahr (1870–1915), German chemist
• Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956), French chemist and nuclear physicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935
• Chika Kuroda (1884–1968), Japanese chemist
• Stephanie Kwolek (1923–), American chemist, inventor of Kevlar
• Lidija Liepiņa (1891-1985), Latvian chemist, one of the first Soviet doctorates in chemistry.
• Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), British crystallographer
• Grace Medes (1886–1967), American biochemist
• Maud Menten (1879–1960), Canadian biochemist
• Helen T. Parsons (1886–1977), American biochemist
• Nellie M. Payne (1900–1990), American entomologist and agricultural chemist
• Eva Philbin (1914–2005), Irish chemist
• Darshan Ranganathan (1941-2001), Indian organic chemist
• Mildred Rebstock (1919-2011), American pharmaceutical chemist
• Patsy Sherman (1930-2008), American chemist, co-inventor of Scotchgard
• Marija Šimanska (1922-1995), Latvian chemist
• Ida Noddack Tacke (1896–1978), German chemist and physicist
• Grace Oladunni Taylor, Nigerian chemist 2nd woman inducted into the Nigerian Academy of Science
• Jean Thomas, British biochemist (chromatin)
• Michiyo Tsujimura (1888–1969), Japanese biochemist, agricultural scientist
• Elizabeth Williamson, English pharmacologist and herbalist
• Ada Yonath (1939–), Israeli crystallographer, Nobel prize in Chemistry 2009

Marie Curie

Geology

• Zonia Baber (1862–1955), American geographer and geologist
• Inés Cifuentes (1954–2014), American seismologist and educator
• Moira Dunbar (1918–1999), Scottish-Canadian glaciologist
• Elizabeth F. Fisher (1872-1941), American geologist
• Winifred Goldring (1888-1971), American paleontologist
• Eileen Hendriks (1887–1978), British geologist
• Dorothée Le Maître (1896–1990), French paleontologist
• Karen Cook McNally (1940–2014), American seismologist
• Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) Danish seismologist who discovered Earth’s solid inner core
• Marcia McNutt (1951– ), American geophysicist
• Ellen Louise Mertz (1896–1987), Danish engineering geologist
• Ruth Schmidt (1916–2014), American geologist
• Ethel Shakespear (1871–1946), English geologist
• Kathleen Sherrard (1898–1975), Australian geologist and palaeontologist
• Marjorie Sweeting (1920–1994), British geomorphologist
• Marie Tharp (1920–2006), American geologist and oceanographic cartographer
• Elsa G. Vilmundardóttir (1932–2008), Iceland's first female geologist
• Marguerite Williams (1895-?), American geologist
• Alice Wilson (1881-1964), Canadian geologist and paleontologist
• Elizabeth A. Wood (1912–2006), American crystallographer and geologist

Mathematics or computer science

• Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854–1923), British mathematician and electrical engineer (electric arcs, sand ripples, invention of several devices, geometry)
• Anita Borg (1949–2003), American computer scientist, founder of the Institute for Women and Technology
• Mary L. Cartwright (1900–1998), British mathematician
• Amanda Chessell, British computer scientist
• Ingrid Daubechies (1954–), Belgian mathematician (Wavelets - first woman to receive the National Academy of Sciences Award in Mathematics)
• Tatjana Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa (1876–1964), Russian/Dutch mathematician
• Deborah Estrin (1959–), American computer scientist
• Vera Faddeeva (Russian: Вера Николаевна Фаддеева) (1906-1983), Russian mathematician. One of the first to publish works on linear algebra.
• Evelyn Boyd Granville (1924–), American mathematician, second African-American woman to get a Ph.D. in mathematics
• Marion Cameron Gray (1902–1979), Scottish mathematician
• Frances Hardcastle (1866–1941), mathematician, founding member of the American Mathematical Society.
• Grace Hopper (1906–1992), American computer scientist
• Margarete Kahn (1880-1942), German mathematician
• Lyudmila Keldysh (1904-1976) Russia mathematician known for set theory and geometric topology
• Marguerite Lehr (1898–1987), American mathematician
• Margaret Anne LeMone (born 1946), mathematician and atmospheric scientist
• Barbara Liskov (1939–), American computer scientist for whom the Liskov substitution principle is named
• Margaret Millington (1944–1973), English mathematician
• Mangala Narlikar (graduated 1962), Indian mathematician
• Rózsa Péter (1905–1977), Hungarian mathematician
• Dorothy Maud Wrinch (1894–1976), British mathematician and theoretical biochemist
• Yelena Saparina Russian scientist and writer.
• Jeannette Wing, computer scientist, Microsoft Corporate Vice President

Science education

• Kathleen Jannette Anderson (1927 - 2002), Scottish biologist
• Susan Blackmore (1951–), British science writer (memetics, evolutionary theory, consciousness, parapsychology)
• Florence Annie Yeldham (1877 – 1945), British school teacher and historian of arithmetic

Engineering

• Kate Gleason (1865–1933), American engineer
• Frances Hugle (1927 – 1968), American engineer
• Maria Tereza Jorge Pádua (born 1943), Brazilian ecologist
• Mary Olliden Weaver (20th century), inventor of the "super slurper," a starch graft polymer

Medicine

• Phyllis Margery Anderson (1901–1957), Australian pathologist
• Virginia Apgar (1909–1974) American obstetrical anesthesiologist (inventor of the Apgar score)
• Anna Baetjer (1899 –1984), American physiologist and toxicologist
• Roberta Bondar (1945-), Canadian, space medicine
• Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919–2004), American surgeon
• Audrey Cahn (1905–2008), Australian nutritionist and microbiologist
• Margaret Chan (1947–), Chinese-Canadian health administrator; director of the World Health Organization
• Evelyn Stocking Crosslin (1919–1991), American physician
• Eleanor Davies-Colley (1874–1934), British surgeon (first female FRCS)
• Claire Fagin (1926-), American health-care researcher
• Esther Greisheimer (1891–1982), American academic and medical researcher
• L. Ruth Guy (1913–2006), American academic and pathologist
• Karen C. Johnson (1955-) American physician and clinical trials specialist who is one of Reuter's most cited scientists
• Mary Jeanne Kreek (born 1937), American neurobiologist
• Elise L'Esperance (1878–1958), American pathologist
• Elaine Marjory Little (1884–1974), Australian pathologist
• Anna Suk-Fong Lok, Chinese/American hepatologist, wrote WHO and AASLD guidelines for emerging countries and liver disease
• Eleanor Josephine Macdonald (1906–2007) pioneer American cancer epidemiologist and cancer researcher
• Catharine Macfarlane (1877-1969), American obstetrician and gynecologist
• Louisa Martindale (1872–1966), British surgeon
• Helen Mayo (1878–1967), Australian doctor and pioneer in preventing infant mortality
• Frances Gertrude McGill (1877–1959), Canadian forensic pathologist
• Eleanor Montague (born 1926), American radiologist and radiotherapist
• Anne B. Newman (1955- ), US Geriatrics & Gerontology expert
• Antonia Novello (1944-), Puerto Rican physician and Surgeon General of the United States
• Dorothea Orem (1914-2007), Nursing theorist
• Ida Ørskov (1922–2007), Danish bacteriologist
• May Owen (1892-1988), Texas pathologist, discovered talcum powder used on surgical gloves caused infection and peritoneal scarring
• Angeliki Panajiotatou (1875-1954), Greek physician and microbiologist
• Kathleen I. Pritchard (1956-), Canadian oncologist, breast cancer researcher and noted as one of Reuter's most cited scientists.
• Frieda Robscheit-Robbins (1888-1973), German-American pathologist
• Una Ryan, (1941) Malaysian born-American, heart disease researcher, biotech vaccine and diagnostics maker/marketer
• Una M. Ryan, (1966) patented DNA test identifying the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium
• Lise Thiry (born 1921), Belgian virologist, senator
• Helen Rodríguez Trías (1929-2001), Puerto Rican American pediatrician and advocate for women's reproductive rights
• Marie Stopes (1880-1958) British paleobotanist and pioneer in birth control
• Elizabeth M. Ward, American epidemiologist and head of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Research Department of the American Cancer Society
• Elsie Widdowson (1908–2000), British nutritionist
• Fiona Wood, (1958–), British-Australian plastic surgeon

Paleoanthropology

• Mary Leakey (1913–1996), British paleoanthropologist
• Suzanne LeClercq (1901-?), Belgian paleobotanist and paleontologist

Physics

Maria Goeppert-Mayer

• Faye Ajzenberg-Selove (1926–), American nuclear physicist, (2007 US National Medal of Science)
• Betsy Ancker-Johnson (1929–), American plasma physicist
• Milla Baldo-Ceolin (1924–2011), Italian particle physicist
• Marietta Blau (1894–1970), German experimental particle physicist
• Lili Bleeker (1897-1985), Dutch physicist
• Katharine Blodgett (1898–1979), American thin-film physicist
• Christiane Bonnelle, French spectroscopist
• Sonja Ashauer (1923–1948), first Brazilian woman to earn a doctorate in physics
• Tatiana Birshtein (born 1928), molecular scientist specializing in the physics of polymers
• Margrete Heiberg Bose (1866–1952), Danish physicist (active in Argentina from 1909)
• Jenny Rosenthal Bramley (1909–1997), Lithuanian-American physicist,
• Harriet Brooks (1876–1933), Canadian radiation physicist
• A. Catrina Bryce (1956–), Scottish laser scientist
• Nina Byers (1930–2014), American physicist
• Yvette Cauchois (1908–1999), French physicist
• Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat (1923–), French theoretical physicist
• Patricia Cladis (1937–), Canadian/American physicist
• Esther Conwell (1922–), American physicist, semiconductors
• Cécile DeWitt-Morette (1922–), French mathematician and physicist
• Louise Dolan, American mathematical physicist, theoretical particle physics and superstring theory
• Nancy M. Dowdy (1938–), Nuclear physicist, arms control
• Mildred Dresselhaus (1930–), American physicist, graphite, graphite intercalation compounds, fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and low-dimensional thermoelectrics
• Helen T. Edwards (1936–), American physicist, Tevatron
• Magda Ericson (1929–), French nuclear physicist
• Ursula Franklin (1921–), Canadian metallurgist, research physicist, author and educator
• Judy Franz (1938–), American physicst and educator
• Joan Maie Freeman (1918–1998), Australian physicist
• Phyllis S. Freier (1921–1992), American astrophysicist
• Mary K. Gaillard (1939–), American theoretical physicist
• Fanny Gates (1872–1931), American physicist
• Claire F. Gmachl, American physicist
• Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972), German-American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics 1963
• Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911–1998), American nuclear physicist
• Sulamith Goldhaber (1923–1965), American high-energy physicist and molecular spectroscopist
• Gail Hanson (1947–), American high-energy physicist
• Margrete Heiberg Bose (1866–1952), Danish/Argentine physicist
• Evans Hayward (1922–), American physicist
• Caroline Herzenberg (1932–), American physicist
• Hanna von Hoerner (1942–2014), German astrophysicist
• Shirley Jackson (1946–), American nuclear physicist, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from M.I.T.
• Bertha Swirles Jeffreys (1903–1999), British physicist
• Lorella M. Jones (1943–1995), American particle physicist [1]
• Carole Jordan (1941–), British solar physicist
• Renata Kallosh (1943–), Russian/American theoretical physicist
• Berta Karlik (1904–1990), Austrian physicist
• Bruria Kaufman (1918–2010)
• Elizaveta Karamihailova (1897-1968), Bulgarian nuclear physicist
• Marcia Keith (1859–1950)
• Ann Kiessling (1942–)
• Margaret G. Kivelson (1928–)
• Noemie Benczer Koller (1933–)
• Ninni Kronberg (1874-1946), Swedish physiologist in nutrition
• Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf (1922–2010)
• Elizabeth Laird (physicist) (1874–1969)
• Juliet Lee-Franzini (1933–2014)
• Inge Lehmann (1888–1993), Danish seismologist and geophysicist
• Kathleen Lonsdale (1903–1971)
• Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860–1944), American physicist
• Helen Megaw (1907–2002)
• Mileva Maric (1875-1948), Serbian physicist, first wife of Albert Einstein
• Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian nuclear physicist (pioneering nuclear physics, discovery of nuclear fission, protactinium, and the Auger effect)
• Kirstine Meyer (1861–1941)
• Luise Meyer-Schutzmeister (1915–1981)
• Anna Nagurney Canadian-born, US operations researcher/management scientist focusing on networks
• Chiara Nappi, Italian American physicist
• Ann Nelson (1958–), American physicist
• Marcia Neugebauer,
• Gertrude Neumark (1927–2010)
• Ida Tacke Noddack (1896–1979)

Emmy Noether

• Emmy Noether (1882–1935), German mathematician and theoretical physicist (symmetries and conservation laws)
• Marguerite Perey (1909–1975)
• Melba Phillips (1907–2004)
• Agnes Pockels (1862–1935)
• Pelageya Polubarinova-Kochina (1899–1999), Russian physicist
• Edith Quimby (1891–1982)
• Helen Quinn (1943–), American particle physicist
• Lisa Randall (1962–), American physicist
• Myriam Sarachik (1933–), American physicist
• Bice Sechi-Zorn (1928–1984), Italian/American nuclear physicist
• Anneke Levelt Sengers (born 1929), Dutch physicist specializing in the critical states of fluids
• Johanna Levelt Sengers, Dutch/American physicist
• Hertha Sponer (1895–1968), German/American physicist and chemist
• Isabelle Stone (1868–1944), American thin-film physicist and educator
• Edith Anne Stoney (1869-1938), Anglo-Irish medical physicist
• Katharine Way (1903–1995), American nuclear physicist
• Mariana Weissmann (born 1933) Argentine physicist,computational physics of condensed matter
• Lucy Wilson (1888-1980) American physicist, working on optics and perception
• Leona Woods (1919–1986), American nuclear physicist
• Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997), Chinese-American physicist (nuclear physics, (non) conservation of parity)
• Sau Lan Wu, Chinese-American particle physicist
• Xide Xie (Hsi-teh Hsieh) (1921–2000), Chinese physicist
• Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921–2011), American medical physicist (Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 1977 for radioimmunoassay)
• Fumiko Yonezawa (born 1938), Japanese theoretical physicist
• Toshiko Yuasa (1909–1980), Japanese nuclear physicist

Psychology

• Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999), American-Canadian developmental psychologist, inventor of the "Strange Situation" procedure
• Martha E. Bernal (1931-2001), Mexican-American clinical psychologist, first Latina to receive a psychology PhD in the United States
• Lera Boroditsky, American psychologist
• Mamie Clark (1917–1983), African-American psychologist active in the civil rights movement
• Helen Flanders Dunbar (1902–1959) important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine
• Tsuruko Haraguchi (1886–1915), Japanese psychologist
• Margaret Kennard (1899–1975) did pioneering research on age effects on brain damage, which produced early evidence for neuroplasticity
• Grace Manson (1893–1967), occupational psychologist
• Rosalie Rayner (1898–1935), American psychology researcher
• Marianne Simmel (1923–2010), American psychologist, made important contributions in research on social perception and phantom limb.
• Davida Teller (1938–2011), American psychologist, known for work on development of the visual system in infants.
• Nora Volkow (1956-), Mexican-American psychiatrist, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Margo Wilson (1945–2009), Canadian evolutionary psychologist
• Catherine G. Wolf (1947–), American psychologist and expert in human-computer interaction

See also

• Index of women scientists articles
• List of female mathematicians
• List of female Nobel laureates
• Women in computing
• Women in engineering
• Women in geology
• Women in medicine

References

• Alic, Margaret (1986). Hypatia's heritage : a history of women in science from antiquity through the nineteenth century. Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807067314. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Byers, Nina. "Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics". UCLA. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
• Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1986). Women scientists from antiquity to the present : an index : an international reference listing and biographical directory of some notable women scientists from ancient to modern times. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press. ISBN 0-933951-01-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Howard, Sethanne (2006). The hidden giants. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1430300762. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Howes, Ruth H.; Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1999). Their day in the sun : women of the Manhattan Project. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press. ISBN 1-56639-719-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in science : antiquity through the nineteenth century : a biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography (3. print. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-15031-X. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rayner-Canham, Marelene; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2001). Women in chemistry : their changing roles from alchemical times to the mid-twentieth century. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation. ISBN 978-0941901277. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Stevens, Gwendolyn; Gardner, Sheldon (1982). The women of psychology. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman. ISBN 9780870734434. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Walsh, James J. (2014). "VIII. Medieval Women Physicians". Old-Time Makers of Medicine The Students and Teachers of Medicine During the Middle Ages. Auckland: The Floating Press. pp. 150–169. ISBN 9781776530236. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Yount, Lisa (2007). A to Z of Women in Science and Math (Rev. ed.). New York: Infobase Pub. ISBN 9781438107950. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

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)

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.