15 Female Scientists Who Changed the World

The Medical Small Business Blog

According to the National Science Foundation, in 2006 50 percent of students who enroll in graduate courses in science or engineering are women. However, these results fall when compared to the real world. Between 2000 and 2005, only 27 percent of women are employed by the computer field, a leading employer of such graduates.
Could this be due to the previous lack of women engaging in the scientific field? While there were definitely barriers in the past that prevented women from obtaining an education and going into the workforce, things are different today. Yet we still recognize the many men who have throughout the course of science made amazing breakthroughs while neglecting the women.
To that end, we have gathered the top 15 female scientists who changed the world. It includes some of which contributed in the early days of science and some who still practice today.
Past Female Scientists Who Changed the World
Ranging from Egyptian times to the twentieth century, the world would not be the same without the contributions of these female scientists.

1. Marie Curie : Together with her husband, they performed ground breaking and risky procedures in their laboratory. On the heels of the discovery of radiation by Henri Becquerel in 1896, she developed ways to separate radium from radiation leading to many current practices, including chemotherapy. Later in life, she became the Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris. For her work, she was awarded various prizes, including the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 and again for chemistry in 1911.
2. Ada Byron, : Also known as Lady Lovelace, she was the daughter of world renowned poet, Lord Byron. Although she strived to be an analyst and metaphysician, her father’s gift of imagination and creativity led her to see the then Analytical Engine as something far more profound. After her translation of the engines creator’s work took on a life of its own, she suggested a plan for how the engine could calculate Bernoulli numbers. This plan, developed in 1843, would then be regarded as the first ever computer program.
3. Rosalind Franklin : Born in Great Britain in 1920, Rosalind decided to be a scientist at the age of 15. However, she hit a speed bump when her father refused to pay for higher education, believing women were unfit for it. With some prodding from family members, Rosalind was finally able to go where she was able to assist in making amazing breakthroughs in DNA research. She was able to adjust x-ray equipment to produce a fine beam and extract DNA fibers like never before. Unfortunately, her life was cut short at the age 37 by ovarian cancer. But her name and work still live on the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Illinois.

Full Story: http://www.ekgclasses.org/15-female-scientists-who-changed-the-world/

Time Crunch for Female Scientists: They Do More Housework Than Men

The Chronicle of Higher Education
January 19, 2010

When the biologist Carol W. Greider received a call from Stockholm last fall telling her she had won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, she wasn't working in her lab at the Johns Hopkins University. The professor of molecular biology and genetics was at home, folding laundry.
Ms. Greider does many of the household chores, but she isn't alone. A number of her female colleagues also do more around the house than their male partners.
"It is not just housework. For women with kids, it is all the other stuff: scheduling sports and play dates, play dates, remembering all of the calendar events for the whole family," said Ms. Greider, who has two school-age children.
A new study from the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender and Research at Stanford University has found that female scientists do 54 percent of their core household tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry—about twice as much as their male counterparts. (Paid help and children made up some of the difference.) The results reinforce the findings of other studies. Most important, they indicate that women often have more obligations at home and lower retention rates in their fields.
The study, "Housework Is an Academic Issue," found that women's academic rank had little impact on their household-chore percentage; senior and junior faculty members put in similar hours. Women also worked at their paying jobs about 56 hours a week, almost the same number of hours as men do.

Full Story: http://chronicle.com/article/Female-Scientists-Do-More/63641/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en (Subscription may be required)