Hello learner, welcome back to our series of blogs called “Empowered women, empowering women.”
In this one, we are talking about empowering and inspiring women in science. Women have been an integral part of the science community and have made significant contributions to almost every other field.
In the field of science, women have made significant contributions. Science is said to be a predominantly male-dominated field, but women have proven themselves here too. In this blog, we’ll be taking you through the journeys of some legendary women in the field of science.
Allow me to begin with –
Marie Curie
Marie Curie was a great physicist and chemist. Her significant accomplishments include the discovery of radioactivity. She also invented the first-ever mobile x-ray unit. The unit was supposedly used in the First World War. Not only that, but she also was the first woman to receive Nobel Awards in the field of sciences, once for physics and then for chemistry.
We are nothing but proud and greatly influenced by such iconic people.
Astonishing Facts about the incredible Marie Curie –
- Due to the lack of schools that provided women education, Marie had to look for alternative methods of education.
- Marie is said to be the only person to win Nobel prizes in two different sciences.
- It is claimed that Marie Curie’s notebooks and workbooks are still radioactive.
- Marie Curie also made a massive contribution by adding two new elements to the periodic table.
Let’s look at another famous chemist –
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin was a British biophysicist who also studied DNA. Franklin is widely known for her work in x-ray diffraction. After finishing her work in the field of DNA, she pioneered in the field of research.
Rosalind and her history with the Nobel Prize.
It became an integral part of the news and spread worldwide when Franklin was not awarded the Nobel Prize even though her work held substantial value. Instead, her team member who continued the research won it. Despite being denied the Nobel Prize, her contributions were undoubtedly very significant.
Astonishing facts about Rosalind Franklin –
- It is said that Rosalind Franklin has an asteroid named after her.
- Rosalind Franklin had to go through a lot of gender discrimination issues all her life, such that even her college refused to acknowledge her scholastic achievements for years. This also included her male colleagues undermining her research.
- It is said that Franklin also had a significant contribution in x-ray and radiations which led her to health problems and, sadly, her death as well.
Another woman scientist who is undoubtedly changing the world is –
Sunetra Gupta
She’s a Calcutta-born, UK-based scientist specializing in the study of infectious disease agents that cause bigger problems like HIV, malaria, and other diseases. During the pandemic, her response to the problem was quick and commendable. She has also received the 2009 Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award, which is honestly such a massive achievement. We all surely look up to her.
However, in times of the pandemic, Sunetra Gupta was all over the news for sharing her opinions on “anti-lockdown.” She believed that the costs that came along with it were too high and unreasonable.
Next up, another famous and inspiring woman of science is –
Dr. Swati Mohan
She’s an Indian-American aerospace scientist and engineer who led the NASA Mars Mission of 2020. It was an absolute honor to see put her life and soul into this mission and see her thrilled moments of perseverance. Honestly, all of us, Indians, are so proud of her. In her conversations with various sources, she also mentioned the difficulties she faced during the mission. Dr. Mohan also spoke about how surreal the whole mission felt. After Kalpana Chawla, she has given hope to umpteen girls’ dreams and strength to many aspiring women.
Swati Mohan immigrated to the US from India at the age of 1. She was highly inspired by Star Trek at 9, earned a BS from Cornell in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and an MS and Ph.D. from MIT in aeronautics. In her childhood days, she was bullied for wearing a bindi. However, today she is proudly flaunting her cultural heritage at NASA.
Chitra Srinivasan
One of the most influential engineers named under the UK’s top 50 women in engineering for 2020. She has been in charge of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. She has been a significant part of the team working towards developing fusion energy as a carbon-free electricity source. Srinivasan has also stated in her interviews that she is passionate about her project.
For as long as I can remember, women have continued to pave their paths in as many professions and fields as possible. Women have now been in pace with coding, teaching, learning, analyzing, and so much more. They are fully capable of leading big projects and taking full-time care of them, and of course, bringing laurels of success. They also have built up the ability to produce solutions to a complex problems.
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