In a bid to give women scientists other than Marie Curie the recognition they’re too often denied, science editor Melissa Vaught asked for contributions to a Twitter hashtag, #BeyondMarieCurie, listing women with noteworthy achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Here’s the first version of the list:
I suggested a few other names that weren’t already there:
Some others: Annie Jump Cannon, who created the stellar classification we still use: http://t.co/34sB4ARX36 #BeyondMarieCurie @biochembelle
— Adam Lee (@DaylightAtheism) May 15, 2015
Henrietta Swan Leavitt, whose work made it possible to measure galactic distances: http://t.co/AYKilXu2CH #BeyondMarieCurie @biochembelle
— Adam Lee (@DaylightAtheism) May 15, 2015
Marie Tharp, whose ocean-floor maps were key evidence for plate tectonics: http://t.co/OLvYmU7WuI #BeyondMarieCurie @biochembelle
— Adam Lee (@DaylightAtheism) May 15, 2015
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered pulsars and was cheated out of a Nobel for it: http://t.co/Y61p85OgS2 #BeyondMarieCurie @biochembelle
— Adam Lee (@DaylightAtheism) May 15, 2015
Fabiola Gianotti, helped discover the Higgs, first female director-general of CERN: http://t.co/QmEsV7MksF #BeyondMarieCurie @biochembelle
— Adam Lee (@DaylightAtheism) May 15, 2015
There are, of course, plenty of other names that could be included – I’d also suggest Vera Rubin, whose work on galaxy rotation rates was the first clue to the existence of dark matter, and Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut. Who else deserves to be mentioned?