Life in academia isn’t always easy for women, but despite difficulties, these ladies continue to make incredible contributions to the world of knowledge and education. Female scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, and even poet laureates offer inspiration for aspiring academics – be they women or men.
- Emilie du Chatelet: Although she grew up in 18th century Paris in a household where courting was the only way to enter society, Emilie showed academic promise very early. Even as a married woman with three children and a full social life, she was able to continue her studies in mathematics, working for a period with Voltaire, and later with Pierre Louis de Maupertuis. Her achievements included her book, Institutions du physique, and a translation of Newton’s Principia, along with her work that shaped the course of mathematics.
- Margaret Mead: Arguably the most renowned anthropologist of all time, Margaret Mead made major contributions to the discipline. Her oeuvre includes more than 1,000 articles and 44 books, which were translated into multiple languages. Margaret’s work was important not only within the academy of anthropology, but also to thousands outside of the subject, touched by her field experience. A recipient of multiple awards and positions, she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously.
- Marie Curie: Nobel Prizewinner Marie Curie started out with local schooling and scientific training courtesy of her father. While studying at the Sorbonne, she met Piere Curie, a professor in the School of Physics, whom she married. In his death, she succeeded his position as the Professor of General Physics in the Faculty of Sciences, as well as the Director of the Curie Laboratory in the Radium Institute of the University of Paris. Marie Curie’s major contribution focused on the use of radium to alleviate suffering. She has numerous awards, including two Nobel Prizes, one for physics and the other Chemistry.
- Germaine Greer: Germaine Greer is regarded as an important voice in late 20th century feminism. She is not only an academic, but a writer and journalist. She is the author of a controversial book, The Female Eunuch, which became an international bestseller in 1970. Her focus is on women’s liberation as distinct from equality with men and embracing gender differences. Greer is Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of Warwick.
- Maya Angelou: Dr. Angelou is known as a Renaissance woman, working as a writer, educator, activist and artist. She dropped out of school to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor, later returning to finish and even giving birth to her son shortly after graduation. Although a young single mother, she was not held back, touring Europe with a production of Porgy and Bess and recording her first album before she was 30. She served as editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, and taught at the University of Ghana’s School of Music and Drama. A committed activist, Angelou worked with Malcolm X as well as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She has published more than 30 bestselling titles, including the autobiographical I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Her honors include serving on two presidential committees and the Presidential Medal of Arts, as well as over 30 honorary degrees. She is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
- Lise Meitner: Although she is often celebrated as the "mother of the atomic bomb," Lise Meitner didn’t have a role in its creation. Rather, she is the uncredited creator of the first theoretical explanation of the fission process. She was overlooked in the Nobel Prize awarded to Otto Hahn for the discovery of nuclear fission. Despite this mistake, Lise Meitner made incredible contributions as a collaborator and scientist in the field of nuclear physics.
- Carol Ann Duffy: Carol Ann Duffy is the first female Poet Laureate, a long-awaited acknowledgment that she was reluctant to accept as a mother in a lesbian relationship. She is not only the first woman to hold Britain’s Poet Laureate position, but also the first Scot and the first openly bisexual person with the honor as well. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Bestowed with numerous awards, she also holds honorary doctorates from several universities, and is a recipient of the T.S. Eliot Prize.
- Sophie Germain: Sophie Germain’s love for numbers was too much for the ladies’ math books of her time, and she quickly moved on to more advanced studies, teaching herself number theory, calculus and the works of Newton and Euler. Her father offered support, funding her research, and provided the only encouragement that she received in her early years. Wanting to join the new Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, an academy only open to men, Sophie Germain studied by assuming a former student’s identity, that of Monsieur Antoine-August Le Blanc. She stayed under the radar until her brilliance was noticed and discovered by Joseph-Louis Lagrange, one of the finest mathematicians in the 19th century. Upon meeting Sophie in her true identity, Lagrange adopted her as a mentor and friend. She continued her work, becoming interested in Fermat’s Last Theorem. She made a breakthrough and went to the greatest number theorist in the world, Carl Friedrich Gauss, for consultation, and maintained correspondence with him. Her work with Fermat’s Last Theorem was her greatest contribution, and others were able to build upon her work. For her work, she received a medal from the Institut de France, and was the first woman to attend lectures at the Academy of Sciences on her own merit.
- Judith Butler: As a philosopher, Judith Butler has contributed to queer theory, feminism, ethics, and more. She has taught at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley, and Columbia University. Butler is the recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award for her contributions.
- Ada Byron: Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, translated Menabrea’s Italian works on the idea for a calculating engine, adding her own notes, which made the article triple in length. This was done while she was married and the mother of three children under eight. The plan that she worked on is regarded as the first computer program, and the US Department of Defense named a software language Ada in her honor.
- Rear Admiral Grace Hopper: Grace Hopper’s resume includes work with the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), an appointment as a research fellow on the Harvard faculty and the Eckert-Mauchly Corporation. She is regarded as an important "futurist" in the world of computing. Her best known contribution was the invention of the compiler, which translates English instructions into a computer’s language, which led to the development of COBOL.
- Onora O’Neill: This Cambridge philosopher has worked on issues including stem-cell research, freedom of speech, and euthanasia. She is both philosopher and politician, working as a professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, as well as a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
- Sofia Kovalesvskaya: At a young age, Sofia was attracted to mathematics, so intense that her father put a stop to her overwhelmingly math-centric studies. She responded by borrowing a copy of Bourdeu’s Algebra to read while her family slept. Sofia earned a summa cum laude doctorate from Gottingen University, but was unable to obtain an academic position, as her female status was a handicap. She taught arithmetic to elementary school girls instead. She was able to obtain a position as a private docent in Stockholm, and was appointed to a five year extraordinary professorship, later becoming one of the first women to hold a chair at a European university. Her most important research was believed to be during her years at Stockholm, teaching analysis and working as an editor of Acta Mathematica.
- Emmy Noether: Best known for her work in abstract algebra and particularly chain conditions on ideals of rings, Emmy started out teaching French and English to young women. She decided to take math classes at the University of Erlangen, where her brother studied and her father taught, and although due to her female status, she was not allowed to take classes, she sat in on them, and then passed the exam that made it possible for her to become a doctoral student in mathematics. Upon graduation, she worked with her father doing research, teaching classes, and publishing papers. She was asked to become a part of the faculty at the University of Gottingen, although she was not paid for her work until three years later. Many of her students went on to become great mathematicians. Emmy then worked at Bryn Mawr College until her death. Her contributions included work in abstract algebra, with over 40 papers in her lifetime, and her important work as an inspirational teacher in the field of mathematics.
- Shere Hite: Shere Hite is a sex educator and feminist. Her field of research pertains to feminism and sexology, building upon the biological studies of sex by Alfred Kinsey and Masters and Johnson. Her most important research has focused on understanding sexual experience and meaning. Hite’s studies indicated that most women do not have orgasms from intercourse alone.
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