Famous Female Scientists Every Kid Should Know

There are many famous female scientists in the world. Whether they played an important role in history or continue to make discoveries today, women in science history give us plenty to celebrate. It’s vital that we recognize the contributions of female inventors, doctors, and chemists to the world of science. One way of doing this is through teaching children about these famous female scientists. Science has long been a male-dominated field, but that is slowly beginning to change. So, without further ado, here is our list of some of the most important girls in science to inspire kids, as well as some fun facts about female scientists.

Female Scientists Who Changed The World

1. Marie Curie
Who was the first female chemist in the world? Who was the first female inventor? One name typically comes to mind whenever the topic of famous female scientists comes up, and that is Marie Curie. Not only was Marie Curie the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903 (a joint award Henri Becquerel) for her work on radiation, but she is well known for her work in chemistry too. In fact, she also won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1911, becoming the first person to ever win the prestigious award twice – and in two different fields nonetheless!

She is credited with discovering two elements, polonium and radium, and for helping us understand more about radioactivity. As well as this, Marie Curie played a vital role in medical treatment during World War I, using her findings to create X-ray machines to diagnose and treat injured soldiers.

2. Mary Anning
Mary Anning was a pioneering paleontologist. Born in 1799, she is credited with the discovery of several dinosaur fossils, including the first full ichthyosaur and pterosaur skeletons – the former when she was a mere 12 years old! Her excavations were largely undertaken in Southwest England and taught the following generations a lot about the role of evolution in world history.

Unfortunately, Mary Anning struggled for most of her life with receiving adequate exposure and recognition of her achievements. However, after her death, she became much more famous, and nowadays, we realize her incredible discoveries and their impact on our knowledge of prehistoric life.

3. Alice Ball
Alice Ball may not be one of the most famous Black female scientists in the field of chemistry due to her untimely death and lack of credit for her discoveries, but she played an incredibly important role in scientific history in the early twentieth century. Not only was she the first female and African American Master’s student to graduate at the now-University of Hawaii, but she developed an injectable treatment for leprosy that helped treat many sufferers of the disease.

Sadly, Alice Ball passed away at the very young age of 24, but her findings live on and have arguably paved the way for modern leprosy treatments. The “Ball Method” of leprosy treatment involved the injection of modified Chaulmoogra oil. It was effective in relieving the symptoms of many sufferers and was commonly used until the mid-twentieth century, when it was replaced with antibiotics.

4. Tiera Guinn Fletcher
Tiera Guinn started making waves as a celebrated scientist at 21 years of age while

she was a senior at MIT. An incredibly talented scientist, she has a 5.0 GPA and literally studied

rocket science! She works for Boeing as an aerospace engineer and is helping to build and

design the Space Launch System for NASA for transport to and from Mars.

Along with her husband, who also works for Boeing, she has also done important work in promoting diversity in the field of STEM education and employment. Her work has earned her numerous accolades and awards and she has been a keynote speaker at several important conferences.

5. Jane Goodall
Dr. Jane Goodall is one of the most famous primatologists in the world. In 1960, at the young age of 26, she traveled to Tanzania to study chimpanzees. Her important fieldwork among the primates of the Gombe forest led to many discoveries about the relationships between chimpanzees, and their link to humans. She also learned that chimpanzees use tools in their daily lives, which was unknown up until that point.

Aside from her work as a scientist in the field, she plays an important role in conservationism through the Jane Goodall Institute, which she founded in the 1970s. Her scientific findings are incredibly important to this day, as is her peacekeeping and conservation work.

6. Raven Baxter
Raven Baxter, also known as “Raven the Science Maven”, is a famous molecular biologist and one of the most famous Black female scientists in the modern world. Well-known for her work in STEM education, she also founded the “Black in Science Communication” group, which connects Black science communicators.

Raven works with, and/or has been interviewed by, numerous high-profile celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg and Jada Pinkett-Smith. She is very successful in her field and was even featured in the prestigious “Forbes 30 Under 30” list for 2022. Certainly a woman to watch in the world of science!

We hope you’ve found this list of female scientists who changed the world inspiring and thought-provoking. Who knows – perhaps this list will be the inspiration for your kid to follow in their footsteps…!

 

Featured image by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash