List of female scientists before the 20th century

Summary

This is a historical list, intended to deal with the time period where it is believed that women working in science were rare. For this reason, this list ends with the 20th century.

Antiquity edit

 
Hypatia by Julia Cameron
  • Aemilia (c. 300 CE–363 CE), Gallo-Roman physician
  • Aglaonike (2nd century BCE), woman astronomer in Ancient Greece
  • Agnodike (4th century BCE), first woman physician to practice legally in Athens[1]: 2 
  • Andromache (mid-6th century), Egyptian physician[2]: 39 
  • Arete of Cyrene (5th–4th centuries BCE), Greek natural and moral philosopher
  • Artemisia of Caria (c. 300 BCE), botanist
  • Aspasia the Physician (fl. 1st century CE), Greek physician
  • Aurelia Alexandria Zosime, Ancient Roman physician[3]
  • Chun Yuyan (1st century BCE), Chinese obstetrician and gynecologist
  • Cleopatra the Alchemist (c. 3rd century CE), wrote the alchemical book, Chrysopoeia, or "gold-making"[4]: 99 [5]
  • Damo (6th century BCE), Greek natural philosopher
  • Diotima of Mantinea (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist, ancient Greece
  • Eccello of Lucania (5th or 4th century BCE), Greek/Italian mathematician and natural philosopher[2]: 396 
  • Echecratia the Philiasian (5th century BCE), Greek/Italian mathematician and natural philosopher[2]: 397 
  • Elephantis (1st century BCE), Greek physician
  • Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE), Sumerian/Akkadian astronomer and poet
  • Fabiola (died 399 CE), Roman physician
  • Fang (first century BCE), Chinese chemist
  • Favilla (2nd century), Roman physician[2]: 436 
  • Gargi Vachaknavi (7th century BCE), Indian philosopher
  • Gu Bao (4th century), Chinese physician
  • Hypatia (370–415 CE), mathematician and astronomer, Egypt[1]: 137 
  • Laïs (c. 1st/2nd century BCE), midwife[2]: 735 [6]
  • Lais of Corinth, Ancient Greek physician[3]
  • Leoparda (4th century CE), gynecologist
  • Macrina (4th century CE), Greek physician and nun[2]: 828 
  • Marcella (4th century CE), Roman healer[2]: 841 
  • Mary the Jewess (1st or 2nd century CE), alchemist[4]: 128 
  • Melissa (3rd century BCE), Greek philosopher
  • Metrodora (c. 200–400 CE), Greek physician and author
  • Minucia Asste, Ancient Roman physician [3]
  • Myia (5th century BCE), Greek philosopher
  • Nicerata (c. 5th century), physician and healer
  • Occello of Lucania (4th or 5th century BCE), Greek natural philosopher and mathematician[2]: 957 
  • Olympias of Thebes (1st century BCE), Greek midwife[2]: 962 
  • Origenia (2nd century CE), Greek healer[2]: 965 
  • Pao Ku Ko (3rd century CE), Chinese chemist
  • Paphnutia the Virgin (c. 300), Egyptian alchemist[2]: 978 
  • Paula (347–404 CE), Roman healer[2]: 990 
  • Perictione (5th century BCE), Greek philosopher, mother of Plato
  • Panthea, Ancient Greek physician, wife and colleague of Glycon[3]
  • Philinna of Thessaly, Ancient Greek physician[3]
  • Peseshet, Egyptian physician (Fourth Dynasty)
  • Pulcheria (5th century CE), healer[2]: 1059 
  • Pythias of Assos (4th century BCE), marine zoologist
  • Restituta (1st century), Ancient Roman physician [3]
  • Salpe (1st century BCE), Greek midwife
  • Sotira (1st century BCE), Greek physician[2]: 1217–18 
  • Tapputi-Belatekallim (First mentioned in a clay tablet dating to 2000 BCE), Babylonian perfumer, the first person in history recorded as using a chemical process[7]
  • Terentia Prima, Ancient Roman physician[3]
  • Theano (6th century BCE), philosopher, mathematician and physician
  • Thelka, Iranian[2]: 1278 
  • Theosebeia (4th century CE), healer[2]: 1278 
  • Yi Jia (2nd century BCE), Chinese physician

Middle Ages edit

 
Herrad of Landsbert
  • Abella (14th century), Italian physician[8]
  • Adelle of the Saracens (12th century), Italian physician
  • Adelmota of Carrara (14th century), Italian physician
  • Rufaida Al-Aslamia (7th century), Muslim nurse
  • Maesta Antonia (1386–1408), Florentine physician[8]
  • Ameline la Miresse (fl. 1313–1325), French physician[8]
  • Jeanne d'Ausshure (d. 1366), French surgeon[8]
  • Brunetta de Siena (fl. 15th century), Italian-Jewish physician[8]
  • Hildegard of Bingen (1099–1179), German natural philosopher[1]: 126 
  • Sibyl of Benevento, Napolitan physician specializing in the plague buboes[8]
  • Gentile Budrioli (?-1498), Italian astrologer and herbalist
  • Constanza, Italian surgeon,[9] mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.[10]
  • Denice (fl. 1292), French barber-surgeon[8]
  • Demud (fl. ca. 13th century), German physician[11]
  • Dobrodeia of Kiev (fl. 1122), Byzantine physician
  • Dorotea Bucca (fl. 1390), Italian professor of medicine[8]
  • Constance Calenda (15th century), Italian surgeon specializing in diseases of the eye[12][9]
  • Virdimura of Catania (fl. 1376), Jewish-Sicilian physician[8]
  • Caterina of Florence (fl. 1400s), Florentine physician[8]
  • Jeanne de Cusey (fl. 1438), French barber-surgeon[8]
  • Antonia Daniello (fl. 1400), Florentine-Jewish physician[8]
  • Clarice di Durisio (15th century), Italian physician
  • Fava of Manosque (fl. 1322), French-Jewish physician[8]
  • Jacobina Félicie (fl. 1322), Italian physician
  • Francesca, muller de Berenguer Satorra (15th century), Catalan physician [13]
  • Maria Gallicia (fl. 1309), licensed surgeon[8]
  • Bellayne Gallipapa (fl. 1380), Zaragoza, Spanish-Jewish physician[8]
  • Dolcich Gallipapa (fl. 1384), Leyda, Spanish-Jewish physician[8]
  • Na Pla Gallipapa (fl. 1387), Zaragoza, Spanish-Jewish physician[8]
  • Sarah de St Giles (fl. 1326), French-Jewish physician and medical teacher[8]
  • Alessandra Giliani (fl. 1318), Italian anatomist
  • Rebecca de Guarna (fl. 1200), Italian physician[12][9]
  • Magistra Hersend (fl. 1249–1259), French surgeon
  • Maria Incarnata, Italian surgeon,[9] mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.[10]
  • Isabiau la Mergesse (fl. 1292), French-Jewish physician[8]
  • Floreta La-Noga (fl. 1374), Aragonese physician[8]
  • Helvidis (fl. 1176), French physician[8]
  • Keng Hsien-Seng (10th century), Chinese chemist
  • Li Shao Yun (11th century), Chinese chemist
  • Stephanie de Lyon (fl. 1265), French physician[8]
  • Guillemette du Luys (fl. 1479), French royal surgeon[8]
  • Thomasia de Mattio, Italian physician,[9] mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.[10]
  • Margherita di Napoli (late 14th century), Napolitan oculist active in Frankfurt-am-Main[8]
  • Mercuriade (14th century), Italian physician and surgeon[12]
  • Gilette de Narbonne (fl. 1300), French physician[8]
  • Isabella da Ocre, Napolitan surgeon[8]
  • Francisca da Romana, Napolitan physician[8]
  • Dame Péronelle (1292–1319), French herbalist
  • Peretta Peronne, also called Perretta Petone (fl. 1411), French surgeon[8]
  • Lauretta Ponte da Saracena Calabria, Napolitan physician
  • Trota of Salerno (fl. 1090), Italian physician[8]
  • Marguerite Saluzzi (fl. 1460), Napolitan licensed herbalist physician[8]
  • Sara de Sancto Aegidio (fl. 1326), French physician
  • Juana Sarrovia (fl. 1384), Barcelona, Spanish physician[8]
  • Shen Yu Hsiu (15th century), Chinese chemist
  • Sun Pu-Eh (12th century), Chinese chemist
  • Raymunda da Taberna, licensed Napolitan surgeon[8]
  • Théophanie (fl. 1291), French barber surgeon[8]
  • Trotta da Toya (f. 1307), Napolitan physician[8]
  • Polisena da Troya (fl. 1335), licensed Napolitan surgeon[8]
  • Margarita da Venosa (fl. 1333), licensed Napolitan surgeon,[8] who studied at the University of Salerno[14] She was considered a noteworthy practitioner and counted Ladislaus, king of Naples, as a patient.[10]
  • Francisca di Vestis (fl. 1308), Napolian physician[8]
  • Zhang Xiaoniang (11th century), Chinese physician

16th century edit

 
Sophie Brahe portrait

17th century edit

 
Margaret Cavendish

18th century edit

 
Geneviève Charlotte d'Arconville
 
Portrait of Émilie du Châtelet by Maurice Quentin de La Tour

19th century edit

Anthropology edit

Archeology edit

Astronomy edit

 
Annie Jump Cannon, 1922 Portrait

Biology or natural history edit

 
Mary Anning

Chemistry edit

 
Ida Freund

Engineers edit

Geology edit

Inventors edit

Mathematics edit

 
Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (Ada Lovelace)

Microbiology edit

Medicine edit

 
Kadambini Ganguly

Nuclear physics edit

  • Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian, Swedish, nuclear physicist

Physics edit

Psychology edit

Science education edit

Sociology edit

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab Yount 2007
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ogilvie, Marilyn; Harvey, Joy (2003-12-16). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge. ISBN 9781135963439.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Nathan J. Barnes: Reading 1 Corinthians with Philosophically Educated Women
  4. ^ a b Ogilvie 1986
  5. ^ Brown, James Campbell (1920). A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times. P. Blakiston's Son & Company. pp. 19–24.
  6. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28.81–84. Irby-Massie, 'Women in Ancient Science', in Woman's power, man's game: essays on classical antiquity in honor of Joy K. King, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1993. p.366
  7. ^ Gabriele Kass-Simon; Patricia Farnes; Deborah Nash, eds. (1999). Women of science : righting the record (First Midland Book ed.). Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press. p. 301. ISBN 9780253208132.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak L. Whaley: Women and the Practice of Medical Care in Early Modern Europe, 1400–1800
  9. ^ a b c d e Howard 2006
  10. ^ a b c d Zahm, J.A. (1913). Woman in Science.
  11. ^ Ogilvie, Marilyn; Harvey, Joy (2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. New York: Routledge. p. 346. ISBN 0415920388.
  12. ^ a b c Walsh 2008, p. 142
  13. ^ «Diccionari Biogràfic de Dones: Francesca, muller de Berenguer Satorra Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine»
  14. ^ Howard, Sethanne (2007). "SCIENCE HAS NO GENDER: The History of Women in Science". Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. 93 (1): 1–15. ISSN 0043-0439. JSTOR 24536249.
  15. ^ Picard, Liza. Elizabeth's London (2003), Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  16. ^ Hoe, Susanna (2016). "Valletta". Malta: Women, History, Books and Places (PDF). Oxford: Women's History Press (a division of Holo Books). pp. 368–369. ISBN 9780957215351. OCLC 931704918. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2016.
  17. ^ "Sarah Whiting". CWP.
  18. ^ a b c d e f Rayner-Canham & Rayner-Canham 2001
  19. ^ Rayner-Canham, Marelene; Rayner-Canham, Geoff (23 Feb 2009). "Fight for Rights" (PDF). Chemistry World. 6 (3): 56–59.
  20. ^ Huddleston, Amara (17 July 2019). "Happy 200th birthday to Eunice Foote, hidden climate science pioneer". climate.gov. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  21. ^ Schwartz, John (21 April 2020). "Overlooked No More: Eunice Foote, Climate Scientist Lost to History". The New York Times.

References edit

  • Byers, Nina. "Contributions of 20th Century Women to Physics". UCLA. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  • Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1986). Women scientists from antiquity to the present : an index : an international reference listing and biographical directory of some notable women scientists from ancient to modern times. West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press. ISBN 0-933951-01-9.
  • Howard, Sethanne (2006). The hidden giants. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1430300762.
  • Howes, Ruth H.; Herzenberg, Caroline L. (1999). Their day in the sun : women of the Manhattan Project. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press. ISBN 1-56639-719-7.
  • Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in science : antiquity through the nineteenth century : a biographical dictionary with annotated bibliography (3. print. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-15031-X.
  • Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (2003). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives From Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century. Routledge. ISBN 9781135963422.
  • Rayner-Canham, Marelene; Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey (2001). Women in chemistry : their changing roles from alchemical times to the mid-twentieth century. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation. ISBN 978-0941901277.
  • Stevens, Gwendolyn; Gardner, Sheldon (1982). The women of psychology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman. ISBN 9780870734434.
  • Walsh, James J. (2008) [1911 (Fordham University Press)]. "Medieval Women Physicians". Old Time Makers of Medicine: The Story of the Students and Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle Ages. Lethe Press. pp. 135–150.
  • Yount, Lisa (2007). A to Z of Women in Science and Math (Rev. ed.). New York: Infobase Pub. ISBN 9781438107950.[unreliable source?]

External links edit

  • 4000 Years of Women in Science
  • Most influential British women in the history of science (selected by Royal Society panel)