Scientists Flashcards
Who discovered how the Polio Virus entered the human body making the Development of a vaccine possible?
Dorothy Hortsmann
Who has won two Nobel prizes ( in Chemistry and in Physics). For her contributions to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of radium and polonium.
Marie Curie (1911)
Achievement: Her X-ray diffraction images of DNA were crucial to the discovery of the double-helix structure. Despite her pivotal role, She did not receive the same recognition as James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery.
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958)
Achievement: she helped discover nuclear fission, which led to the development of nuclear energy. Though her colleague Otto Hahn received the Nobel Prize, her contributions were essential, and she is often referred to as the “mother of the atomic bomb” (though she was against its use).
Lise Meitner (1878–1968)
Achievement: Though not a scientist herself, Lacks’ cells, known as HeLa cells, were the first immortal human cell line, used extensively in medical research. Her contribution was ignored for decades as her cells were taken without her consent, but they have led to breakthroughs in cancer research, the polio vaccine, and much more.
Henrietta Lacks (1920–1951)
• Achievement: She was a leading experimental physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. She conducted the experiment, which disproved the law of conservation of parity, a groundbreaking discovery in quantum physics. Her male colleagues won the Nobel Prize, but she did not.
Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997)
• Achievement: As a PhD student, she discovered the first radio pulsars, a finding that led to a Nobel Prize in Physics. However, the prize was awarded to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish, and another male astronomer.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943–)
• Achievement: A pioneering chemist who developed X-ray crystallography methods used to determine the structure of biologically important molecules. She won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964 but remains less well-known than her male counterparts.
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994)
• Achievement: she was a self-taught paleontologist who made significant fossil discoveries in the early 19th century. Her work laid the groundwork for the understanding of prehistoric life, but she was excluded from scientific circles because of her gender and lack of formal education.
Mary Anning (1799–1847)
Achievement: She was one of the first naturalists to study insects, documenting their life cycles with detailed illustrations. Her work, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, advanced the field of entomology, but her contributions were not widely recognized in her time.
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717)
Achievement: She discovered that chromosomes determine sex, identifying the XY chromosome system. Her discovery was foundational to genetics, yet she is often overshadowed by Thomas Hunt Morgan, who built upon her work.
Nettie Stevens (1861–1912)
Achievement: she was a mathematician whose work in abstract algebra and theoretical physics was revolutionary. Her Theorem, which connects symmetries in physics to conservation laws, is a cornerstone of modern physics, yet she remains underappreciated.
Emmy Noether (1882–1935)