The Forgotten Women of Groundbreaking Discoveries!
by Maria Jose
Maria Jose, our Young Ambassador to Colombia, writes about inspiring women in STEM and particularly those who have been written out of STEM history! We learn about the exceptional women across the world who have made groundbreaking discoveries, and are reminded that platforming deserving women helps girls to become inspired by their impressive achievements and journey!
“Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.”
My name is Maria Jose and I am a Young Ambassador of Inspiring Girls Colombia. I have always been curious about the world that surrounds us and find the things humans have discovered throughout history fascinating. Additionally, I perceive people that work in STEM as captivating, unfortunately, this field is constantly referred to as a “male-dominated” field. Due to this, I decided to write this blog in order to tribute women who have worked in science and inspire young girls to reach for their dreams, even if society’s stereotypes have told them not to.
Albert Einstein, Issac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Galileo Galilei are all names that come to mind when thinking about famous scientists, however, notice how these are all men? While they have discovered astounding things many times women have not been credited for this same talent, therefore leading our society to believe that females do not belong in this area. This is the complete opposite.
A clear example of this unfair situation is Alice Ball, a young chemist. She gave her life to research that aimed to find a cure for leprosy, which eventually was obtained when she figured out how to inject chaulmoogra oil into the bloodstream. Unfortunately, she became sick and passed away shortly after. Following these events, Arthur Dean took over the study and along with it all of the credit. Later on, her work was accredited and this cure for the disease was named the “Ball Method”. Even though the work was eventually linked to Ball, for a long time it wasn’t, which completely lacks justice. Nevertheless, this evidences how capable women are in STEM and how, regardless of the inequitable conditions they were under, they could still succeed, after all, women are resilient.
Another example of a strong, intelligent woman whose work was not recognized as hers is Dr. Grace Murray Hopper. This is because Hopper created the first computer programming language with the purpose of programming the Harvard Mark I computer IBM, which was often used for World War II. Even though she invented the programming COBOL, which is largely used nowadays, she was not credited for it, instead, John von Neuman was noted in history as the one who initiated the computer’s first program. Although not many know about this inaccuracy in history it is vital that young girls are aware of this incredible accomplishment and are able to take great inspiration from it.
Nonetheless, there are still cases in which women have succeeded greatly and this has been attributed to them by our society. For instance, Lise Meitner’s career as a physicist. This is due to the fact that Meitner was able to discover a variety of different things, such as the element of protactinium and nuclear fission; something that allowed her to bring radioactive isotope protactinium-231 to light in 1917. In this instance, Meitner was greatly credited and consequently she won the following awards: Enrico Fermi Award, Max Planck Medal, Lieben Prize, Otto-Hahn Prize for Chemistry and Physics. While she did not win a nobel price she was nominated 49 times!
From my viewpoint, this recognition towards women is vital because of many different reasons. Firstly, accrediting women’s great work and talent helps to transform the misogynistic conceptions the STEM field can have towards women, thus disproving different stereotypes that were formed in the past but somehow still predominate. Additionally, this recognition is essential to continue developing and exemplifying the concepts of fairness and development that should be taken towards females. Finally, crediting women’s work is indispensable because it creates representation, a representation young girls need to reach for their dreams and have the determination to succeed.
In conclusion, all throughout history women in STEM have made incredible discoveries that made our knowledge about the world expand further. While this work has not always been attributed, this does not mean that women’s work is not valid. When asked about famous people in science, Alice Ball, Dr. Grace Murray Hopper, Lise Meitner, and many more should also come to mind. Young girls, such as myself, need to see that inspiration and have that influence. Young girls need to believe in themselves because they can do anything they set their minds to. After all, as Mae Jeminson, the first African American women in space, once said “Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.”