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The Way of Progress was Neither Swift nor Easy: Celebrating Women in Science: Nobel Prize Winners

 Nobel Laureates: Chemistry (edited based on information retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_Nobel_laureates)

Year Image Laureate/Country Rationale

Related Information

1911

Marie Sklodowska Curie

(1867-1934

Poland and France

"for her discovery of radium and polonium"

A Physicist and Chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner on her first Nobel Prize, making them the first ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize.
1935

Irène Joliot-Curie

(1897-1956)

(shared with Frédéric Joliot-Curie)

France

“for their synthesis of new radioactive elements”

A chemist, physicist and politician, the elder daughter of Peirre and Marie Curie, and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Her husband was the co-winner of on her 1935 Novel Prize in chemistry, making them the second ever married couple (after her parents) to win the Nobel Prize, while adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.
1964

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

(1910-1994)

United Kingdom

"for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances"

A British chemist who advanced the technique of X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of biomolecules, which became essential for structural biology.
2009

Ada E. Yonath

(1939- )

(shared with Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz)

Israel

"for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome"

crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome. The first Israeli woman to win the Nobel Prize, the first woman from the Middle East to win a Nobel prize in the sciences, and the first woman in 45 years to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
2018

Frances Arnold

(1956- )

(shared with Gregory Winter and George Smith)

United States

"for the directed evolution of enzymes"

An American chemical engineer, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Since January 2021, she serves as an external co-chair of President Joe Biden's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

2020

Emmanuelle Charpentier

(1968- )


(shared with Jennifer Doudna)

France

"for the development of a method for genome editing"

A professor and researcher in microbiologygenetics, and biochemistry. In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This was the first science Nobel ever won by two women alone.

Jennifer Doudna

(1964- )


(shared with Emmanuelle Charpentier)

United States

"for the development of a method for genome editing"

An American biochemist. In 2020, Jennifer Doudna and French researcher Emmanuelle Charpentier were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This was the first science Nobel ever won by two women alone.

 

Nobel Laureates: Physiology or Medicine (edited based on information retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_Nobel_laureates)

Year Image Laureate/Country Rationale Related Information
1947

Gerty Theresa Cori

(1896-1957)

(shared with Carl Ferdinand Cori and Bemardo Houssay)

United States

"for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen"

An Austro-Hungarian-American biochemist who was the third woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, and the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1977

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow

(1921-2011)

(shared with Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally)

United States

“for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide horones”

An American medical physicist. The second woman (after Gerty Cori), and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1983

Babara McClintock

(1902-1992)

United States

"for her discovery of mobile genetic elements"

McClintock devoted her life in science. She never married or had children. Her life is the basis of a 2021 novel by Rachel PastanIn the Field, which, though a work of fiction, is scientifically accurate and aims to capture the joys and frustrations of doing science, as well as the experience of a brilliant woman scientist in a male-dominated world.
1986

Rita Levi-Montalcini

(1909-2012)

(shared with Stanley Cohen)

Italy and United States

"for their discoveries of growth factors"

On 22 April 2009, she became the first Nobel laureate to reach the age of 100.

1988

Gertrude B. Elion

(1918-1999)

(shared with James W. Black and George H. Hitchings)

United States

"for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment"

Her work led to the creation of the AIDS drug AZT. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drugazathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.
1995

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard

(1942- )


(shared with Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus)

Germany

"for their discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development"

She is the only woman from Germany to have received a Novel Prize in the sciences.

2004

Linda B. Buck

(1947- )

(shared with Richard Axel)

United States
"for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system" An American biologist best known for her work on the olfactory system. Currently on the faculty of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
2008

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

(1947- )

(shared with Harald zur Hausen and Luc Montagnier)

France

"for their discovery of HIV, human immunodeficiency virus"

A French virologist. She performed some of the fundamental work in the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS.

2009

Elizabeth Blackburn

(1948- )

(shared with Jack W. Szostak)

Australia and United States

"for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase"

The first Australian woman Nobel laureate. She also worked in medical ethics.

Carol W. Greider

(1961- )

(shared with Jack W. Szostak)

United States
An American molecular biologist. Discovered the enzyme telomerase in 1984, while she was a graduate student of Elizabeth Blackburn at the University of California, Berkeley. She pioneered research on the structure of telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes.

 

Nobel Laureates: Physics (edited based on information retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_Nobel_laureates)

Year Image Laureate/Country Rationale Related Information
1903

Marie Sklodowska Curie

(1867-1934

(shared with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel)

Poland and France
"in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel." A Physicist and Chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. The first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner on her first Nobel Prize, making them the first ever married couple to win the Nobel Prize.
1963

Maria Goeppert-Mayer

(1906-1972)

(shared with J. Hans D. Jensen and Eugene Wigner)

United States

"for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure"

A German-born American theoretical physicist. The second woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics. In 1986, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for early-career women physicists was established in her honor.

2018

Donna Strickland

(1959- )

(shared with Gérard Mourou and Arthur Ashkin)

Canada

"for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses"

A Canadian optical physicist and pioneer in the field of pulsed lasers. Professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. Served as fellow, vice president, and president of The Optical Society and chair of their Presidential Advisory Committee. Listed as one of BBC's 100 Women in 2018.
2020

Andrea M. Ghez

(1965- )


(shared with Reinhard Genzel and Roger Penrose)

United States

"for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy"

An American astrophysicist. Her research focuses on the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics

 

Women Who Changed Science