Meeting the Challenge : Top Women in Science

"Astronomy was the earliest science in which women's participation has been recorded. Enheduanna, the Mezopotanian priestess around 2350 BCE monitored the stars and Hypathia in the fourth century is especially famous. Women astronomers such as Sophia Brahe, Maria Cunitz, Elisabetha Hevelius, Maria Margaretha Kirch, and Caroline Herschel often worked alongside family members, husbands or brothers. The next generations were more independent, of them, Mary Somerville, Maria Mitchell, Williamina Fleming, and Nancy Grace Roman are mentioned. Vera C. Rubin had revolutionary ideas about the black holes whose real significance is recognized today. Jocelyn Bell Burnell helped in the discovery of pulsars for which her professor received the Nobel Prize. France A. Cordova was elevated to various top administrative positions. Finally, the astronomer Andrea M. Ghez received a share of the physics Nobel Prize for her work on black holes"--