31 Smithsonian Portraits of Women Behind Scientific Breakthroughs

Mildred Adams Fenton (1899 – 1995) studied paleontology and geology at the University of Iowa. Alongside her husband, Carroll Lane Fenton, she co-authored 50 general science books, including Records of Evolution (1924), Land We Live On (1944), and Worlds in the Sky (1963). Her photographs were also often used as illustrations. The couple also established a scholarship fund for Hopi (Native American) students at Northern Arizona University.

Rachel Louise Carson (1907–1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. In the late 1950s, Carson shifted her efforts to conservation and shed light on the problems caused by synthetic pesticides. Her book, Silent Spring (1962), led to the reversal in national pesticide policy, along with a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement, leading to the founding of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mary Steichen Calderone (1904-1998) was a physician, author, public speaker, and public health advocate for reproductive rights and sex education. In 1953, she became the first female medical director of Planned Parenthood and organized the 1955 “Abortion in the United States” conference. In the 60s, Calderone helped normalise contraception after the FDA approved the pill by securing the AMA’s approval. She later served as the executive director of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) until her retirement in 1982.

Ethel Ronzoni Bishop (1892-1975) was a biochemist and physiologist. In 1913, she earned a BS degree from Mills College, followed by a Master's from Columbia University in 1914, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1923. Bishop soon joined the Washington University School of Medicine, becoming the first woman to work at the school's academic faculty. She served as an assistant professor until 1943. Thereafter, she was promoted to associate professor of biochemistry, a position she held until retiring in 1959.

Arlene Frances Fung was a native of Trinidad who attended medical school in Ireland. In 1968, Fung conducted chromosome research at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia. During this period, ongoing research refined scientists' understanding of chromosome structure, function, and their role in diseases. These efforts eventually led to the development of techniques like fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for mapping genes.

Margaret Alger Hayden was born in 1884 and passed away in 1969. She was a professor of zoology at Wellesley College from the 1920s to 1950. For over 30 years, Hayden dedicated her life to the scientific study of animal life, from their physical structure and behavior to their evolution, classification, and interactions with their environment.

Born in 1908, Carolina Amor de Fournier was the founder of La Prensa Médica Mexicana, a scientific publishing company in Mexico. She was a writer, editor, and translator by profession, and also served as the director of the publishing company. In 1980, Fournier was awarded the Merito Editorial for her work in publishing, and her legacy continued to live on even after her passing in 1993.

Earning a Ph.D. in zoology in 1923, American scientist Marie Agnes Hinrichs taught at several universities, specializing in physiology, physical health, and zoology. She was best known for her work and research into how both UV radiation and visible radiation affect living tissue, with particular focus on growing embryos.

American biochemist and physiologist Willey Glover Denis was born in 1879 and received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1907. She collaborated with Otto Folin, also a chemist, in studying protein metabolism and became the first woman to be appointed to a major US medical school. In addition to that, Denis was a pioneer in clinical chemistry, measuring human biological fluids and testing for lead in body tissue and waste.

Agnes J. Quirk (1884–1974) was a bacteriologist, plant pathologist, and inventor who worked in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Laboratory of Plant Pathology. First appointed as assistant to pathologist-in-charge Erwin Frink Smith in 1901, Quirk became the head of the laboratory in 1928. She held the position until 1948 and later received a patent for the production of penicillin mold and jelly in 1952.

Libbie Henrietta Hyman (1888-1969) graduated from the University of Chicago in 1910 and went on to earn her Ph.D. there in 1915. She remained at the University as a research assistant until 1931. A few years later, in 1937, Hyman became a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, and by 1941, her comprehensive work on invertebrate zoology was recognized as the standard reference on the subject.

Roxana Judkins Stinchfield Ferris (1895-1978) joined the research and curatorial staff of Stanford University’s Dudley Herbarium in 1916, after receiving an A.M. in botany. Over the course of her career and even after officially retiring in 1963, Ferris’s passion for botany was unmistakable. She collected over 14,000 botanical specimens, worked as co-editor of the classic reference work ‘Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States’, and authored books like Flowers of Point Reyes National Seashore and Death Valley Wildflowers.

Margaret Clay Ferguson (1863-1951) was a plant physiologist. In 1901, she earned a Ph.D. at Cornell University and taught at Wellesley College between 1893 and 1932. In 1929, Ferguson was elected president of the Botanical Society of America, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

Lillian Josephine Hawes, born in 1905, earned her degree from Stanford University in 1928 and later worked as a public health nurse in Los Angeles. When she won a National Tuberculosis Association scholarship award in 1936, this photograph was released. Hawes dedicated over 40 years of her life to the public health nursing system before her passing in 1994.

Kathleen Bever Blackburn (1892-1968) was a leading British botanist who found that sex chromosomes exist not only in animals but also in plant cells. She served as a member of the Botany Department at Armstrong College from 1918 to 1958, and from 1927 to 1946, co-authored works with J.W. Heslop-Harrison. Blackburn was also the Supervisor of Research in the Department of Botany from 1949 until her retirement in 1957.

Florence Rena Sabin, born in 1871, was an anatomist and pioneering medical researcher. Sabin was the first woman to hold a full professor role at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, head a department at the Rockefeller Institute, and join the National Academy of Sciences. Before her retirement, she made various contributions to embryology, lymphatic system research, and blood vessel development, and also advocated for public health reform in Colorado.

Katharine J. Scott Bishop (1889-1976) graduated from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1915 and, together with Herbert M. Evans, discovered the importance of Vitamin E. Between 1924 and 1929, Bishop worked as a histopathologist at the George Williams Hooper Foundation for Medical Research in San Francisco. By the mid-1930s, Bishop was a practicing physician and anesthesiologist at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco. In 1940, Bishop accepted a position at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, and worked there until retiring in 1953.

Born in Lancashire, Kathleen Mary Drew-Baker (1901-1957) was a botanist famous for her research on Nori or Porphyra laciniata, an edible type of seaweed. Her research into the Nori lifecycle helped Japanese farmers facing unpredictable harvests and ultimately saved the entire seaweed industry. Because of her contributions, Japanese scientists increased production through artificial seeding techniques. Drew-Baker was one of the founders of the British Phychological Society and served as its first president.

Cellular biologist Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks (1888–1981) is best known for her 1932 discovery of methylene blue as an antidote to carbon monoxide and cyanide poisoning. Brooks earned her BS and MS at the University of Pittsburgh, and her PhD in zoology from Harvard University in 1920. In 1927, she became the first person to teach classroom and lab courses in experimental cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Eleanor Plunkette Brown was born in 1887. When this photograph was taken during the 1930s, she was National Secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Blindness. By 1944, Brown had become the Society’s Executive Director and made history as the first woman president of the National Health Council.