The Forgotten Women Who Paved the Way In STEM
March was Women’s History Month! From the 1st to the 31st, we had all month long to celebrate the impact women have had on society and in the world we know. Unfortunately for a lot of us, COVID-19 shadowed over the month of March as schools closed and shelter in place laws were enacted. March was a tough month, but it just proved that women are strong. We are living and getting through these uncertain times as best as we can. That being said, women still deserved to be recognized, even if it isn’t Women’s History Month anymore.
As women, we are powerful and a force to be reckoned with! Though we are highlighting famous women in STEM in honor of Women’s History Month, these women and their accomplishments are not stories that should just be told once a month. These women highlighted, and all other women in STEM, have impacted society and should be widely known. Whether that means being integrated into the curriculum in schools, or having more of a global platform, all of us here at Girl Genius strongly believe in the uplifting of women and the spread of our work and potential.
Mary Anning
One woman, I bet you’ve never heard of is Mary Anning. Living from 1799–1847, Anning lived in an era where the rights of women were slim, and the thought of them being more than homemakers was laughable. Despite this, Anning carried on doing her job, involving one phase we all went through as little kids: Dinosaurs. Yes, dinos! Mary Anning was an English Fossil Hunter, who helped advance the study of Paleontology.
As a young child, Mary was taught by her father how to collect and polish fossils to sell to tourists, and after his death, she was her family’s only source of income as she continued to hunt for fossils. At only the age of 12, Mary found the fossil of a creature that was thought to be a crocodile… But it was actually an ichthyosaurus!
A dinosaur dating back to 200 million years ago. Not only is the fossil’s age remarkable, but as a 12-year-old girl, she found the first complete fossil of a dinosaur.
At a time when people were extremely religious, for her to actively search for dinosaur skeletons dating hundreds of millions of years back was daunting, especially for a woman who was expected to be god-fearing during this time. Anning helped expand the thoughts of this era, with her numerous finds, including a Pterodactylus, and other bones she searched the beaches of Lyme Regis for.
Edith Clarke
Continuing on through time, one woman who was tested by the men around her and prevailed was Edith Clarke. In history, women are often left in the dark, their pages in the history books left blank. Edith Clarke is, unfortunately, an example of this sexism at work.
Edith was a pioneer in electrical engineer in the 20th century and was known as a human-computer. She was the woman who performed all of the complex calculations that modern-day computers do now. Clarke became the first professionally employed female engineer in 1922, overcoming her earlier struggles of men not hiring her because of her gender. Clarke paved the way for women in STEM and was even inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame years after her work, in 2015.
Her list of achievements far surpasses being a human calculator. Clarke was also the first woman ever to publish a paper and to present it to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. This paper on stability in transmission systems helped to create a mathematical technique to allow engineers to analyze the transmission lines. Her crucial work in the field even led to her becoming the first female electrical engineering Professor in the U.S.
Maryam Mirzakhani
More recently, Maryam Mirzakhani, has made waves in the STEM world, shattering the glass ceiling with her work. Mirzakhani, who died in 2017 at 40, way before her time, will be missed and her impact will not be forgotten anytime soon. She was one of only four people to ever receive a Fields Medal, which is the most prestigious award someone can receive in mathematics.
Not only that, but Mirzakhani was the first woman and Iranian to receive this award! She studied shapes and surfaces in regard to the field of abstract mathematics. Working in fields such as hyperbolic geometry, Mirzakhani took new approaches never used before to address questions on how many simple geodesics can be on one Riemann surface at a time.
A lot of times, math is viewed as the field with no more room for future discoveries, and Mirzakhani proved these people wrong. With her untimely death, Maryam Mirzakhani will be remembered as a woman who questioned what roles women could have in STEM as she helped expand that perception.
Throughout history, the accomplishments of women have been forgotten and this would not have happened if they were men. Part of my mission is to help bring women to the forefront in STEAM, whether that is through highlighting women of the past or empowering women of the future.
Maddie Sullivan — GG STEAM Blogger
