The Nobel Peace Price given out in 1962 for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins for their work in discovering the molecular structure of DNA. While this was great progress for science itself, it showed exactly how corrupt and unjust the field was at the time. Although they were undoubtedly talented, Wilkins and Crick were not the only contributors to the work. British chemist Rosalind Franklin utilized X-ray crystallography in order to capture and measure the structure of DNA, which she kept in her lab notebook on her desk. After a dispute between Wilkins and Franklin, he went on to steal her notebook, making copies of her work and utilizing it to bring his studies from conceptual to real. This famous story displays the unjust history of science, one in which many women have changed the world but were given no acclaim, pathing the way to an industry of mostly men.
Nearly 150 years ago, Marie Curie made history by becoming the first woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. Her accomplishments didn’t end there, with her being the first person to win a Nobel Peace Prize twice, and was the first to become a woman professor at The University of Paris. At the time French physicists were primarily male, and demeaning viewpoints from social life carried into science, such as the idea that women’s help is always inferior to that of a man. Because of this, Curie’s journey was not easy, and many women in years to come did get the recognition in the same fill as Curie did.
In 1944, a monumental discovery was made, making global headlines and receiving a prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Lise Meitner along with her partner Otto Hahn joined forces to outline the first procedure for nuclear fission, a concept previously unknown and one that defined the outcome of WWII. However, Hahn chose to omit his partner’s name, taking all the approval for the experiment. Lise Meitner suffered a similar fate to that of Rosalind Franklin, one in which gender inequality within the world of Chemistry brought her to discouragement and lack of credit.
Along with this, the field of engineering did not fall short of the injustices seen in other sciences. Katherine Johnson, an American physicist was one of three African American students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools in pursuit of a career in engineering. Later in her career, she found herself involved in the Apollo 11 mission, as well as other various projects working for Nasa. Her work was impressive and vital to the Apollo 11 operation, but very few were able to break the barriers of employment seen in Mathematics and Science for women like Johnson was able to.
According to the United Nations, less than 30% of all researchers world wide are female. This is a very troubling statistic. How is it that gender plays no role in one’s potential for making strides in the scientific world, yet we see such a large gap? While the answer to this may not be clear, the works of scientists such as Rosalind Franklin and many others should not be forgotten in time. Overcoming misogyny and breaking societal barriers is still a problem humans today battle, and female scientists have shown its possible.