The fashion magazines have their annual list of women they admire. In the same spirit, Guerrilla Beauty is proud to announce a list of Women We Love! While we love women in all walks of life, women in Science, Engineering and Technology tend to get ignored a little – so this list aims to redress the balance and provide some worthy role models for the intrepid young female scientists out there!

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Dorothy Levitt: The Racing Driver

Dorothy Levitt (born 1882) was a motorina and ’sporting motoriste’ in the early part of the 20th Century. On 4 July 1903 she was reported as the first woman in the world to compete in a ‘motor race’. Levitt was a renowned pioneer of motor racing, the most successful female competitor in Great Britain, victorious speedboat driver, holder of the Ladies World Land speed record, motoring writer, journalist and activist. In 1905 she established the record for the ‘longest drive achieved by a lady driver’ by driving a De Dion-Bouton from London to Liverpool and back. In 1906 she broke the ‘women’s world speed record’ in a speed trial in Blackpool and was described as “the fastest girl on Earth”.

Her book ‘The Woman and the Car: A chatty little handbook for all women who motor or who want to motor’ noted that women should “carry a little hand-mirror in a convenient place when driving” so they may “hold the mirror aloft from time to time in order to see behind while driving in traffic” therefore inventing the rear view mirror before it was introduced by manufacturers in 1914.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Levitt

Amy Johnson: The Record-Breaking Pilot

Amy Johnson CBE, (1 July 1903 – 5 January 1941) was a pioneering English aviatrix. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s. Johnson flew in the Second World War as a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary where she died during a ferry flight.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Johnson

Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Birutė Galdikas: The Primate Researchers

Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall and Birutė Galdikas are the three most prominent researchers on primates: Fossey on Gorillas; Goodall on Chimpanzees; and Galdikas on Orangutans. They are sometimes known as “Leakey’s Angels,” having been hand picked by Kenyan archaeologist Louis Leakey to research primates in their natural habitats.

Dian Fossey, author of ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ and known for her opposition to poaching and tourism, founded the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda. She disproved popular misconception of Gorillas as ‘King-Kong’ monsters.

Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall, DBE (born 3 April 1934), is an English primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. She is well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family interactions in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, and for founding the Jane Goodall Institute.

Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas, OC Ph.D. (born May 10, 1946(1946-05-10)), is a primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author of several books relating to the endangered species orangutan. Well known in the field of modern primatology, Galdikas is recognized as a leading authority on orangutans

http://www.dian-fossey.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dian_Fossey

http://www.janegoodall.org/jane/cv.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall

http://drbirute.com/

www.orangutan.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birut%C4%97_Galdikas

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Katharine Wright: The Project Manager

Katharine Wright (August 19, 1874 – March 3, 1929) was the only sister of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, and was very supportive of the brothers in their quest to perfect manned flight. She gradually took more of the business affairs on, becoming an officer of the Wright Company in 1912 after Wilbur died.

Kate travelled to France with her brothers in 1909. Forever the organiser, she quickly dominated the social scene, herself being far more outgoing and charming than the notoriously shy brothers. The French newspapers were fascinated by what they saw as the human side of the Wrights, and it was then that rumors began to circulate as to her importance in the invention of the Wright Flyer. Indeed, to this day many of these myths – such as her funding of the experiments, her sewing of the wing coverings or help with the math needed to design the aeroplane – still live on, despite strenuous denials by both herself and the brothers at the time. The French though were not to be dissuaded, and she was awarded, along with Wilbur and Orville, the Legion d’honneur, making her one of the only women from the U.S. to receive it.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Wright

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Marie Curie: The Nobel Prize Winning Physicist

Marie Skłodowska Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes, receiving one in physics and later, one in chemistry. She was the first woman to serve as professor at the University of Paris.

Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term she coined), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. Under her direction, the world’s first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms (cancers), using radioactive isotopes.

While an actively loyal French citizen, she never lost her sense of Polish identity. She named the first new chemical element that she discovered (1898) polonium for her native country, and in 1932 she founded a Radium Institute (now the Maria Skłodowska–Curie Institute of Oncology) in her home town, Warsaw, which was headed by her sister, Bronisława, who was a physician.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

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Emmy Noether: “Most important Mathematician of the 20th Century”

“The connection between symmetries and conservation laws is one of the great discoveries of twentieth century physics . But I think very few non-experts will have heard either of it or its maker – Emily Noether, a great German mathematician. But it is as essential to twentieth century physics as famous ideas like the impossibility of exceeding the speed of light.” [quote about Emmy Noether by Lee Smolin]

Born Amalie Emmy Noether, the daughter of a German mathematics professor, Emmy Noether fought to pursue a career in Maths. She was not permitted, as a girl in the late 19th century, to enrol in a Preparatory school, and was schooled by her father at home. When she decided to study Mathematics at university, she had to get special permission from the professors to sit the entrance exam, and was then not allowed to sit courses for credit. Finally, in 1904, the University of Erlangen decided to permit women to enroll as regular students. Emmy earned her a doctorate summa cum laude in 1908, with a dissertation in algebraic math. She went on to work at Universities in Germany, sometimes as a substitute lecturer, without any salary. Eventually she became a private teacher (i.e. students would pay her directly) and she was a popular teacher. Her work in the 1920s on ring theory and ideals was foundational in abstract algebra, and her work earned her enough recognition to be invited as a visiting professor at the Universities of Moscow and Frankfurt. It was not until she left Germany during the second world war (she was Jewish) that she finally received a scholarship, and then paid employment, at Bryn Mawr College in the USA.

Taken from: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_emmy_noether.htm

Ada Lovelace: Founder of Scientific Computing

Born Ada Byron in 1815, daughter of the Romantic poet Lord Byron, Ada’s mother wanted her to be unlike her father and saw to it that she was tutored in mathematics and music! She moved in elite London society, in the early 19th century: at that time there were no professional scientists, rather noblemen would indulge in “intellectual pursuits.”  This was how Ada met Charles Babbage (widely known as the inventor of the difference engine, an early computer) in 1833, and they corresponded for many years regarding maths and logic. Babbage later employed Ada to translate a memoir on his analytical engine written by an Italian mathematician, and she appended a set of notes which made her famous. She understood the plans for the engine as well as Babbage, but was better at articulating them: Babbage referred to her as his “Enchantress of Numbers.”

Taken from: http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/lovelace.html

Florence Nightingale: Bringing Maths to Nursing

Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence during the Crimean War for her pioneering work in nursing, and was dubbed “The Lady with the Lamp” after her habit of making rounds at night to tend injured soldiers. Nightingale laid the foundation stone of professional nursing with the principles summarised in the book Notes on Nursing. She exhibited a gift for mathematics from an early age and became a pioneer in the visual presentation of information and statistical graphics (notably the Pie Chart).

The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale

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The WASPs: Courageous Expert Pilots

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and the predecessor groups the Women’s Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) (from September 10, 1942) were pioneering organizations of civilian female pilots employed to fly military aircraft under the direction of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. The female pilots would number thousands, each freeing a male pilot for combat service and duties. The WFTD and WAFS were combined on August 5, 1943 to create the para-military WASP organization.

All records of the WASP were classified and sealed for 35 years, so their contributions to the war effort were little known and inaccessible to historians. On July 1, 2009 President Barack Obama and the United States Congress awarded the WASP the Congressional Gold Medal. Three of the roughly 300 surviving WASPs were on hand to witness the event. During the ceremony President Obama said, “The Women Airforce Service Pilots courageously answered their country’s call in a time of need while blazing a trail for the brave women who have given and continue to give so much in service to this nation since. Every American should be grateful for their service, and I am honored to sign this bill to finally give them some of the hard-earned recognition they deserve.”

Because of the pioneering and the expertise they demonstrated in successfully flying every type of military aircraft, from the fastest fighters to the heaviest bombers, the WASP had proved conclusively that female pilots, when given the same training as male pilots, were as capable.

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Airforce_Service_Pilots and  http://www.cbsnews.com – news report

All Women During the Two World Wars

During both World War I and World War II, women were called on, by necessity, to do work and to take on roles that were outside their traditional gender expectations. In Great Britain this was known as a process of “Dilution” and was strongly contested by the trade unions, particularly in the engineering and ship building industries. Women did, for the duration of both World Wars, take on jobs that were traditionally regarded as skilled “men’s work”.  However, in accordance with the agreement negotiated with the trade unions, women undertaking jobs covered by the Dilution agreement lost their jobs at the end of the First World War

Women were “drafted” in the sense that they were assigned jobs by the government, including non-combat jobs in the military, including the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS or “Wrens”) and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Auxiliary services such as the Air Transport Auxiliary also recruited women. British women were not drafted into combat units, but could volunteer for combat duty in anti-aircraft units, which shot down German planes and V-1 missiles. Civilian women joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which used them in high-danger roles as secret agents and underground radio operators in Nazi occupied Europe.

The situation was similar in other countries. Finnish women took part in defence: nursing, air raid signaling, rationing and hospitalization of the wounded. Their organization was called Lotta Svärd, where voluntary women took part in auxiliary work of the armed forces to help those fighting on the front. Many women served in the resistances of France, Italy, and Poland. In the Third Reich, the SS-Helferinnen were regarded as part of the SS if they had undergone training at a Reichsschule SS, and women also served in auxiliary units in the navy (Kriegshelferinnen), air force (Luftnachrichtenhelferinnen) and army (Nachrichtenhelferin). Hundreds of women auxiliaries (Aufseherin) served for the SS in the concentration camps.

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_roles_in_the_World_Wars

And more!

For some more recent women with fantastic acheivements, check out the UKRC’s Women of Outstanding Achievement Photographic Exhibition: a collection of creative and dramatic portraits that profile outstanding women within science, engineering and technology. There is a yearly event, and the 2010 finalists are now on display. http://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/html/raise-your-profile/women-of-outstanding-achievement/

A panel of female Fellows of the Royal Society and science historians
have also compiled a list of the most influential British women in the history of science, available here:  http://www.bath.ac.uk/universitysecretary/equalities/AthenaSWANfiles/MostinfluentialwomenRS2010.pdf