Contents

List of female scientists before the 20th century

This is a historical list, intended to deal with the time period where it is believed that women working in science were rare. For this reason, this list ends with the 20th century.

Antiquity[edit]

• Aemilia (c. 300 CE–363 CE), Gallo-Roman physician
• Aglaonike (2nd century BCE), woman astronomer in Ancient Greece
• Agnodike (4th century BCE), first woman physician to practice legally in Athens^[1]: 2
• Andromache (mid-6th century), Egyptian physician^[2]: 39
• Arete of Cyrene (5th–4th centuries BCE), Greek natural and moral philosopher
• Artemisia of Caria (c. 300 BCE), botanist
• Aspasia the Physician (fl. 1st century CE), Greek physician
• Aurelia Alexandria Zosime, Ancient Roman physician^[3]
• Chun Yuyan (1st century BCE), Chinese obstetrician and gynecologist
• Cleopatra the Alchemist (c. 3rd century CE), wrote the alchemical book, Chrysopoeia, or "gold-making"^{[4]: 99 [5]}
• Damo (6th century BCE), Greek natural philosopher
• Diotima of Mantinea (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist, ancient Greece
• Eccello of Lucania (5th or 4th century BCE), Greek/Italian mathematician and natural philosopher^[2]: 396
• Echecratia the Philiasian (5th century BCE), Greek/Italian mathematician and natural philosopher^[2]: 397
• Elephantis (1st century BCE), Greek physician
• Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE), Sumerian/Akkadian astronomer and poet
• Fabiola (died 399 CE), Roman physician
• Fang (first century BCE), Chinese chemist
• Favilla (2nd century), Roman physician^[2]: 436
• Gargi Vachaknavi (7th century BCE), Indian philosopher
• Gu Bao (4th century), Chinese physician
• Hypatia (370–415 CE), mathematician and astronomer, Egypt^[1]: 137
• Laïs (c. 1st/2nd century BCE), midwife^{[2]: 735 [6]}
• Lais of Corinth, Ancient Greek physician^[3]
• Leoparda (4th century CE), gynecologist
• Macrina (4th century CE), Greek physician and nun^[2]: 828
• Marcella (4th century CE), Roman healer^[2]: 841
• Mary the Jewess (1st or 2nd century CE), alchemist^[4]: 128
• Melissa (3rd century BCE), Greek philosopher
• Metrodora (c. 200–400 CE), Greek physician and author
• Minucia Asste, Ancient Roman physician ^[3]
• Myia (5th century BCE), Greek philosopher
• Nicerata (c. 5th century), physician and healer
• Occello of Lucania (4th or 5th century BCE), Greek natural philosopher and mathematician^[2]: 957
• Olympias of Thebes (1st century BCE), Greek midwife^[2]: 962
• Origenia (2nd century CE), Greek healer^[2]: 965
• Pao Ku Ko (3rd century CE), Chinese chemist
• Paphnutia the Virgin (c. 300), Egyptian alchemist^[2]: 978
• Paula (347–404 CE), Roman healer^[2]: 990
• Perictione (5th century BCE), Greek philosopher, mother of Plato
• Panthea, Ancient Greek physician, wife and colleague of Glycon^[3]
• Philinna of Thessaly, Ancient Greek physician^[3]
• Peseshet, Egyptian physician (Fourth Dynasty)
• Pulcheria (5th century CE), healer^[2]: 1059
• Pythias of Assos (4th century BCE), marine zoologist
• Restituta (1st century), Ancient Roman physician ^[3]
• Salpe (1st century BCE), Greek midwife
• Sotira (1st century BCE), Greek physician^{[2]: 1217–18}
• Tapputi-Belatekallim (First mentioned in a clay tablet dating to 2000 BCE), Babylonian perfumer, the first person in history recorded as using a chemical process^[7]
• Terentia Prima, Ancient Roman physician^[3]
• Theano (6th century BCE), philosopher, mathematician and physician
• Thelka, Iranian^[2]: 1278
• Theosebeia (4th century CE), healer^[2]: 1278
• Yi Jia (2nd century BCE), Chinese physician

Middle Ages[edit]

16th century[edit]

17th century[edit]

• Anna Åkerhjelm (1647–1693), Swedish traveler and archaeologist

18th century[edit]

19th century[edit]

• Maria Czaplicka (1884–1921), Polish cultural anthropologist
• Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838–1923), American ethnologist
• Johanna Mestorf (1828–1909), German prehistoric archaeologist
• Margaret Murray (1863–1963), British anthropologist
• Clémence Royer (1830–1902), French anthropologist
• Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), American geographer
• Praskovja Uvarova (1840–1924), Russian archaeologist

Archeology[edit]

• Cornelia Horsford (1861– c. 1941), American archaeologist
• Lady Hester Stanhope (1776–1839), British archaeologist
• Zsófia Torma (1832–1899), Hungarian archaeologist, paleologist, anthropologist

Astronomy[edit]

• Mary Albertson (1838–1914), American botanist and astronomer
• Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer^[1]: 47
• Agnes Mary Clerke (1842–1907), British astronomer
• Florence Cushman (1860–1940), American astronomer
• Williamina Fleming (1857–1911), Scottish/American astronomer^[1]: 89
• Caroline Herschel (1750–1848), German astronomer active in England
• Margaret Lindsay Murray Huggins (1848–1915), British astronomer
• Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868–1921), American astronomer^[1]: 170
• Annie Russell Maunder (1868–1947), Irish astronomer
• Antonia Caetana Maury (1866–1952), American astronomer^[1]: 195
• Maria Mitchell (1818–1889), American astronomer^[1]: 209
• Isis Pogson (1852–1945), British astronomer
• Caterina Scarpellini (1808–1873), Italian astronomer
• Sarah Frances Whiting (1846–1927), American astronomer and physicist^[17]
• Mary Watson Whitney (1847–1921), American astronomer
• Anna Winlock (1857–1904), American astronomer

Biology or natural history[edit]

• Frances Acton (1793–1881), British botanist
• Elizabeth Cary Agassiz (1822–1907), American natural historian
• Mary Albertson (1838–1914), American botanist and astronomer
• Mary Anning (1799–1847), British natural historian^[1]: 9
• Emily Arnesen (1876–1928), Norwegian zoologist
• Anna Atkins (1799–1871), British botanist
• Harriet Henrietta Beaufort (1778–1865), British botanist
• Isabella Bird Bishop (1831–1904), British natural historian
• Priscilla Susan Bury (1799–1872), English botanist
• Albertina Carlsson (1848–1930), Swedish zoologist
• Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869–1963), American biologist
• Cornelia Clapp (1849–1934), American zoologist
• Anna Botsford Comstock (1854–1930), American natural historian
• Clara Eaton Cummings (1855–1906), American botanist
• Eunice P. Cutter (1819–1898), American author of anatomy textbooks
• Lydia Maria Adams DeWitt (1859–1928), American pathologist
• Mary Cynthia Dickerson (1866–1923), American herpetologist, museum curator and writer
• Amalie Dietrich (1821–1891), German natural historian
• Alice Eastwood (1859–1953), American biologist^[1]: 77
• Rosa Smith Eigenmann (1858–1947), American biologist
• Olga Fedtschenko (1845–1921), Russian botanist
• Maria Elizabeth Fernald (1839–1919), American entomologist
• Elisabetta Fiorini Mazzanti (1799–1879), Italian botanist
• Susanna Phelps Gage (1857–1915), American embryologist and comparative anatomist
• Lilian Jane Gould (1861–1936), British biologist
• Amelia Griffiths (1768–1858), British phycologist
• Marian E. Hubbard (1868–1956), American zoologist
• Agnes Ibbetson (1757–1823), English vegetable physiologist
• Susan Hallowell (1835–1911), American botanist
• Gabrielle Howard (1876–1930), British plant physiologist
• Ellen Hutchins (1785–1815), Irish botanist
• Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857–1945), American biologist^[1]: 135
• Maria Elizabetha Jacson (1755–1829), English botanist
• Alice Johnson (1860–1940), English zoologist
• Józefa Joteyko (1866–1928), physiologist, psychologist, pedagogist
• Josephine Kablick (1787–1863), botanist
• Helen Dean King (1869–1955), American biologist
• Phoebe Lankester (1825–1900), British botanist
• Marie-Anne Libert (1782–1865), Belgian botanist and mycologist
• Friederike Lienig (1790–1855), German-Baltic entomologist
• Elizabeth Eaton Morse (1864–1955), American mycologist/cryptogamist
• Katharine Murray Lyell (1817–1915), British botanist
• Helen Abbott Michael (1857–1904), American botanist and chemist
• Olive Thorne Miller (1831–1918), American natural historian
• Maria Gugelberg von Moos (1836–1918), Swiss botanist
• Margaretta Morris (1797–1867), American entomologist
• Mary Murtfeldt (1848–1913), American biologist
• Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828–1901), British biologist
• Edith Marion Patch (1876–1954), American biologist
• Maria Louisa Pike (d. 1892), American naturalist
• Beatrix Potter (1866–1943), British mycologist
• Mary Jane Rathbun (1860–1943), American marine biologist
• Margaretta Riley (1804–1899), British botanic
• Caroline Rosenberg (1810–1902), Danish botanist
• Ethel Sargant (1863–1918), British biologist
• Hazel Schmoll (1890–1990), American botanist working on plant life in Colorado
• Lilian Sheldon (1862–1942), English zoologist
• Alexandra Smirnoff (1838–1913), Finnish pomologist
• Annie Lorrain Smith (1854–1937), British lichenologist and mycologist
• Emilie Snethlage (1868–1929), German-Brazilian naturalist and ornithologist
• Nettie Stevens (1861–1912), American geneticist^[1]: 284
• Jantina Tammes (1871–1947), Dutch botanist and geneticist
• Charlotte De Bernier Taylor (1806–1863), American entomologist
• Mary Treat (1830–1923), American naturalist
• Anna Vickers (1852–1906), marine algologist
• Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794–1871), French marine biologist
• Anna Maria Walker (c. 1778–1852), Scottish botanist
• Elizabeth Andrew Warren (1786–1864), Cornish botanist
• Mary Anne Whitby (1784–1850), English breeder of silkworms
• Mary Pirie (1822–1885), Scottish botanist

Chemistry[edit]

• Vera Bogdanovskaia (1868–1897), Russian chemist^[18]: 64
• Ida Freund (1863–1914), first woman to be a university chemistry lecturer in the United Kingdom^{[18]: 59–60}
• Louise Hammarström (1849–1917), Swedish chemist
• Edith Humphrey (1875–1978), probably the first British woman to gain a doctorate in chemistry^[19]
• Julia Lermontova (1846–1919), Russian chemist^{[18]: 61–64}
• Laura Linton (1853–1915), American chemist ^{[18]: 57–58}
• Rachel Lloyd (1839–1900), American chemist ^{[18]: 55–56}
• Adelaida Lukanina (1843–1908), Russian physician and chemist
• Helen Abbott Michael (1857–1904), American botanist and chemist
• Frances Micklethwait (1867–1950), British research chemist
• Muriel Wheldale Onslow (1880–1932), British biochemist
• Marie Pasteur (1826–1910), French chemist and bacteriologist
• Mary Engle Pennington (1872–1952), American chemist
• Agnes Pockels (1862–1935), German chemist
• Vera Popova (1867–1896), Russian chemist
• Anna Sundström (1785–1871), Swedish chemist
• Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911), American industrial and environmental chemist^{[1]: 254 [18]: 51–54}
• Margarete Traube (1856–1912), German-born chemist who lived in Italy
• Anna Volkova (1800–1876), Russian chemist
• Martha Annie Whiteley (1866–1956), English chemist and mathematician
• Nadezhda Olimpievna Ziber-Shumova (died 1914), Russian chemist

Engineers[edit]

• Mary Dicas (fl. 1800–1815), maker of scientific instruments
• Emily Roebling (1844–1903), American civil engineer

Geology[edit]

• Florence Bascom (1862–1945), American geologist^[1]: 18
• Etheldred Benett (1776–1845), British geologist
• Mary Buckland (1797–1857), British paleontologist and marine biologist
• Margaret Crosfield (1859–1952), British paleontologist and geologist
• Maria Gordon (1896–1939), Scottish geologist
• Mary Emilie Holmes (1850–1906), American geologist and educator
• Charlotte Murchison (1788–1869), Scottish geologist
• Elizabeth Philpot (1780–1857), British paleontologist

Inventors[edit]

• Tabitha Babbitt (1779–1853), American inventor and tool maker
• Mary Brush (fl. 1815), American inventor
• Martha Coston (1826–1904), American inventor
• Ellen Eglin (1849–fl. 1890), American inventor
• Caroline Eichler (1809–1843), German inventor, instrument maker and prostheses designer.
• Hanna Hammarström (1829–1909), Swedish inventor
• Mary Kies (1752–1837), American inventor
• Margaret E. Knight (1838–1914), American inventor, first woman awarded a U.S. patent
• Huang Lü (died 1829), Chinese optic inventor

Mathematics[edit]

• Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), Russian mathematician (partial differential equations, rotating solids, Abelian functions)^[1]: 162
• Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace (1815–1851), British mathematician^[1]: 180
• Emilie Martin (1869–1936), American mathematician
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), British statistician and nurse
• Emmy Noether (1882–1935), German mathematician

Microbiology[edit]

• Alice Catherine Evans (1881–1975), American microbiologist

Medicine[edit]

• Rachel Alcock (1862–1939), British physiologist
• Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917), British physician ^[1]: 7
• Hedda Andersson (1861–1950), Swedish physician
• Lovisa Årberg (1801–1881), first woman doctor and surgeon in Sweden
• Amalia Assur (1803–1889), Swedish dentist
• Sara Josephine Baker (1873–1945), American doctor (child hygiene pioneer)
• Chandramukhi Basu (1860–1944), Indian physician
• Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), American physician ^[1]: 31
• Emily Blackwell (1826–1910), American physician
• Marie Boivin (1773–1841), French writer on obstetrics
• Elizabeth D. A. Cohen (1820–1921), American physician, first female physician in the state of Louisiana
• Rebecca Cole (1846–1922) American physician, by 1867 she was the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States
• Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831–1895) American physician, by 1864 she was the first African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States
• Maria Dalle Donne (1778–1842), Italian physician
• Marie Durocher (1809–1893), Brazilian obstetrician, midwife and physician
• Enriqueta Favez (c. 1791–1856), Swiss physician and surgeon
• Rosalie Fougelberg (1841–1911), Swedish dentist
• Rupa Bai Furdoonji, Indian physician who was the world's first female anesthetist
• Kadambini Ganguly (1861–1923), Indian physician
• Johanna Hedén (1837–1912), Swedish midwife, feldsher and barber
• Aletta Jacobs (1854–1929), Dutch physician
• Maria Jansson (1788–1842), known as Kisamor, Swedish physician
• Sophia Jex-Blake (1840–1912), British physician
• Anandi Gopal Joshi (1865–1887), Indian physician
• Mary Poonen Lukose (1886–1976), Indian gynecologist
• Emmy Rappe (1835–1896), Swedish nurse
• Martha Ripley (1843–1912), American physician and suffragist
• Varvara Kashevarova Rudneva (1844–1899), Russian physician
• Florence R. Sabin (1871–1953), American medical scientist
• Ellen Sandelin (1862–1907), Swedish physician and teacher of physiology
• Regina von Siebold (1771–1849), German physician and obstetrician
• Charlotte von Siebold (1788–1859), German physician and gynecologist
• Anna Stecksén (1870–1904), Swedish pathologist
• Lucy Hobbs Taylor (1833–1910), American dentist
• Isala Van Diest (1842–1916), first female medical doctor and female university graduate in Belgium
• Catharine van Tussenbroek (1852–1925), Dutch gynecologist
• Mary Walker (1832–1919), American surgeon
• Karolina Widerström (1856–1949), Swedish physician
• Thora Wigardh (1860–1933), Swedish physician
• Marie Elisabeth Zakrzewska (1829–1902), Polish-American physician

Nuclear physics[edit]

• Lise Meitner (1878–1968), Austrian, Swedish, nuclear physicist

Physics[edit]

• Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854–1923), British physicist^[1]: 14
• Mileva Einstein-Maric (1875–1948), Serbian/Swiss physicist
• Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860–1944), American physicist
• Mary Somerville (1780–1872), British physicist, polymath^[1]: 280
• Eunice Newton Foote (1819–1888), American inventor and physicist who first discovered rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels could impact climate ^[20][21]

Psychology[edit]

• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930), American psychologist
• Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847–1930), American psychologist^[1]: 167
• Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939), American psychologist
• Anna Freud (1895–1982), Austrian-British psychoanalyst

Science education[edit]

• Jane Webb Loudon (1807–1858), Writer of introductory gardening books
• Jane Marcet (1769–1858), Writer of introductory science books
• Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793–1884), American science educator
• Josephine Silone Yates (died 1912), American chemistry professor

Sociology[edit]

• Jane Addams (1860–1935), American sociologist
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935), American sociologist
• Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), English sociologist and economist

See also[edit]

• Logology (science): sexual bias
• Timeline of women in science

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• 4000 Years of Women in Science
• Most influential British women in the history of science (selected by Royal Society panel)