Women in science they mysteriously don't teach you about [View all]

[Recursion]

So, that's Hedy Lamarr. She was voted the "most beautiful woman in Europe", and frankly that seems justified. The problem is, if you google her, that's what comes up first. What's missing?

The fact that she invented the frequency-hopping protocol that was the most significant advancement in signals since Marconi (or possibly even Heaviside) is apparently secondary to the fact that looking at her was pleasant for men (and, again, I have to admit it is, but that should never be given priority to the importance of her scientific breakthrough).

This protocol:

1. Was among other things what the Allies used to win WWII, and
2. Is still used in cell phones today

There has been lip-service to women in science for years, and most of it has focused on Marie Curie. Yes: she was an exceptional scientist, and yes: she deserves all her accolades; nothing in this post is an attempt to deprive her of those. I'm simply annoyed that people act like she is unusual for being a female scientist.

So, just as a reminder, here are people who happen to be women who have earned their places as exceptional scientists and engineers (my own field is electrical and computer engineering, so it leans heavily towards that; please add women from the physical, earth, and life sciences you know of).

1. Ada Lovelace. I'm a sysadmin, so I have to go with her first. Lovelace (the daughter of the poet Byron) was the first digital computer programmer in human history. Furthermore, she stated what should probably be considered the Fundamental Theorem of Computer Science. When asked by Parliament why she used results alternately as arithmetical or logical, she said "there is no fundamental difference; the answers may be interpreted as arithmetic or logic as the need of the operation requires". That truly encapsulates Computer Science as a discipline. (Even Boole did not yet grasp that.)

2. Grace Murray Hopper. Continuing on the comp sci track, Admiral Hopper was frankly one of the greatest computer programmers ever. Most of her source code is now publicly available thanks to FOIA, but it's still largely understudied, ironically because of the revolution she inspired. She invented things like "the compiler" and "the linker" and "the parser"; if you don't know computers and programming that may not mean much to you, but trust me that those are crucially important to every piece of software written today. She is one of a vanishingly small number of historical women to have a US Navy ship named after her.

3. Mary Cartwright. She was the primary developer of chaos theory, the notion that underlies such diverse subjects now as economics, climatology, evolutionary biology, sociology, art history, and political science.

4. Jane Goodall. I hope I don't have to repeat her biography here. Although some of her results have been challenged by more recent research (that's how science works) she remains one of the most impressive primatologists in history.

5. Hertha Ayrton. She was the first woman to read a paper before the Institute of Electrical Engineers, and wow, was it a paper. Her work on electrical arcing directly influenced Einstein in his study of electrical phenomena that lead to the theory of relativity.

There have been more genius female scientists, mathematicians, and engineers than a single thread, let alone an OP, could hold, but I just wanted to get these seven (counting Curie and Lamarr) out there for a moment. Marie Curie was amazing, but she was hardly unique, and I think it only honors her memory to remind us of that.