Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Women from the scientific revolution
Women from the scientific revolution
Essay on scientists Marie Curie
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Maria Goeppert-Mayer
Maria Goeppert-Mayer was a famous female physicist around in the early 1900’s. She was born on June 28, 1906 in Kattowitz, Upper Silesia, (today called Katowice, Polland). Maria was the only child of Friedrich Goeppert and his wife Maria Nee Wolff. In 1910 when Maria was four her father moved to Göttingen where Maria stayed and spent most of her life until she was married. Maria forst started off going to public schools in Göttingen but because she was so smart she was able to also go to private schools as well.
After taking the “abitur” in 1924 at her private school Maria was accepted at the University of Göttingen, with the decision of being a mathematicaticain. Besides going to Cambridge, England where she stayed for one term to learn english most of her education was gained at Göttingen. Shortly after choosing her career choice she decided that mathematics was not the thing for her, and that’s when she discovered she really enjoyed physics. Max Born(who was also a famous physicist) was one of her close friends who helped her when it came to her science education.
Maria Geoppert-Mayer married Joseph Edward Mayer in 1930. After their marriage she followed him back to Johns Hopskins University in Baltimore where she taught physics. Since most universities back then wouldn’t think of employing a professors wife, Maria worked for free but didn’t complain because of her love for physics. Karlz F. Herzfeld(who was aslo a Famous Professor of Physics at Johns Hopkins University) was very interested in Maria’s work and helped and influenced her to develop into chemical physics. She wrote many papers with Karlz F. Herzfeld and her husband about her new concern in physics which was the color of organic molecules.
After earning her Phd they moved to Columbia in 1936 where she taught one year Sarah Lawrence College, but she still worked mainly at the S.A.M. Laboratory which was directed by Harold Urey. After staying there for ten years in 1946 they moved to Chicago which was the first place that she was finally treatedwith open arms. Maria right off the back became a Professor in the Physics Department and in the Institute for Nuclear Studies. She was also employed by the Argonne National Laboratory with very little knowledge of Nuclear Physics. In 1948 Maria started to work on magic numbers, but it took her another year to find their explanation, and many years to work out most of their consequences.
Mary Domsky-Abrams; one of the few to get out of the building, in the beginning of the fire, she recalls talking to one of the managers named: Bonstein. “ As he came near us on that fateful day, one girl asked him, “Mr. Bonstein, why theres is not water buckets?. In case of fire, there would be nothing with which to fight it.” He became enraged at our group of price committee members, and with inhuman anger replied” If you’ll burn, there’ll be something to put out the fire.”
After Anna graduated from the University of South Dakota she began graduate work at the University of Iowa. She then made a thesis The extension of Galois theory to linear differential equations, which earned her a masters degree in 1904. One year later she earned a second graduate degree from Radcliffe College. At Radcliffe College she took courses from Maxime Bocher and William Fogg Osgood.
Mary MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on January the 15th 1842. She was the first child to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald. Mary was one child out of 8 and spent most of her childhood years looking after and acting like a second mother to her siblings. The MacKillop family were quite poor so at the young age of 14, Mary got herself a job as a governess and as teacher at a Portland school. All the money Mary earned went towards her families everyday living. While working as a governess, Mary met Father Julian Tension Woods. By the time Mary had reached the age of 15 she had decided that she wanted to be a nun. She also wanted to devote her life to the poor and less fortunate. So upon meeting Father Julian Tension Woods she told him her hopes and dreams, and together they decided to set up a school. In 1861, they worked together and opened Australia's first free Catholic school. At the time only the rich could afford schooling. But at the school Mary opened anyone was welcome. Mary was a great teacher and became very popular within the community. Although Mary was very pleased with her work she still felt a religious calling. So Mary and Father Woods started their own order, 'The Sisters of St. Joseph.' In 1867 Mary then moved to Adelaide where she opened another school. Before long there were 17 schools open across Australia. Mary's followers grew and by 1909 she had followers all over Australia. Mary later died on the 8th of August 1909.
The person that I chose for the Womens History Month report is Maria Mitchell, who was a self- taught astronomer. She discovered Comet Mitchell and made amazing achievements throughout her life. Maria Mitchell was born on August 1, 1818 on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket to William and Lydia Mitchell. When Maria Mitchell was growing up in the Quaker community, few girls were allowed to study astronomy and higher mathematics. Even though the Mitchell's weren't rich Maria's father, a devoted amateur( most astronomers of that time were amateurs) astronomer, introduced her to mathematics and the night sky. He also encouraged her toward teaching and passed on a sense of God as in the natural world. By the time Maria was sixteen, she was a teacher of mathematics at Cyrus Pierce's school for young ladies where she used to be a student. Following that she opened a grammar school of her own. And only a year after that, at the age of eighteen she was offered a job as a librarian at Nantucket's Atheneum during the day when it opened to the public in the fall of 1836. At the Atheneum she taught herself astronomy by reading books on mathematics and science. At night she regularly studied the sky through her father's telesscope. For her college education even Harvard couldn't have given her a better education than she received at home and at that time astronomy in America was very behind as of today. She kept studying at the Atheneum, discussed astronomy with scientists who visited Nantucket (including William C. Bond), and kept studying the sky through her father's lent telescope.
One year later after her discovery, she became a part of the “American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and shortly after that she became a part of the, “America Association for the Advancements of Science”. Soon after being a part of these two incredible societies, she began her work at “U.S. Nautical Almanac Office”. She than left and began traveling all around Europe and the United States, which than came to an end in 1865 when she became an astronomy professor for one of the many prestigious schools, Vassar College. Professor Maria Mitchell enjoyed hands on work with her students, they would tract sunspots and than take photographs of them. It happens to be so that they recorded Venus crossing the sun, which is an extremely rare sighting. She was a very loved an well respected professor, because of how of what she had accomplished and how much she cared for each and everyone of her students.
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow graduated Hunter College as the first women to graduate in physics (Bauman et. al. 2011). She also led a way for acceptance and understanding of women’s role in science in America (Bauman et. al. 2011). She even inspired Mildred Dresselhous, who was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and president and officer of many Associations including American Association for the Advancement of Science, to pursue the career she wanted (Bauman et. al. 2011). Rosalyn born to Clara and Simon Sussman in New York City, on July 19, 1921 (Brody 1996). She married Aaron Yalow on June 6, 1943 and had two children named Elanna and Benjamin (Brody 1996). In 1977, Dr. Yalow won the Nobel Prize in medicine and was the second women to ever accept such an award (Brody 1996). She also taught physics in New York until 1950 when the Veterans Administration (during World War II) was interested in exploring and researching radioactivity (Brody 1996). As her life progressed, Dr. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow became an inspiration for young women who want to be recognized and achieve something in their life (Brody 1996). From when she was a child she was fascinated with science and decided to achieve something no women really does. Rosalyn Yalow went to school and started working in the science field, she managed to help the world of radioactivity and radioimmunoassay, how Mrs. Rosalyn impacted the world of science, how Dr. Yalow impacted the lives of other women, and how she never lost her passion for science even in her last years.
Through American Literature many writers have given a voice to the once silent. Sandra Cisneros, a writer was one of those contributors. Very few writers of her time, explored and brought to light what she did. She started a movement in the United States and within her community to bring to light the issue that once were overlooked. The Stories, poems, novels and essays she wrote touch the lives of many people, of all walks of life. Cisneros did not have the best childhood but was able to overcome many obstacles through her life. Born in Chicago, Illinois into poverty to her first book The House on Mango street selling more than six million copies (Cisneros, 2017).
1921 moved to Berlin, married, edited a journal called Scripta Universitatis atque Bibliothecae Hierosolymitarum, the mathematical-physical section was prepared by Albert Einstein. This journal played a big role in developing the Hebrew University in Jerusalem,
Roscher, Nina M., and Cavanaugh, Margaret A. (1987). "Academic Women Chemists in the 20th Century: Past, Present, Projections." Journal of Chemical Education 64:823-827.
By studying philosophy Edith came to Christianity. She was one of the first women to be admitted to university studies in Germany. She was an outstanding student. After leaving the University of Breslau, she went to the University of Góttingin to study with Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. She became interested in his philosophy and when he moved to the University of Frieburg he invited Edith to join him there as his assistant. She then received her doctorate in leading philosophers.
Since girls were not permitted to attend any college preparatory schools, she decided to go to a general finishing school. There she studied and became certified to teach English and French. Soon after she altered her mind and decided that she wanted to pursue an education in mathematics. In 1904 Erlangen University accepted Emmy as one of the first female college students. In 1907 she received a Ph.D. in mathematics from this University. From 1908 to 1915 she worked at the Mathematical Institute of Erlangen without getting compensated or titled. The only reason she was permitted to work there was because she was helping her dad out by lecturing for his class when he was out sick. During these years she worked with Algebraist Ernst Otto Fisher and also started to work on theoretical algebra, which would make her a known mathematician in the future. She started working at the mathematical Institute in Göttingen and started to assist with Einstein’s general relativity theory. In 1918 she ended up proving two theorems which were a fundamental need f...
Sonya Kovalevsky was born on January 15, 1850 in Moscow, Russia. She grew up in a very intellectual family. Her father was a military officer and a landholder; her mother was the granddaughter of a famous Russian astronomer and an accomplished musician. She grew up living a lavish life, and was first educated by her uncle, who read her fairy tales, taught her chess, and talked about mathematics. She even bumped into the subject of trigonometry while studying elementary physics. She achieved all of this by the age of thirteen.
death of her husband. At that time Sir Isaac Newton was taken from school to
Maria Montessori was born in Chiaravalle Italy in 1870. In 1896 she got her degree in medicine and became the first female doctor in Italy. She was a very good doctor and became better known in her field by attending medical conferences around the world. I’m sure it was surprising for other doctors to see her there and I’m sure she carried herself well. She was representing Italy and women in medicine for all the world. Women like her paved the way for female doctors today. Before Ms. Montessori came along, many men and women probably thought a woman couldn't be a doctor.
Pierre's sudden death in April 1906 was a difficult blow to Maria, but a turning point in her career: she was devoted to completing the scientific work they had started. In 1911 her determination paid off, she won a second Nobel Prize (this time in chemistry) for her discovery and isolation of pure radium and radium components.