Maria Mitchell became famous worldwide after becoming the first American to discover a comet.

Maria Mitchell (second from left) and her students at the Vassar College Observatory measuring the Sun’s rotation from the movement of sunspots.

At the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the world's first women's rights convention, illustrious suffragists and feminists like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton took time to honor a groundbreaking scientist: Maria Mitchell, who had just become the first American and third woman in history to discover a comet! Mitchell would go on to become America's first professional female astronomer, and she used her newfound fame to advocate for scientific education for girls and women. "Does anyone suppose that any woman in all the ages has had a fair chance to show what she could do in science?" she asked. "Until able women have given their lives to investigation, it is idle to discuss the question of their capacity for original work." Or, as she wrote more pointedly in one of her journals, "better to be peering in the spectrograph than on the pattern of a dress." Continue reading → Continue reading

Dr. Frances Kelsey resisted intense industry pressure to approve thalidomide; the drug was the cause of severe birth defects in over 10,000 infants in other countries.

When pharmacologist Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey started working at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1960, one of the first files to cross her desk was an approval request for thalidomide. The drug had already been prescribed widely in Europe and other countries as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women, but Kelsey wasn't convinced it was safe. Her refusal to approve the drug, despite intense pressure from its manufacturer, likely saved tens of thousands of babies in America from devastating birth defects. "Representatives for the company thought I was crazy because it was such a popular drug in Europe, and they were losing money by my pigheadedness," asserted Kelsey in a later interview. "I held my ground. I just wouldn't approve it." Continue reading → Continue reading

Among hundreds of men, trailblazing NASA Engineer JoAnn Morgan was the sole woman present in the locked control room.

A famous photo shows the control room at Kennedy Space Center on the day of the historic Apollo 11 launch packed with hundreds of men in white shirts and skinny black ties — and, among them, a single woman sits at a console. As Apollo 11 began its flight to the moon on July 16, 1969, 28-year-old instrumentation controller JoAnn Hardin Morgan became the first woman ever permitted in the launch firing room, which is locked down in advance of a space flight. Morgan, who was the first female engineer at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, would go on to have a 40-year-long career at NASA. While she encountered challenges along the way, including being "the only woman there for a long time" and spending the first 15 years working "in a building were there wasn't a ladies rest room," Morgan says that "I had such a passion that overrode anything else, the lonely moments, the little bits of negative. They were like a mosquito bite. You just swat it and push on." Continue reading → Continue reading

Pioneering neuroscientist Brenda Milner, one of the founders of cognitive neuroscience, says that at 105, she's "still nosy."

If you go to the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, you might catch a glimpse of 105-year-old Dr. Brenda Milner — a pioneering neuroscientist who's still breaking new ground in her 70-year long career as a brain researcher! The eminent British-born scientist revolutionized brain science as a newly minted PhD in the 1950s. Today, she is best known for discovering where memory formation occurs in the brain and is widely recognized as one of the founders of cognitive neuroscience. Her research to better understand the inner workings of the human brain continues today, although she says that people often think she must be emerita because of her advanced age. "Well, not at all," she asserts. "I’m still nosy, you know, curious.” Continue reading → Continue reading

Dr. Kazue Togasaki became one of the first Japanese American women to earn a medical degree in the US.

In the midst of World War II, as many people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated in internment camps, a pioneering doctor helped ensure that pregnant women got the best care she could provide. Dr. Kazue Togasaki fought sexism and racism to become one of the first Japanese American women to earn a medical degree in the US. Over the course of her remarkable career, she delivered over 10,000 babies, including 50 during one month at the Tanforan Assembly Center. "In other camps, I know they’d send the pregnant women out to the nearest county hospital to deliver, but I never thought about sending them out from Tanforan," she recalled years later. "I thought it was my duty." Continue reading → Continue reading

A Mighty Girl's top picks of children's biographies and fiction about girls and women in engineering.

There are few things as satisfying as making something work — which for many girls and women means a love of engineering! Unfortunately, women are still highly underrepresented in the field and progress has been slow with the percentage of engineering bachelors degrees awarded to women in the U.S. increasing only from 17.8% in 2010 to 22.5% in 2019. Even today, many girls consider engineering a 'male' field or they simply don't know what engineers do. International Women in Engineering Day, which is celebrated annually on June 23, provides a perfect opportunity to introduce girls to the many types of engineering careers available and explore how engineers help to solve real-world challenges. Continue reading → Continue reading

"Nobody, but nobody, is going to stop breathing on me."

You've likely heard doctors or parents talking about a baby's Apgar Score, but did you know that this lifesaving measure is named for its creator, Dr. Virginia Apgar, the pioneering anesthesiologist whose work has helped save countless newborns? The Apgar Score, which is now used in many countries around the world, helps doctors quickly assess the health of newborns to determine if they need medical intervention. Apgar also authored a groundbreaking book called Is My Baby All Right? which provided parents with a reassuring and informative guide to birth defects, which had previously been a taboo topic and a source of shame to many families. Apgar's unflagging determination to provide the best possible care for both women and their babies is perhaps best summed up by her famous quote: "Nobody, but nobody, is going to stop breathing on me." Continue reading → Continue reading

'Shark Lady' Eugenie Clark was one of the foremost shark experts of her generation.

When Eugenie Clark was applying for graduate school at Columbia University, a scientist there told her, "If you do finish, you will probably get married, have a bunch of kids, and never do anything in science after we have invested our time and money in you." Instead, she earned a PhD from New York University, and went on to become known as the "Shark Lady," one of the leading marine biologists of her generation! Clark's pioneering research on sharks, an animal that had enthralled her since she was a child, helped changed attitudes towards these misunderstood creatures and emphasized the importance of caring for our oceans. "I don't get philosophical. Love fish. Love sharks," she once wrote. "Keep the water and their habitats as clean and protected as possible." Continue reading → Continue reading

English paleontologist Mary Anning discovered the first known ichthyosaur skeleton at only 12 years old and went on to make many more discoveries which changed human's understanding of prehistoric life.

The phrase "she sells seashells by the sea shore" isn't just a tongue twister; many people believe it refers to the trailblazing English paleontologist Mary Anning! When she was only 12 years old, Anning discovered the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton and she spent the rest of her life searching out fossils that helped change humans' understanding of prehistoric life and natural history. Sadly, because she was a woman, she was rarely credited for her critical discoveries, and only in recent years have her wide-ranging contributions received the recognition they deserve. Continue reading → Continue reading

Wally Funk made history as the oldest person to ever travel to space!

In the 1960s, pioneering aviator Wally Funk, who could fly just about anything with wings, was part of the "Mercury 13" program exploring whether women could be astronauts — but despite excelling at all the tests male astronauts took, NASA refused to accept women into the space program. Today, the 82-year-old finally achieved her lifelong dream of traveling to space when she left orbit on commercial space company Blue Origin's inaugural crewed flight! Funk, who became the oldest person ever to leave Earth's atmosphere on today's 10 minute, 19 second journey, joined Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemon, a physics student who became the youngest person ever to go to space on the same trip. "No one has waited longer," Bezos wrote in an Instagram post when he announced he had invited Funk on the flight. "It's time. Welcome to the crew, Wally." Continue reading → Continue reading