The most important women scientists in history
The top 3 according to 5 votes from people: Rosalind Franklin · Grace Hopper · Chien-Shiung Wu. (Updated Feb 12, 2025.)
The women who appear most in universities' and popular-science lists of great scientists, with their main contribution. In a New Scientist poll Marie Curie was voted the most influential woman in science, ahead of Rosalind Franklin.
Automatically translated (original in Español). See the original
Top 15
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1
Rosalind Franklin
UK, 1920-1958. Her "Photo 51" (1952) revealed the double helix of DNA.
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2
Grace Hopper
US, 1906-1992. Programming pioneer behind the COBOL language.
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3
Chien-Shiung Wu
China and the US, 1912-1997. The Wu experiment showed that parity is not conserved.
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4
Ada Lovelace
UK, 1815-1852. Wrote the first algorithm intended for a machine, Babbage's engine.
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5
Hypatia of Alexandria
Roman Egypt, c. 370-415. Mathematician, astronomer and philosopher.
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6
Emmy Noether
Germany, 1882-1935. Noether's theorem, key to modern physics, and abstract algebra.
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7
Barbara McClintock
US, 1902-1992. Discovered "jumping genes"; Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1983.
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8
Dorothy Hodgkin
UK, 1910-1994. Structures of penicillin and vitamin B12; Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964.
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9
Rachel Carson
US, 1907-1964. Silent Spring (1962), the spark of the environmental movement.
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10
Katherine Johnson
US, 1918-2020. Calculated the trajectories of NASA's first crewed flights.
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11
Vera Rubin
US, 1928-2016. Provided evidence of dark matter from the rotation of galaxies.
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12
Margarita Salas
Spain, 1938-2019. Discovered the phi29 DNA polymerase, key to biotechnology.
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13
Mary Anning
UK, 1799-1847. Palaeontologist who found the first complete ichthyosaur known.
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14
Marie Curie
Poland and France, 1867-1934. Discovered polonium and radium; the first person with Nobels in two different sciences (Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911).
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15
Lise Meitner
Austria, 1878-1968. Explained nuclear fission with Otto Frisch in 1938; meitnerium is named after her.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (3)
Rosalind Franklin merecía el Nobel, la historia del ADN es una injusticia.
Katherine Johnson y Figuras ocultas, qué historia.
Hipatia, qué mujer.