Scientific advances have been made possible due to the revolutionary work of previous masterminds of science. Without the early scientists who were just starting to discover the world, we wouldn’t know what we do today. One of these amazing scientists was Marie Curie. She was a woman of tremendous courage and determination and it is with her work that ushered the era of atomic power. Her amazing work with radioactivity and the discovery of two key elements have helped further many scientific discoveries and have set the foundation for many modern discoveries we have made.
Marie Curie was Marie Curie was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. Her mother was a secondary school teacher, while her father trained her in the sciences. She was the youngest of five children, with three older sisters and a brother. At Age 15, she graduated first in her class. She wanted to attend the University of Warsaw, but was not allowed to due to her gender. She wanted to continue studying science, so she saved up enough money and went to the Sorbonne in Paris, France and earned a master’s degree in physics. In 1894 she met Pierre Curie, a young French chemist, and only a short year later they were married.
Marie used a clever technique called the electrometer. About 15 years earlier, Pierre and his older brother, Jacques, had invented this device for measuring extremely low electrical currents. She used it in measuring the faint currents that can pass through air that has been blasted with uranium rays. Marie and Pierre furthered their research by examining mineral ore pitchblende. An extremely high degree of radiation was emitted by this compound and after refining it in 1898, the element polonium was discovered. They named this element af...
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...nolds, Moira Davison. American Women Scientists: 23 Inspiring Biographies, 1900-2000. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1999. Print.
2. Ellavich, Marie C. Scientists. Their Lives and Works. Vol. 5. Detroit: U*X*L, 1998. Print.
3. Feldman, Anthony, and Peter Ford. Scientists & Inventors. New York: Facts on File, 1979. Print.
1. "Marie Curie - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 29 Jan 2014.
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Keller, Evelyn Fox. Reflections on Gender and Science: 10th Anniversary Edition. New Haven and London: Yale University, 1995.
Rossiter, Margaret W. (1982). Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press
People discussed in the book includes those such as scientist Marie Curie whose discovery of Radium,almost ruined her career, and the writer Mark Twain, whose short story Sold to Satan featured a devil who was made of radium and wore a suit made of . Also discussed is Maria Goeppert-Mayer, a German-born American who earned a Nobel Prize in Physics for her groundbreaking work, yet continually faced opposition due to her gender.
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.
Schick, Elizabeth A., ed. Current Biography Yearbook. vol 1997. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1997. 317-320. Print.
Many women scientist upheld and defended their positions as learned, scientific individuals. Marie Meurdrac, a French scientist, in a foreword to a publication stated clearly that women’s and men’s minds, if thought in the same manner would hold no difference.(Doc 2) Similarly, Dorothea Erxleben understood and explained why men and women alike look down on her for studying science because they feel that it is an insult.(Doc 9) Her experiences as a female scientist led her to truly grasp why her persecutors acted as they did towards her although this document shows no signs that she thinks the same. Maria Sibylla Merian, a German entomologist, discussed some of her scientific practices that encompass her dedication and fascination with science.(Doc 5) Another example of this whole-hearted dedication comes from Marquis...
One of the strongest women scientist/astronomer was born in 1818 as Maria Mitchell whom led an unbelievable life and had an incredible discovery. Maria Mitchell was born when women were not given the opportunity to vote nor did women have the same equal rights as men did, but given her circumstances of her father being a principal, founding his own school and being a distant family member of Benjamin Franklin she was given the same rights as the men did. Given a few obstacles she led an extraordinary life and became the first woman in America to work as an astronomer professionally, which she than later received an award personally from King Frederick VII, for her work and discovery.
For a long time, women’s potential in Science was little to none. However, over the years, it has now changed because of the outstanding breakthroughs and encouraging accomplishments women have done through the years. It is because of them, women’s potential in Science and other realms of studies has now evolved with more understandings and discoveries. It is for the reason of Maria Mitchell, one of the first female astronomers to be recognized in Science, that women’s potential were essentially respected. Her discoveries during her time as a student, a teacher, and an astronomer paved the way for many others, not just in Science, but also for woman’s rights and potential to be seen.
Print. The. Ferinad Puretz, Max. True Science, Review of Peter Medawar, Advice to a Young Scientist. N. p. :
University of Alabama, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 4,000 Years of Women in Science. Dec. 2002 2 Nov. 2003 http://crux.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/newintro.html.
When most people think of the Scientific Revolution, they think of scientists such as Galileo, Newton, Brahe, and Boyle. However, many people do not even know about the many women who played a vital role in the scientific advancements of this period. Even when these women were alive, most of society either ignored them or publicly disapproved their unladylike behavior. Because of this, these women were often forgotten from history, and very little is known about the majority of them. Although their names rarely appear in history books, the female scientists of the Scientific Revolution still impacted the world of science in several ways. In fact, all of the scientists listed above had a woman playing an influential role assisting them in their research. However, assisting men in their studies was not the only role open to women; several women performed experimentation and research on their own, or advancing science in some other way, even though the society of the time looked down upon and even resisted their studies.
One of history’s most notable woman scientist of the late 15th century and early 16th century was none other than Sophia Brahe . Sophia Brahe was profound student in the sciences which included Medicine, Chemistry genealogy, and Astronomy. She had such a strong passion for science much like her brother who is known as a famous astronomer Tycho Brahe. It was through Tycho were Sophia learned the needed skills to uplift her scientific career.
Pollack, Eileen. “Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?” The New York Times. The New York Times, 05 Oct. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
Zuckerman, Harriet, Jonathan Cole and John Bruer (eds.)” The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community” New York: Norton, Print. 1991
The impact of nuclear power on the modern world has improved Various sectors of the economy and society .i.e. Food and Agriculture, Insect control, Food Preservation, Water Resources, Military, Medicine, Research and Industry. “In 1911 George de Hevesy conducted the first application of a radioisotope. At the time de Hevesy was a young Hungarian student working in Manchester with naturally radioactive materials. Not having much money he lived in modest accommodation and took his meals with his landlady. He began to suspect that some of the meals that appeared regularly might be made from leftovers from the preceding days or even weeks, but he could never be sure. To try and confirm his suspicions de Hevesy put a small amount of radioactive material into the remains of a meal. Several days later when the same dish was served again he used a simple radiation detection instrument - a gold leaf electroscope - to check if the food was radioactive. It was, and de Hevesy's suspicions were confirmed.