Celina Cossa Founder and leader of the

General Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, an organization of 10, 000 peasants, 95% of whom

are women

Gertrude S. AboagyeSpecialist in cattle production and animal breeding

Born in Accre, Ghana in 1947

Studied agriculture at the University of Ghana and in Canada

Roger Arliner Young The first African-American

woman to receive a doctorate in zoology

Ruth Ella MooreBacteriologist

Received a Bachelor of Science from Ohio State University in 1926 and a Master of Arts in 1927

First black female to receive a Ph.D. in Bacteriology

Dr. Moore served as the Head of the Department of Bacteriology at Howard University Medical College

Rachel Carson

Master’s degree in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932

Joined the United States Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1936, where she worked as an aquatic biologist until 1952

Most noted for her writings in the area of ecological studies in which she expressed her philosophy that humans and nature are interdependent

Gerty Theresa Radnitz CoriA pioneer in biochemistry

Received international recognition for discovering, along with her husband, how glucose is converted into glycogen

Her studies on enzymes and hormones further advanced research in the treatment of diabetes

First American women and the third worldwide to receive a Nobel Prize in the sciences

Clara BartonAt age 40 the Civil War launched her on her life’s work

Assembled and distributed supplies to the Union soldiers. Knowing that nurses were urgently needed at the battlefield, she “broke the shackles and went into the field”

Founder of the American Red Cross and served for many years as its president

Ellen OchoaNASA astronaut – July 199l, selected by NASA in January 1990, became an astronaut in July 1991

Veteran of three space flights

Logged over 719 hours in space

Wilma MankillerFirst woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation

Responsible for 139,000 people and a $69 million budget

Susette La FlescheAn Omaha Indian who campaigned tirelessly for Native American rights

First Native American lecturer and the first published Native American artist and writer

Chien-Shiung WuA pioneering physicist

First woman to receive the prestigious Research Corporation Award and the Comstock Prize from the National Academy of Sciences

Maria Tallchief

Most technically accomplished ballerina ever produced in America

Served as artistic director of the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago and later founded the Chicago City Ballet in the 1970s

Given the honor name of Wa-Xthe-Thomba in 1953, meaning “Woman of Two Worlds.” This name celebrates her international achievements as prima ballerina and Native American

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

African-American leader from New England who was a suffragist, fought slavery, and recruited African-American soldiers to fight for the North in the Civil War Organized the Women’s Era Club in 1984, among the very first African-American women’s organization

Fanny Wright

First woman to speak publicly against slavery and for the equality of women

In 1825 created Nashoba, a settlement in Tennessee to train slaves for freedom

Her tombstone in Cincinnati reads, “I have wedded the cause of human improvement, staked on it my fortune, my reputation and my life.”

Shirley Ann Jackson

Noted physicist and head of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

One of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the United States and the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in any field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Organized MIT’s Black Student Union and worked to increase the number of blacks entering MIT

Ellen Swallow Richards

First women professional chemist in the nation and played a major role to open scientific professions to women

Pioneered the new study and profession of home economics, a major opportunity at the time for higher education and employment for American women

Her innovative studies of air, water and food led to the creation of national public health standards and the new disciplines of sanitary engineering and nutrition

 

Dolores Huerta

One of the 20th century’s most powerful and respected labor movement leaders

Co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez

Led the fight to permit thousands of migrant/immigrant children to receive services

Sylvia Earle

Oceanographer, conservationist, and entrepreneur

Internationally recognized as one of our nation’s leading marine biologists and one of the world’s leading advocates for safeguarding seas

Led over 50 expeditions worldwide, involving in excess of 6, 000 hours underwater in connection with her research

Led the first team of women aquanauts (Tektite II Project) on a 2-week exploration of the ocean floor