3. Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin was an expert in the field of X-ray crystallography, and her research was the first to discover the dimensions of DNA strands as one molecule in two matching parts and opposite directions. However, her data was used by male scientists to make it appear like they discovered her first, and many people today agree that Rosalind should have been awarded a Nobel Prize along with her male colleagues. She passed in 1958, four years before it was awarded.
4. Barbara McClintock
This American geneticist got her start at Cornell in 1921, where she discovered her love for genetics.27 years later, in 1948, she discovered that parts of the genetic code in maize could change positions on chromosomes, which nobody had unearthed before. Other scientists were hostile to this discovery and many didn’t believe her. Despite continuing her research, she stopped publishing research papers in 1953. However, in the late 1960s, professionals in her field realized how significant her research was, and she became the only woman to win her own Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1983. Despite making such an iconic achievement, she said her greatest joy was discovering a secret that only she knew.
5. Helen Taussig
Hellen Taussig was deaf, severely dyslexic and faced gender discrimination, but she didn’t let that stop her and her amazing work. In 1927, she got her medical degree from John Hopkins and made groundbreaking discoveries in the field of pediatric cardiology. She discovered the cause of a birth defect known as “blue baby syndrome,” which has a high mortality rate for infants. After developing the procedure to fix it, she worked with her colleagues at John Hopkins, working on a now-successful technique that has saved thousands of babies. She continued research until the day she passed away at 87 years old.
