// CONTRIBUTIONS OF 20TH CENTURY WOMEN TO PHYSICS //





INTRODUCTION


83 Eminent Physicists


A Guide to This Site



Search the Archive
 

Fascinating Documents
 

Annotated Photo Gallery
 

In Her Own Words
 

Some Physics History
 

500+ Books and Articles
 

Field Editors



Acknowledgements
 


Photo Credits



Copyright Notice

AN ARCHIVE PRESENTING AND DOCUMENTING SOME IMPORTANT AND ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BEFORE 1976 BY 20th CENTURY WOMEN.

Whose faces are shown above?
The graphic show the faces of some physicists spanning three generations.  Click here for their names. They are among the 83 women for whom data is archived in this website.
What can you find in this archive?
Descriptions of important contributions to science made by 83 women in the 20th century. These are documented by the original papers in which the discoveries were first reported.   In addition there are historical essays and other historical documents not easily available elsewhere.
Where are 17th, 18th, and 19th century women?
Women in those centuries did not have access to institutions of higher learning. Their participation in scientific discovery was not possible. There are some notable exceptions such as Émilie du Châtelet, Sofia Kovalevskya, and Mary Somerville but generally women' intellectual development was thwarted. Brief historical account..
Why only three quarters of the 20th century?
By the last quarter of the century there were many more women working as physicist than in earlier years, too many for this website.  Each woman in this website has been carefully and thoroughly researched, and the descriptions of their work vetted by distinguished colleagues who served as Field Editors.
Why only 83 women?
We believe there are more women whose contributions should be recognized but time and resources did not allow for further additions. This work would not have been possible without the generous support of The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the American Physical Society, the University of California, UCLA Physics and Astronomy Department, the Laboratories of NIST, Joan Palevsky and other generous donors.
How can we browse this archive?
By the name of an individual woman physicist chosen, for example, from the list on the right or from the Annotated Photo Gallery or from her quotation In Her Own Words or by using the Search Engine provided.
And then? 
Follow the clues and click away! If you desire further reading, we suggest some books and articles on the webpages and have included a very large reference database in this website.

Welcome to CWP!

Project Staff






Astrophysics
Burbidge, E. M.
Burnell, Jocelyn
Faber, Sandra
Leavitt, Henrietta
Payne-Gaposchkin,Cecilia
Rubin, Vera
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Bonnelle, Christiane
Bramley, Jenny
Cauchois, Yvette
Connes, Janine
Sponer, Hertha
Condensed Matter Physics
Ancker-Johnson, Betsy
Blodgett, Katharine
Cladis, Patricia
Conwell, Esther
Dresselhaus, Mildred
Ericson, Magda
Kaufman, Bruria
Sarachik, Myriam
Levelt Sengers, Johanna
Cosmic Rays
Freier, Phyllis S.

Crystallography
Franklin, Rosalind
Hodgkin, Dorothy
Lonsdale, Kathleen
Megaw, Helen

Distinguished Public Service
Dowdy, Nancy M.
Contributions to Medicine
Quimby, Edith
Yalow, Rosalyn
Education and the Profession
DeWitt-Morette, Cecile
Franz, Judy
Jackson, Shirley
Keith, Marcia
Laird, Elizabeth
Maltby, Margaret
Meyer, Kirstine
Phillips, Melba
Stone, Isabelle
Whiting, Sarah
Xie, Xide (Hsi-teh Hsieh)

Fluid Dynamics
Pockels, Agnes
Polubarinova-Kochina, P. Ya.

Fluid Dynamics and Plasma Physics
Ayrton, Hertha

Geophysics
Lehmann, Inge

Materials Science
Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf, Doris
Neumark, Gertrude

Mathematical Physics
Cartwright, Mary L.
Choquet-Bruhat, Yvette
Dolan, Louise
Ehrenfest-Afanaseva, Titania
Jeffreys, Bertha Swirles
Kallosh, Renata
Kaufman, Bruria
Noether, Amalie Emmy
Nuclear Physics
Ajzenberg-Selove, Faye
Brooks, Harriet
Curie, Marie Sklodowska
Ericson, Magda
Gates, Fanny
Gleditsch, Ellen
Goldhaber, Gertrude Scharff
Hayward, Evans
Joliot-Curie, Irene
Karlik, Berta

Koller, Noemie Benczer
Mayer, Maria
Meitner, Lise
Meyer-Schutzmeister, Luise
Noddack, Ida Tacke
Perey, Marguerite
Phillips, Melba
Way, Katharine
Wu, Chien Shiung

Particles and Fields
Baldo-Ceolin, Milla
Blau, Marietta
Byers, Nina
Edwards, Helen
Gaillard, Mary K.
Goldhaber, Sulamith
Hanson, Gail
Lee-Franzini, Juliet
Quinn, Helen
Sechi-Zorn, Bice
Wu, Sau Lan

Physics of Beams
Edwards, Helen

Space Physics
Herzenberg, Caroline
Kivelson, Margaret
Neugebauer, Marcia