Brilliant women!

[FloralBunting]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44962253

Second attempt at a clicky thread.

In the midst of all the crap, I think it is a good thing to focus on women who are inspiring. Just saw this story on the news and think she is a very good addition to start with. Any others? Go on, show me some amazing women I can show my kids!

Ooh, I guessed right as to who would be on the other end of your clicky link (and funnily enough I thought about starting a thread about Mary Ellis today too).

Well done the Sea Gals

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/26/the-sea-gals-swim-the-channel-photo-essay

I was glad to hear she had a final flight on a Spitfire last year.

All women are brilliant.

Most definitely. I don't mean to restrict thread to well known women - some shared stories of those who don't have BBC obits are most welcome!

My kids had no idea women flew spitfires in WW2. It was a real eye opener to realize how hidden women are.

Women not only flew spitfires but they also worked in munitions factories in highly skilled positions with little time for training and cracked codes in highly skilled positions.

It was Ada Lovelace who recognised algorithms. Without her input into computer science, heaven knows where we would be. She sadly died young of uterine cancer. And we know that Marie Curie was a forerunner in the detection and treatment of tumours.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

Marie curie is one of only a couple of people to have two nobel prizes

Overachiever...

I was reading about Edmonia Lewis today, and I am amazed that I'd never heard of her before. I found her story to be absolutely astonishing given her background and the era she was living in.

www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/obituaries/overlooked-edmonia-lewis-sculptor.html

Can I add my usual shout for the woman who was a pioneer in the determination of the structure of large biologically important molecules, who was my own inspiration:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hodgkin

...Dorothy Hodgkin, who is the only British woman yet to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Everyone seems to know about Rosalind Franklin, but for some reason fewer people seem to mention Hodgkin, who had a long and very eminent career, during which she inspired many scientists, female and male.

One of her enduring legacies of particular relevance to feminists is this:

royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/dorothy-hodgkin-fellowship/

'This scheme offers a recognised first step into an independent research career for outstanding scientists at an early stage of their research career who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances, such as parenting or caring responsibilities or health-related reasons.'

Would that there were more such enlightened schemes! (It is, quite correctly open to both sexes but I think the majority of the research fellows supported by the scheme are women).

Dorothy Hodgkin is one of my heroes (I used to do a lot of my revision for finals at a desk beneath her portrait in my local library, and very inspirational she was too!) I also have a good friend who benefited from a DH fellowship.

Can I throw a couple of female mathematicians in here too? Emmy Noether and Maryam Mirzakani (who died tragically young only a year or so ago, but was the first woman to win the Fields Medal).

Also, going back to WWII, there were so many remarkable women - Violette Szabo, for example.

And since someone mentioned Ada Lovelace, there's also the women at Bletchley Park, such as Mavis Batey.

Then there's inventor Hedy Lamarr, and her frequency hopping radio signals to allow torpedoes to receive radio messages without risk of jamming.

Oh, and going back to computing, Grace Hopper, inventor of the Cobol language.

I am not STEM minded at all - most of my girls and my son follow me in the creative arts realm, but my other daughter is very keen on these kinds of fields.
It's always tremendously exciting to see female names next to achievements, especially after so many years of believing the patriarchy party line.

Big shout out to my MIL, who was the national accordion champion in her youth!

Whenever my kids start that "but girls can't" stuff, I say "Mary Anning".

Re flying the aircraft in WW2 - they didn’t carry live ammo to defend themselves ...

I have always admired the Soviet women who fought in WW2.

Bomber pilots nicknamed the Night Witches
www.google.com/amp/amp.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night

Fighter pilots:

Liliia Litviak fighter
www.lilylitviak.org/styled/styled-11/

Yekaterina Budanova
ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=645

Tank drivers:

Mariya Oktyabrskaya
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariya_Oktyabrskaya

Aleksandra Samusenko
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandra_Samusenko

Snipers
mashable.com/2016/07/30/soviet-women-snipers/?europe=true#S81PV_YXUaqW

Female soldiers throughout history
thefemalesoldier.com

Stephanie Kwolek inventor of Kevlar. I like her because she invented something to protect against another invention, the gun.

But she has a special place in my heart because trying to drop women who are cool into conversation with DD can be obvious. But one day DD said, "if only there was something to protect people from guns". I could say that a fabulous woman had invented something.

Emmy Noether

If she were a man she would be known like Newton, Gauss, Fermat, and Einstein. She was probably the most important mathematician for physics during his time.

And in line with this thread, there is a female special forces group in Norway: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jegertroppen

Given it's Norway, they train in snowy conditions I bet many a men's SF group couldn't deal with.

Stopthisnow

I always thought Lily Litvyak would be a good subject for a film. Not only is she supposed to have shot down a German Ace, she wasn't awarded a medal (either Hero of the Soviet Union or Order of the Red Banner, I forget) until her body was found years later and the absence of bullet holes in her back meant that, under Soviet logic, she wasn't a coward and thus merited the award of the medal.

It was Ada Lovelace who recognised algorithms. Without her input into computer science, heaven knows where we would be.

Euclid's algorithm, c. 300 BC, amongst others.

"All but one of the programs cited in her notes had been prepared by Babbage from three to seven years earlier. The exception was prepared by Babbage for her, although she did detect a 'bug' in it. Not only is there no evidence that Ada ever prepared a program for the Analytical Engine, but her correspondence with Babbage shows that she did not have the knowledge to do so."

Bromley, Allan G. (1990). "Difference and Analytical Engines" (pdf). In Aspray, William. Computing Before Computers. Ames: Iowa State University Press. pp. 59–98. ISBN 0-8138-0047-1. p. 89.

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In short she was no doubt a clever and noteworthy figure, but I have a sneaking suspicion the Enigma code would have been cracked without her contributions to Babbage's steam punk calculator that never got built.

And in line with this thread, there is a female special forces group in Norway: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jegertroppen

Given it's Norway, they train in snowy conditions I bet many a men's SF group couldn't deal with.

A physically weak SF unit that might have an advantage under one specific weather condition.

They sound useful.

My contribution would be Leni Riefenstahl and Tu Youyou.

Why would the special forces unit be physically weak?

Have a look at the physical entry requirement for male vs female SF units. Spot the difference.

Why does that make them physically weak?

I imagine it has something to do with testosterone levels...

Women tend to do much better with less food, aren't known for their torture and rape of civilian populations in war zones, may tolerate cold better, can melt into the civilian population better when needed.

All things that won't win the 100 metres at the olympics and aren't picked up by fitness tests but may be useful.

Wondering about the motivation to piss on women's chips though. That's curious.

And we know that Marie Curie was a forerunner in the detection and treatment of tumours.

She was the first person to receive two nobel prizes (and I think still the only person to have two science nobel prizes). Absolutely incredible.

I'm another who always likes to mention Dorothy Hodgkin (first British woman to win a Nobel prize) but since she has been mentioned already I'll add the little fact that Margaret Thatcher did her final year project in Hodgkin's lab.

Another scientist: Caroline Herchel, sister and collaborator of the better known William who was the first salaried female scientist in the UK and discoverer of several comets.

Harriet Tubman who, having escaped slavery to Philadelphia, returned to the plantation in Maryland again and again at enormous personal risk to smuggle out others. I first read about her when I was nine, with my heart in my mouth as I found her courage far greater than I could imagine my own. A truly inspiring woman.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman