WOMEN IN SCIENCE

A PowerPoint Presentation about the impact certain women have made on the

history of science…

Roots of Science, Final Presentation.

By: Megan Riggs, Rachel Hagen, Elizabeth Richards, Michaela Hunziker

INTRODUCTION…WOMEN IN SCIENCE

Women Have influenced science since the beginning of time. Whether it be through practicing medicine, or discovering new techniques, science owes a lot to women.

Today we will be discussing 4 different women who have made an impact on the field of science.

2 early pioneers of women in medicine, and two later women who have influenced new scientific techniques.

1.) Agnodice (Around 300 BC)—Earliest woman nurse 2.) Florence Nightingale (1840’s)—Pioneer for women

nursing 3.) Marie Curie (1900’s)– Highly respected scientist 4.) Jane Goodall (1960’s)—Environmental scientist

AGNODICE….300 BC

EARLY LIFE

-Midwifery and early gynecology: including fertility, contraception, abortion, and perceived sex determination (science).

Profession was dominated by women who had given birth themselves and so had a back knowledge (science).

Enter Agnodice.

CAREER

300 BC (science). Women were unable to practice medicine (science). Dressed as a man (science). Studied medicine with Herophilus, a doctor (science). Went to the aid of a woman in labor, but the woman refused

help (science). Agnodice revealed her feminine state, and the woman

allowed the assistance (science). Agnodice was getting all the female patients—suspicion

ensued (science). Brought to trial for corrupting and seducing women

(science). Revealed herself to escape execution, but then was charged

with practicing medicine as a woman (science). Female patients spoke up: "You are the enemies, not the

spouses, because you are going to condemn this woman who healed us“(science).

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE

-Real or mythical?

-More important: Does it matter?

-Agnodice, if she wasn't a real woman, at least symbolizes the beginning of women in science and is therefore of note.

-She is first mentioned by Hyginus, a latin writer in the first century CE.

Early sculpture of Agnodice.

What Agnodice was thought to look like.

A book by Nancy Swanson about Agnodice and her importance to Women and medicine.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE…1820-1910

EARLY LIFE Nightingale was born on May 12th, 1820 into

a wealthy upper class British family. She was named after her city of birth.(Bloy)

  In 1845, had a what she called a “Christian

divine calling” to become a nurse. (Nightengale 03)

  Went against the norm, and began studying

to be a nurse. (Bloy)

CAREER Worked for the poor…improving medical care in infirmaries (Nightingale

09).

  Most famous contribution was when she went to work in the Crimean

war. She and 38 women trained by her went to Turkey, where the main British camp was based (Bloy).

  Within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari, the mortality rate dropped

from 42.7 percent to 2.2 percent. Nightingale really made the sanitary conditions better, affecting the death rate by a huge amount (Nightingale 09).

  Florence insisted on adequate lighting, diet, hygiene, and activity. She

really was the only one to connect the affect of cleanliness with the affect of infection (Bloy).

  When she got back from the war, she advocated sanitary living

conditions. In doing this, she reduced deaths in the army during peacetime and turned attention to the sanitary design of hospitals (Nightingale 03).

 

CAREER CONT. Nightingale played the central role in the establishment of the

Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. She wrote the commission's 1,000 page report that included detailed statistical reports. This report led to a major overhaul of army military care, and to the establishment of an Army Medical School and of a comprehensive system of army medical records (Nightingale 09).

“She set up the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. (It is now called the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery and is part of King's College London)” (Bloy).

In 1869, Nightingale and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell opened the Women's Medical College (Bloy).

“In 1883, Nightingale was awarded the Royal Red Cross by Queen Victoria. In 1907, she became the first woman to be awarded the Order of Merit. And in 1908, she was given the Honorary Freedom of the City of London” (Bloy).

 

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE

“She wrote many books on nursing, and sanitary conditions in hospitals. Among her popular books are Notes on Hospitals, which deals with the correlation of sanitary techniques to medical facilities; Notes on Nursing, which was the most valued nursing textbook her time; Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Efficiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army” (Nightingale 09)

 

“Nightingale's work served as an inspiration for nurses in the American Civil War. The Union government approached her for advice in organizing field medicine. Although her ideas met official resistance, they inspired the volunteer body of the United States Sanitary Commission” (Nightingale 03).

 

Nightingale became a pioneer in the visual presentation of information and statistical graphics. She used the polar area diagram, which is equivalent to a modern circular histogram or rose diagram, to illustrate seasonal sources of patient mortality in the military field hospital she managed (Bloy).

  

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE

She opened the first official nurses’ training program in 1860, called the Nightingale School for Nurses (Nightingale 09).

  Florence Nightingale's lasting contribution has been her

role in founding the modern nursing profession. She set an example of compassion, commitment to patient care, and diligent and thoughtful hospital administration (Nightingale 09).

  The work of the Nightingale School of Nursing continues

today. The Nightingale building in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Southampton is named after her. International Nurses Day is celebrated on her birthday each year (Bloy).

 

Nightingales childhood home.

Depiction of the hospital in the Crimean war.

The polar-area diagram.

Statue of Nightingale.

Nightingale’s grave.

MARIE CURIE…1867-1934

EARLY LIFE Born: Nov. 7th 1867 in Warsaw (Nobel).

Basic Education. Some scientific learning from father (Nobel).

Went to Paris to continue her studies at the Sorbonne where she obtained Licentiateships in Physics and the Mathematical Sciences in 1891 (Nobel).

Met Pierre Curie and married in 1895 (Nobel).

1903 Gained doctor of science degree (Nobel).

1906 took her husband’s place as professor of general physics in the faculty of science after his death-first woman to hold this position (Nobel).

CAREER Inspired by Henri Becquerel’s discover of radioactivity, the Curie’s

research and analyses led to the isolation of polonium and radium. Curie developed methods to separate radium from radioactive residues in quantities large enough to study the properties (Nobel).

1929 President Hoover of the United States presented her with a gift of $ 50,000, donated by American friends of science, to purchase radium for use in the laboratory in Warsaw (Nobel).

member of the Conseil du Physique Solvay from 1911 until her death.

1922 became a member of the Committee of Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations (Nobel).

author of Recherches sur les Substances Radioactives (1904), L'Isotopie et les Éléments Isotopes and the classic Traité' de Radioactivité (1910).

1921, President Harding of the United States, on behalf of the women of America, presented her with one gram of radium in recognition of her service to science (Nobel).

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE Together with her husband, she was awarded half of the

Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerelc (Nobel).

1911 she received a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, in recognition of her work in radioactivity (Nobel).

She also received, jointly with her husband, the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1903 (Nobel).

Not only was Marie Curie an influential woman in science, she was also one of the most respected scientists of her time. She was the founder of the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology and has had many institutions formed in her honor since her death. Curies’s findings in radioactivity are still respected and used to this day in science (Nobel).

Curie’s childhood home.

Curie’s Husband.

Statue of Curie.

Working with her husband in their lab.

JANE GOODALL…1934

EARLY LIFE Born in London, England – April 3, 1934 (Goodall).

Given chimpanzee toy by father; sparked her interest (Goodall).

Hired by Louis Leaky as an assistant and secretary (Goodall).

Went to dig in eastern Africa with Leaky and his wife

(Goodall).

Studied chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park.

Returned to UK to attend the University of Cambridge and earn a PhD in ethology (Goodall).

*(Ethology – the scientific study of animal behavior)

CAREER Most well-known for her thorough 45-year study of the

social and family interactions of chimpanzees (Goodall).

Goodall is a primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist.

One of her most significant discoveries about chimpanzees is their ability to make tools (Goodall).

Patron for the Optimum Population Trust.

Dedicates her time and efforts to studying, helping, and protecting chimpanzees all over, which has resulted in her traveling almost 300 days out of the year (Goodall).

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE Established the Jane Goodall Institute in

1977 which supports the Gombe research in eastern Africa where she first started (Goodall).

Involved in environmental issues which had led her to endorse the Forests Now Declaration which helps to protect tropical forests (Goodall).

Also founded Roots & Shoots which is a global youth organization (Goodall).

OVERALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO

SCIENCE CONT.

Board member for the world’s largest chimpanzee foundation (other than in Africa) called Save the Chimps in Fort Pierce, Florida (Goodall).

She contributed to the study social learning, primate cognition, thinking and culture in wild chimpanzees, their differentiation from the bonobo, and the inclusion of both chimpanzee species, and the gorilla, as Hominids (Goodall).

She has received many honors for all of her work in chimpanzees and the environment (Goodall).

Photo taken at Hong Kong University.

Many of Goodall’s studies took place on chimps like these.

Sculpture at Animal Kingdom.

CONCLUSION…WOMEN IN SCIENCE

BIBLIOGRAPHY Bloy, Marjie. Florence Nightingale. 6 Jan. 2009. Victoian Web. 20 Feb.

2009. <http://www.victorianweb.org/history/crimea/florrie.html>

Florence Nightingale. 3 March. 2009. Wikapedia. 25 Feb. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale>

Florence Nightingale. Oct. 2003. University of St. Andrews. 24 feb. 2009. <http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Nightingale.html>

Nobelprize.org. 1967. 25 Feb. 2009

<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html>.

Jane Goodall. Wikipedia. 28 Feb. 2009. 2 March 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall>

Women In Science. 2008. University of Virginia Health System. 28 Feb 2009 <http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/artifacts/antiqua/women.cfm>.

All pictures courtesy of Google images, and Wikipedia.