Sciencewomen

The Smithsonian Institution has made available on Flickr an amazing set of photographs of early women scientists and engineers.The pictures include women who worked at the Smithsonian and images from the Science Service Archives now housed at the Smithsonian. Some of these women scientists are well-known, even Nobel laureates, while others worked in obscurity. Some used their scientific training and passion to do research, some to save lives as doctors and nurses, some to write about science, some to break the sound barrier, and some to advance the cause of women. To me, all of them were scientists.

Here’s a sampling of the photos included in the collection (this one picked for ScienceGrandma to enjoy):

Mary Agnes Chase (1869-1963) specialized in the study of grasses and conducted extensive field work in South America, often personally funding her research trips, as it was considered inappropriate for women to conduct such work. Chase joined the Department of Agriculture in 1903 as a botanical illustrator and eventually became Scientific Assistant in Systematic Agrostology, 1907; Assistant Botanist, 1923; and Associate Botanist, 1925. In 1935, became Principal Botanist in charge of Systematic Agrostology and Custodian of the Section of Grasses, Division of Plants, United States National Museum.

You can read a bit more about Chase (and her political activism) on the Smithsonian Bigger Picture blog.

Comments

#1 dean
March 20, 2009

A powerful collection of photos of very important people. The only think lacking (to me) is any written history with the photos – but that isn’t what Flickr is for.

Thanks for posting this.
#2 Alice
March 20, 2009

OMG, this is WAY cool. I have bookmarked the site.
#3 Raysa
March 20, 2009

Very good information about women in Science, in particular for those that still think women can’t excel in Science. Also, it is something to beat Greg Laden’s ideas.
Thank you!
#4 sarcozona
March 21, 2009

Loved this so much! Thanks for posting
#5 DNLee
March 21, 2009

that is GREAT! Please, please, please tell me you are submiting this post for the Diversity in Science Women’s History Month edition.
#6 Chris
March 24, 2009

Here is another set of pictures, women engineers:
http://www.reuther.wayne.edu/image/tid/5
#7 Match
March 28, 2009

Very good information about women in science. It’s certainly going in my bookmarks!
#8 BerryBird
April 5, 2009

Thanks so much for sharing this link, I just spent a ton of time over there. I was a little disappointed not to see Frances Hamerstrom included. She was a wildlife biologist, the only woman to receive a graduate degree under Aldo Leopold. Her autobiography My Double Life: Memoirs of a Naturalist, is hugely entertaining. But what a fantastic collection! I’m going to pass it along to my Mom and sister.