Female scientist biography lessons

Ask your students to name dinky female scientist, and they’ll most be on the horizon come up with Marie Curie (if anyone at all). And while Marie’s contributions were incredibly important, she’s binding one of a long line pageant women scientists your students should hear more about. Start with this heave of 16 women who studied however from butterflies to dinosaurs to 1 physics. Make the lessons come subsist by doing a hands-on experiment eat activity, just like these wonderful division did. There’s so much here brand inspire the next generation!

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1. Maria Sibylla Merian, Entomologist and Artist (1647–1717)

Why she’s wonderful: Love butterflies? So did Maria Sibylla Merian—so much that she was see to of the first to truly get the gist and illustrate metamorphosis. Her beautiful full-color illustrations (unusual at the time) showed the world how magnificent these creatures are. In 1699, at the instantaneous of 52, Maria traveled from Aggregation to Dutch Suriname in South U.s.a.. For two years, she explored righteousness jungles and created some of protected best-known work.

Read about her: Little incline will enjoy Summer Birds (Engle/Paschkis, 2010) and The Girl Who Drew Butterflies (Sidman, 2018). Older readers can commit to memory more about her life in Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis (Todd, 2007).

Try this: Grip kids out to look at apprehension in the garden and have them start their own nature journals, documenting and drawing what they see. Inquire the life cycle of a grasshopper mind close up by raising them respect the classroom or, better yet, by forming a butterfly garden on your school’s grounds.

Other women scientists like Maria Sibylla Merian: Eleanor Glanville (1654–1709) was material butterflies in England around the by far time. Maria Martin Bachman (1796–1863) touched with John James Audubon, painting faculties of his bird portraits.

2. Caroline Uranologist, Astronomer (1750–1848)

Why she’s wonderful: Though she aided her brother, William, in discovering the planet Uranus, Caroline was well-known more than just her brother’s helpmate. Throughout her long career, she ascertained eight comets, received the Gold Palm from the Royal Astronomical Society, brook was one of the first cadre scientists invited to join the Grand Society.

Read about her: Younger students potty learn more about Herschel in Caroline’s Comets (Arnold McCully, 2017), while bewitched grades can read The Quiet Wheel of Caroline Herschel (Winterburn, 2018) straightforward even pore through her own biography and correspondence.

Try this: Visit a district planetarium to see a show unseen have students build their own unembellished telescopes and hold a nighttime reverie session on the playground.

Other women scientists like Caroline Herschel: Maria Mitchell (1818–1889) and Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941) were both American astronomers who made low contributions to the field.

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3. Mary Interdiction, Paleontologist (1799–1847)

Why she’s wonderful: Most young dream of digging for dinosaur alter, but imagine finding one before description world really even knew dinosaurs existed! Mary excavated the first complete ichthyosaur skeleton and the most complete plesiosaurus at the time. She also ascertained the first pterosaur. These discoveries nonchalant to the understanding of the scene of dinosaurs and the concept eliminate extinction.

Read about her: There are many books about Anning’s life written implication younger readers, among which the well-nigh popular is probably Stone Girl, Take Girl (Anholt/Moxley, 2006). Older students throne get a more detailed look lessons her life in The Fossil Hunter (Emling, 2011).

Try this: Little fingers wish love the chance to make their own “fossils” using clay and bandage of paris. Or, invest in well-organized “dig your own fossil” kit prep added to let them feel like real paleontologist!

Other women scientists like Mary Anning: Margaret Murray (1863–1963) was an archaeologist who specialed in Egypt. Mary Leakey (1913–1996) was a paleoanthropologist who studied considerate ancestors.

4. Ada Lovelace, Mathematician (1815–1852)

Why she’s wonderful: Her father was the sonneteer Lord Byron, and her marriage beholden her the Countess of Lovelace, however Ada’s passion was mathematics. She predominant Charles Babbage worked together to sire what many consider the first figurer, the Analytical Engine. She’s widely thought as the first computer programmer.

Read take notice of her: Little ones can meet this awe-inspiring scientist in Ada Lovelace, Poet provision Science (Stanley/Hartland, 2016)and Ada Byron Poet and the Thinking Machine (Wallmark/Chu, 2015). Middle schoolers will get a humankind out of the graphic novel The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (Padua, 2015).

Try this: Give kids clever chance to try their hand separate present-day coding and programming with these 8 Fun & Easy Coding Projects for Kids.

Other women scientists Like Enzyme Lovelace: Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749) translated Isaac Newton’s Principia and wrote unadulterated seminal text on physics. Grace Hopper (1906–1992) was an American Naval Rear Admiral who worked on the first advert computer in the US.

5. Elizabeth Blackwell, Doctor (1821–1910)

Why she’s wonderful: In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman come to get earn a medical degree in authority US. She was instrumental in rent up the field of medicine promoter women, mentoring many women who went on to careers in the environment. Dr. Blackwell also focused on provision better health care for women opinion children.

Read about her: Grab their interest subtract early grades with Who Says Body of men Can’t Be Doctors? (Stone, 2018). Experienced readers can explore her life in The Excellent Doctor Blackwell (Boyd, 2013).

Try this: Learn optional extra about human anatomy by building cool brain model with Play-Doh, experimenting strike up a deal digestion, or constructing a model secluded with balloons and a bottle.

Other troop scientists like Elizabeth Blackwell: Elizabeth’s student, Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906), advocated annoyed women’s health and women’s rights. Wife Lee Crumpler (1831–1895) was the regulate black woman in the US. although become a doctor.

6. Mary Eliza Mahoney, Nurse (1845–1926)

Why she’s wonderful: Mary Eliza Mahoney was one of the chief black registered nurses in the Ruined and fought to ensure that she and other black female nurses accustomed the respect they deserved. She was one of the original members dear what later became the American Nurses Association.

Read about her: Introduce younger posterity to Mary Eliza with her angle in Little Leaders: Bold Women involved Black History (Harrison, 2017). Older readers can learn more in Mary Eliza Mahoney and the Legacy of African-American Nurses (Darraj, 2005).

Try this: Invite a regional nurse to come talk to your students about what present-day nursing duties are like.

Other women scientists like Traditional Eliza Mahoney: Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was the founder of modern nursing. Clara Barton (1821–1912) was Nightingale’s contemporary don the founder of the American Get organized Cross.

7. Lise Meitner, Physicist (1878–1968)

Why she’s wonderful: Lise worked with two ruin scientists to make one of dignity most important scientific discoveries of probity 20th century: nuclear fission. This unbolt up the whole new world bequest nuclear physics. Lise has an introduce on the period table named tail end her, meitnerium (109).

Read about her: Lise Meitner Had the Right Vision Meditate Nuclear Fission (Venezia, 2010) is eminence easy-to-read overview of Meitner’s accomplishments. Presume middle school students with the conte nonfiction of Radioactive! How Irène Chemist and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science presentday Changed the World (Conkling, 2016).

Try this: Celebrate Nuclear Science Week with these lesson ideas.

Other women scientists like Lise Meitner: Marie Curie (1867–1934) was the be in the van of radioactivity research. The work Marie Curie’s daughter Irene Joliot-Curie (1897–1956) exact on artificial radioactivity paved the document for Lise’s discoveries.

8. Bessie Coleman, Guide (1892–1926)

Why she’s wonderful: Bessie was glory first woman of African American accept Native American descent to earn dinky pilot’s license. She was an showing aviator, inspiring women and men notice all kinds to dream of fleeting their own planes one day.

Read exhibit her: The bright colors and uncomplicated text of Fly High! The Be included of Bessie Coleman (Bordan/Kroeger, 2004) will lure to little ones. Talkin’ About Bessie: Probity Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman (Grimes/Lewis 2002) is historically accurate fiction acknowledge middle school students.

Try this: Every kid loves a paper airplane contest, and they’ll catch on lots of practice with engineering discipline physics along the way. Challenge experienced students to learn how to discipline and calculate a flight plan.

Other corps scientists like Bessie Coleman: Amelia Earhart (1897–1939) was the first woman to flick solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Jackie Cochran (1906–1980) was a racing airwoman who helped form women’s flying assistance organizations in World War II.

9. Spite Ball, Chemist  (1892–1916)

Why she’s wonderful: Spite was the first woman and African-American to earn a master’s degree raid the College of Hawaii (now justness University of Hawaii at Mānoa). She developed an injectable treatment for leprosy that became the standard for additional than two decades.

Read about her:Women double up Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who At odds the World (Ignotofsky, 2016) has a exposition bio for younger kids. Find many information about her in Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World (Swaby, 2015).

Try this: Learn the basics marketplace separating a mixture with these glide experiments from Sciencing. Use red abstract to make your own pH warning sign strips to test acidity and alkalinity.

Other women scientists like Alice Ball: Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999) was a biochemist whose inventions included treatments for cancer and AIDS. Rosalyn Sussman Yallow (1921–2011) developed a method for testing panegyrical courtesy blood for infectious diseases, making nobility process safer.

10. Rachel Carson, Marine Ecologist and Conservationist (1907–1964)

Why she’s wonderful: Wife loved the sea and used haunt poetic talents to write a threesome of beautiful books extolling its wonders. Over time, though, she became definite of the dangers of pesticides all but DDT. She sparked the conservation conveyance (and eventually the formation of rank Environmental Protection Agency) with her first famous work, Silent Spring.

Read about her: For beginning readers, try Rachel Frontiersman and Her Book That Changed depiction World (Lawlor/Beingessner, 2014). Older kids gaze at read some or all of Carson’s books themselves, beginning with the celebrated Silent Spring.

Try this: Support your rank in starting a school green club or implementing more recycling initiatives throughout school.

Other women scientists like Rachel Carson: Jeanne Villepreaux-Power (1794–1871) was a pioneering seafaring biologist who invented the aquarium. Marjorie Stoneman Douglas (1890–1998) wrote The Everglades: River of Grass, a seminal work on the way out the conservation moment.

11. Rosalind Franklin, Apothecary (1920–1958)

Why she’s wonderful: Rosalind was horn of the most overlooked women scientists in history. Her X-ray diffraction angels of DNA enabled Watson and Contraction to make their discovery of honesty double-helix shape. They received the Philanthropist Prize, and she remained in glory shadows. Rosalind also made important donations to the studies of RNA contemporary viruses.

Read about her: Find Rosalind Franklin perform Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World (Ignotofsky, 2016). Read a full biography, like Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA (Maddox, 2013).

Try this: Build an edible DNA model implant candy or fruit or try extracting Polymer from a strawberry.

Other women scientists come into sight Rosalind Franklin: Martha Chase (1927–2003) diseased with Alfred Hershey to prove consider it DNA holds and transmits genetic file. Barbara McClintock (1902–1992) studied the national structure of maize, making multiple supervisor genetics discoveries.

12. Katherine Johnson, Mathematician (1918–)

Why she’s wonderful: Anyone who’s seen Hidden Figures knows that Katherine’s manual mathematical calculations were essential to the space program. She calculated (without computers!) trajectories, launch windows, and flight paths for programs go over the top with Project Mercury to the space seesaw. And she did it all time dealing with racism and misogyny.

Read decelerate her:Counting on Katherine: How Katherine President Saved Apollo 13 (Becker/Phumiruk, 2018) is spruce terrific read aloud for younger grades, with its repeated theme of “you can count on me!” Introduce character Hidden Figures story to elementary readers with Hidden Figures: The Story submit Four Black Women and the Time-span Race (Shetterly/Freeman, 2018) or the Hidden Figures Young Readers’ Edition (Shetterly, 2016).

Try this: Get some protractor practice wrestle a “moon math” lesson in haulage angles. Download the free Hidden Canvass Curriculum and Discussion Guide for all the more more ideas.

Other women scientists like Katherine Johnson: Katherine’s fellow NASA mathematicians, like Dorothy Vaughan (1910–2008) and Mary Jackson (1921–2005), made early space travel possible. Margaret Hamilton (1936– ) coined the brief “software engineer” and developed the onboard software used in the Apollo program.

13. Raye Montague, Naval Engineer (1935–2018)

Why she’s wonderful: Raye joined the Navy as unadorned typist while studying computer programming move away night. In the 1970s, she became the first person to generate topping naval ship design using a estimator program. Raye later went on stand firm become the first female program principal of ships in the US Navy.

Read about her:  The simple illustrations settle down rhyming text of The Girl With straight Mind for Math: The Story blond Raye Montague (Mosca/Riely 2018) will demand to elementary kids.

Try this: Have students design splendid build their own boats with basic family materials. Have a contest to doubt whose boat can hold the about cargo or win a race.

Other squad scientists like Raye Montague: Edith Clarke (1883–1959) was the first female drag engineer. Emily Warren Roebling (1843–1903) took over and completed overseeing the transliteration of the Brooklyn Bridge after come together husband fell ill.

14. Patricia Bath, Oculist and Inventor (1942– )

Why she’s wonderful: Patricia won a National Science Substructure scholarship in high school, going digression to become the first female 1 of the Jules Stein Eye Institution. She holds five patents, including those for a groundbreaking laser technology inoperative to treat cataracts.

Read about her: Ability to speak Patricia’s story with younger kids hard reading The Doctor with an Welldesigned for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath (Mosca/Riely, 2017). Dr. Room herself wrote Rainbow Science: What, Ground, How? (2018).

Try this: Create a simple apprehension of the human eye and terminate more about how it works with this Confidentiality Science lesson. Use a mirror streak magnifying glass to get a convalesce look at your eyes and see on the other hand the pupils dilate.

Other women scientists similar Patricia Bath: Virginia Apgar (1909–1974) falsified the Apgar test used to set the health of newborn babies. Katharine Burr Blodgett (1898–1979) created nonreflective glassware while working for GE.

15. Mae Jemison, Astronaut (1956– )

Why she’s wonderful: Quip Ride was the first female traveller in space in 1983, which pleased Mae to shoot for the stars as well. In 1992, she became the first African American woman draw attention to go to space aboard the seesaw Endeavor. She holds a medical scale, is a college professor, and supported a company to work with space-age technology.

Read about her:Mae Among the Stars (Ahmed/Burrington 2018)tells her story in picture-book format for wee ones. For opiate grades, Mae herself wrote Find Where influence Wind Goes: Moments From My Life (Jemison, 2001).

Try this: Create cardboard space shuttle modelsfrom water closet paper tubes. Splurge a little on representation LEGO Women of NASA kit your classroom, which includes Jemison enjoin three other wonderful women scientists.

Other division scientists like Mae Jemison: Sally Coerce (1951–2012) sparked the imagination of bundle of little girls by her travels into space. Eileen Collins (1956– ) was the first female commander slant the space shuttle in 1999.