Science has traditionally been a male dominated subject; however, women have also been hard at work in this field for decades. We put together this infographic for International Women’s Day to celebrate just some of the talented women who have influenced and advanced our understanding in the field of genetics. Unfortunately, some of these brilliant women did not receive proper recognition in their lifetime. We hope that by recognizing amazing female talent, it will encourage more women into scientific research.
In this infographic, you can read about the contributions the following women made to science and genetics:
- Nettie Maria Stevens
- Charlotte Auerbach
- Barbara McClintock
- Ruth Sager
- Rosalind Franklin
- Esther Lederberg
- Margaret Oakley Dayhoff
- Mary Frances Lyon
- Martha Cowles Chase
- Dorothy Warburton
- Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
- Elizabeth Blackburn
- Leena Peltonen-Palotie
- Jennifer A. Doudna
- Emmanuelle Charpentier
References
This infographic was compiled used information from the following sources:
Gunn, Shannon. “Women in genetics” Front Line Genomics, 08 Sep. 2022, https://frontlinegenomics.com/women-in-genetics/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Twelve Women Who Impacted Genetics.” my gene counsel, 22 Aug. 2022, https://www.mygenecounsel.com/twelve-women-who-impacted-genetics/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Women Who Advanced Genetic Science.” 23andMe, 12. Mar. 2020, https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/women-scientists/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Beale, Geoffrey. “Charlotte Auerbach.” Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. 31 Dec. 1999. Jewish Women’s Archive, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/auerbach-charlotte. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Auerbach; Charlotte (1899 – 1994)” The Royal Society, record NA5863, https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Persons&id=NA5863&pos=1. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Women who changed science: Barbara McClintock Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1983.” NobelPrize.org, https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/barbara-mcclintock. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Pray, Leslie. “Transposons: The jumping genes.” Nature Education 1(1):204, 2008, https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/transposons-the-jumping-genes-518/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Marks, Lara. “Professor Esther Lederberg.” what is biotechnology? Dec. 2015, https://www.whatisbiotechnology.org/index.php/people/summary/Lederberg_Esther. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Beall, Brandon. “Mary Frances Lyon Observation of X chromosome inactivation using mice” Project Biodiversify, https://projectbiodiversify.org/2020/11/23/mary-frances-lyon/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Watts, Geoff. “Mary Frances Lyon” The Lancet, vol 385, issue 9970, 28 Feb. 2015,DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60427-5, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60427-5/fulltext. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard – Facts.” NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1995/nusslein-volhard/facts/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Elizabeth H. Blackburn – Facts.” NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2009/blackburn/facts/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Berthold, Emma. “What are telomeres?” Australian Academy of Science, https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/what-are-telomeres. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Rosalind Franklin”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, last updated 13 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rosalind-Franklin. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Rosalind Franklin: A Crucial Contribution.” Nature Education, https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/rosalind-franklin-a-crucial-contribution-6538012/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Jewish Women’s Archive. “Birth of Ruth Sager, innovative scientific achiever.” https://jwa.org/thisweek/feb/07/1918/ruth-sager. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Pincock, Stephen. “Leena-Peltonen-Palotie.” The Lancet, vol 375, issue 9726, 8 May 2010, DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60693-9, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60693-9/fulltext. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Leena Peltonen-Palotie, MD, PhD.” American Society of Human Genetics, Obituaries and Memorials, 2010, https://www.ashg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/obit-Leena-Peltonen-Palotie.pdf. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Obituary: Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie, Academician of Science.” Academy of Finland, 11 Mar. 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20100316083840/http://www.aka.fi/en-gb/A/Academy-of-Finland/The-Academy/ Releases/Obituary-Professor-Leena-Peltonen-Palotie-Academician-of-Science/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Nettie Stevens.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nettie-Stevens. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Nettie Stevens: A Discoverer of Sex Chromosomes.” Nature Education, https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/nettie-stevens-a-discoverer-of-sex-chromosomes-6580266/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Dawson, Milly. “Martha Chase dies.” Genome Biol 4, spotlight-20030820-01, 20 Aug. 2003, https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20030820-01, https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gb-spotlight-20030820-01. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Jacobs, Patricia A. “2006 William Allan Award Address. Introductory speech for Dorothy Warburton.” American journal of human genetics vol. 81,4 (2007): 646-7. doi:10.1086/521403, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2227912/.
Hasshold, Terry, et al. “Dorothy Warburton (1936–2016).” https://www.cell.com/ajhg/pdf/S0002-9297(16)30208-7.pdf.
“Professor Margaret Dayhoff.” what is biotechnology? https://www.whatisbiotechnology.org/index.php/people/summary/Dayhoff. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Jennifer A. Doudna – Facts – 2020”. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/doudna/facts/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“What is CRISPR?” NewScientist.com, https://www.newscientist.com/definition/what-is-crispr/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
“Press release.” NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB, 07 Oct. 2022, https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/press-release/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
Begley, Sharon and Cooney Elizabeth. “Two Female CRISPR Scientists Make History, Winning Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Genome-Editing Discovery.” STAT, 07 Oct. 2022, https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/07/two-crispr-scientists-win-nobel-prize-in-chemistry/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
