How Well Do You Know These Pioneering Women?

On September 20, 1963, Katharine Graham made history when she was elected president of the Washington Post Company, becoming the first woman to sit at the helm of a major American newspaper. During her tenure at the publication, Graham defied the White House by publishing the classified Pentagon Papers and exposed the Watergate scandal. She was also America’s first female Fortune 500 CEO.

Wangari Muta Maathai has a few firsts to her name: first woman in east and central Africa to earn a doctorate, first woman to chair certain positions at the University of Nairobi, and first African woman to earn the Nobel Peace Prize. The activist won in 2004 for her work in promoting sustainability and establishing the Green Belt movement.

Anne Bradstreet the first American woman — and first American ever — to have her poetry published. An immigrant from England, Bradstreet’s poems often depicted the hard conditions in her new country. The writer’s brother-in-law took her poems back to England and had them published in 1650. Bradstreet died in 1672, and six years later, a second edition of her work was published posthumously.

Clara Barton was known as the “Angel of the Battlefield” for providing both nursing care and supplies to Civil War soldiers. When the war ended, she opened the Office of Missing Soldiers to help reconnect 20,000 soldiers with their loved ones. During a trip overseas, Barton was introduced to the Red Cross, which inspired her to found the American Red Cross in 1881.

German naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian was a true trailblazer. In the 17th century, most scientists thought butterflies spontaneously appeared from mud. Merian, however, spent hours observing caterpillars and illustrating their transformation from cocoon to butterfly. Her work on metamorphosis and her emphasis on meticulous observation was groundbreaking.

In the early 1950s, British chemist Rosalind Franklin used X-ray diffraction to take photographic images of DNA. One of these photos, known as Photograph 51, was vital in revealing the structure of DNA. Unfortunately, the image was obtained by rival (male) scientists who were credited with the discovery and granted a Nobel Prize. It's only in recent years that Franklin’s contribution has been recognized.

Physicist and chemist Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (in 1903) and the only woman ever to win it in two different fields. Among her many achievements was the discovery of the elements radium and polonium (which she named in honor of her Polish homeland). Curie’s research on radioactivity was significant in many fields, most notably for its medical applications and its impact on nuclear physics.

Edith Wharton made history in 1921 when she became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, earning the prestigious award in the literature category. She was awarded a Pulitzer for her 12th novel, "The Age of Innocence." Wharton is known for her descriptions and stories of upper-class American society and its social norms, a reflection of her own experiences.

Nadia Comăneci was cemented into gymnastics history at Montreal’s 1976 Games, where she became the first Olympic gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10. The Romanian athlete went on to receive a perfect 10 six more times, making her the youngest all-around Olympic gold medalist. The 14-year-old gymnast collected gold medals for the balance beam, uneven bars, and all-around competition.

After she broke ties with the royal family in the mid-1990s, Princess Diana used her public profile for good and drew global attention to the senseless nature of land mines in war. The princess even walked through a live minefield in Angola to help bring attention to the cause. The Ottawa Treaty, which was championed by Diana as a path to banning land mines, was signed in December 1997, three months after her death.

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first American woman to receive a medical degree after graduating first in her class at Geneva College in New York. However, she wasn't the only female doctor in her family. Her sister, Emily, followed in Elizabeth’s footsteps, and the two doctors trained nurses during the Civil War. In 1868, Elizabeth opened a medical college in New York City that Emily managed.

In 1889, traveling by train, steamship, rickshaw, horse, and donkey, headline-making journalist Nellie Bly trekked around the entire world in just 72 days. Bly was inspired by Jules Verne's fictional protagonist in “Around the World in 80 Days” (1872), but unbeknownst to her, Bly also bested a fellow female journalist working on an identical story for “Cosmopolitan.”

Pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale was known as “The Lady with the Lamp” because she often carried a lamp when on her hospital rounds. She is remembered for her work during the Crimean War, when she traveled to field hospitals and highlighted the unsanitary conditions suffered by injured soldiers. She set up the first official training school for nurses and is regarded as the founder of modern nursing.

When she was just 11 years old, activist Malala Yousafzai began blogging about the Taliban’s efforts to prevent girls from attending school in her native Pakistan. Despite threats, Malala continued to speak out, and in 2012 she was shot in the head by the Taliban. Fortunately, she recovered and moved safely to Britain. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her education advocacy at age 17.

Gifted mathematician Ada Lovelace is considered the world’s first computer programmer. Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage on his pioneering calculating machine known as the Difference Engine, a precursor to modern computers. In 1843, Lovelace published a paper on the machine that laid out many of the foundations for computer coding, her concepts proving to be well ahead of their time.

The film “Hidden Figures” brought the inspirational story of Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) and fellow mathematicians Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) to a wider audience. As a Black woman, Johnson overcame many barriers to secure a job at NASA, where her advanced math skills proved instrumental to American astronauts’ safe launch into orbit during the space race. Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

Feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg understood how to use her dissenting opinions to press for change. As a champion of equality, Ginsburg delivered powerful dissents from the bench when she disagreed with the majority opinion of her fellow justices.

In the 1960s, with limited knowledge about chimps, scientist Jane Goodall began immersing herself in their environment and made one of the most monumental scientific discoveries of the 20th century: Chimps, like humans, knew how to make tools. For more than 60 years, her work has taught humans about our own relationship to the primates.

Lewis and Clark may be famous for making a map of the Western U.S., but their journey was helped along greatly by their guide and translator, Sacagawea. Not only did Sacagawea help broker peace for the explorers as they encountered Indigenous peoples, but she also helped navigate tough terrain for the crew — all while tending to her baby.

Aviator Amelia Earhart set numerous records, including becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. Congress, in recognition of her courage, awarded her the Distinguished Flying Cross. During an attempt to fly around the world, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared somewhere over the Pacific. Their fate has proved an enduring mystery.