The National Women's History Project announced the theme for this year's celebration: Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). You'll find some familiar names and some names you'll be happy to learn among the list of women honored this year. In addition to the official list, I've got a few names to suggest that you may know from the world of blogging and social media.
Eighteen women in STEM were honored, out of 115 nominees. You can see the complete list of 2013 Honorees & Nominees at the Women's History Project. It's an inspiring list of women in fields as diverse as medicine, education, physics, engineering, computer science, natural science, architecture, and mathematics.
Among the names you probably know are Primatologist and Naturalist Dian Fossey and Computer Scientist Grace Murray Hopper.
Photograph of Dian Fossey by Yann Arthus-Bertrand from Wikipedia
Lack of name recognition does not lessen the accomplishments of the other honorees. Here's a quick summary names and fields of work. Prepare to be impressed.
- Hattie Elizabeth Alexander, Pediatrician and Microbiologist
- Marlyn Barrett, K-12 STEM Educator
- Patricia Era Bath, Ophthalmologist and Inventor
- Elizabeth Blackwell, Physician
- Katharine Burr Blodgett, Physicist and Inventor
- Edith Clarke, Electrical Engineer
- Rita R. Colwell, Molecular Microbial Ecologist and Scientific Administrator
- Dian Fossey, Primatologist and Naturalist
- Susan A. Gerbi, Molecular Cell Biologist
- Helen Greiner, Mechanical Engineer and Roboticist
- Grace Murray Hopper, Computer Scientist
- Olga Frances Linares, Anthropologist and Archaeologist
- Julia Morgan, Architect
- Louise Pearce, Physician and Pathologist
- Jill Pipher, Mathematician
- Mary G. Ross, Mechanical Engineer
- Susan Solomon, Atmospheric Chemist
- Flossie Wong-Staal, Virologist and Molecular Biologist
Helen Greiner photo from ilcrt.org
For those of you in the Washington D.C. area, there are several Women's History Month events you can attend. These include films, forums, and exhibits. An event schedule is listed on the federal Women's History Month site, which includes all sorts of resources from The Library of Congress, The National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution and others. Search Eventbrite.com and Meetup.com for Women's History Month events in your local area.
WAMC Northeast Public Radio has a series of radio stories about Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is a great resource. There are a lot of stories here, all of them worth a listen.
Other resources for finding out about Women in STEM are STEMinist.com and Women and Tech.
A List from the Blogging World
Perhaps in a few years these women's names will appear on an official list of women honored for their work in STEM fields. Until then, I want to point out a few names that may be familiar to BlogHer readers as leaders in the ultra contemporary world of STEM on the Internet.
- Susan Niebur, a planetary scientist and mom blogger who passed away in 2012 from breast cancer.
- Danica McKellar, actress and math educator with books like "Math Doesn't Suck" and "Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape" to her credit.
- Science writer Emily J. Willingham, founder of Double X Science and occasional contributor to BlogHer. Actually, I'd like to include all the women who Contribute to Double X Science!
- Catherine, who blogs about genetics at BlogHer under the name genegeek
- Gail Carmichael, a computer scientist and educator who blogs a The Female Perspective of Computer Science.
- Scicurious, who blogs in very entertaining ways about the interactions of neurotransmitter systems at Neurotic Physiology
My list is waaayyy too short. Can you add some names to it?
Thank you to all the women working in STEM fields, famous and unknown, young and old. Your efforts and influence can only make the world a better place.
Virginia DeBolt, BlogHer Section Editor for Tech
virginia.debolt@blogher.com
Virginia blogs at Web Teacher and First 50 Words.