April - Pioneers in the field – Famous Women Scientists Throughout Pennsylvania History - State Library of Pennsylvania STEMlab Adult Programs - 2025 Monthly Series - LibGuides at State Library of Pennsylvania

Pioneers in the field – Famous Women Scientists Throughout Pennsylvania History

Science Programs for Adults: Pioneers in the medical field – Famous Women Scientists Throughout History - April 17, 2025

From the very beginnings of medical knowledge, women have been involved in discoveries and innovations. Join us to hear about the female pioneers of the discipline, and the discoveries for which we can thank them.

Recording - Famous Women Scientists throughout Pennsylvania History

Read More About Pioneers in the field – Famous Women Scientists Throughout Pennsylvania History

Online Sources

Pennsylvania Women's History Heritage Trail
A Clio tour of women's history sites throughout the state
Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania
The first American college to teach women, and allow them to receive an MD
Inspiring Women in Pittsburgh History
In many professions and disciplines, including Astronomy
Notable Women of Pennsylvania
The full 1942 volume. Log in through the State Library Databases page to access https://pa-gov.libguides.com/az/databases (state employees only)
Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network (WAgN)
A current organization, run through Penn State and their extension service
Women's Rural Urban Network (WRUN)
An initiative of the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network (WAgN), dedicated to fostering agriculture in urban areas
Women’s Work: Female Science Pioneers in 19th Century Philadelphia
A great overview of the female scientists of Philadelphia throughout the centuries
Past and Present—Some Outstanding Women Geologists of Pennsylvania
A look at a number of female geologists of the state, including Alice Mary Dowse Weeks, who discovered the properties of uranium
The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
A great overview of her work
Sophonisba Angusciola Peale Sellers, scientist and artist
A painter and ornithologist who did a great deal of work with the Peale Museum
Susan Jane Cunningham
A mathematician and astronomer. She founded the Mathematics and Astronomy Departments at Swarthmore College
Knowing the Enemy: Margaretta Hare Morris and the Birth of Agricultural Entomology.
An entomologist who discovered the spread of agricultural pests through eggs in seed
Mary Townsend
An early entomologist most known for her easy to understand book for women on the topic
Life in the insect world : or, Conversations upon insects between an aunt and her nieces
The Internet Archive copy of Mary Townsend's book
Graceanna Lewis: A naturalist and abolitionist
Though best known as an abolitionist, Lewis was also a published ornithologist and bird painter
For the Record: Emily Lovira Gregory
A botanist who was the first female fellow at Penn
Biography of Caroline Still Anderson
One of the first female Black doctors in Pennsylvania
Betty Holberton
One of the original ENIAC programmers
Alice Evans, A Pioneer for Women in Microbiology
Evans performed the research that proved the need for pasteurization and normalized it
Horses in History: The Dr. M. Phyllis Lose story
She was the first female equine veterinarian in the United States, and helped set the standards for racetrack vet care
Stephanie L. Kwolek
The inventor of Kevlar
Denise Scott Brown
Architect and architectural historian working on the intersection between culture and architecture
Clean Water Science Pioneer – Ruth Patrick
Worked in the Conestoga Creek, and studied pollutants and biota, and the intersection between them. Founded macroinvertebrate studies
How Margaret Dayhoff Brought Modern Computing to Biology
The founder of bioinformatics and computational protein studies
Barbara Iglewski
Discovered pathogenic bacterial communication and genetic trade between them
Ruzena Bajcsy
She worked in autonomous robotics and founded the robotics lab at Penn
Katalin Karikó
Discovered the principles of mRNA vaccination
Feifei Shi
Works on the forefront of battery and energy sciences at Penn State
Pennsylvania Women in STEM Video Series
An excellent series of videos by the Pennsylvania Commission for Women on contemporary female scientists, engineers and mathematicians
Women's History Resource Guide - Manuscript Groups
Women's history resources at the Pennsylvania Archives
Penn Graduate Women in Science and Engineering
The organization for women in the sciences at Penn