Perhaps best remembered for her portrait paintings, Copeland had a particular interest in Māori subjects. In 1937 the Auckland Star art critic described her study of a girl, ‘Rita Hikiora’, as ‘one of the few portrait studies worthy of attention’ at the time. Another well-known work, ‘Marie’, was a delicate and sentimental portrait of a young Māori girl, who ‘looks tremulously out on life’.
By 1912 Sarah Heap was regarded as New Zealand’s leading authority on the physical training of girls.
Sophie Willock Bryant was an Irish mathematician who also published on many other topics: Irish history, religion, education, women’s rights, and philosophy.
Gloria Hewitt is an American mathematician who undertook research in algebra. She became the first African American woman to chair a university mathematics department in the United States.
Helen Benson founded the New Zealand branch of the Federation of University Women, becoming its first president.She lectured on international affairs for many years, and took a practical interest in the plight of refugees who came to New Zealand in the 1930s. She was a member of the Senate of the University of New Zealand from 1939 to 1948. She was also closely involved with the National Council of Women of New Zealand. In 1933 she strongly supported the adoption of a motion that criticised the lack of financial relief for unemployed women and in 1937 was partly responsible for the council’s taking a sympathetic attitude towards abortion in some circumstances.
She was a woman of both charm and determination who, having struggled for her own education, devoted her talents to providing its benefits for others of her sex.
For more than two decades she gave pleasure to thousands of radio listeners with her eclectic and intelligently planned radio recitals, but her most important contribution to her adopted country was as the first woman to gain a measure of national repute as a composer. By writing successfully for symphony orchestra she effectively dispelled the myth that women could only produce small-scale works for drawing-room performance. Together with the younger Dorothea Franchi and Dorothy Freed, she led the way for many other women who have made their mark as composers in New Zealand since the mid 1960s.
Laura Bassi was an Italian physicist and one of the earliest women to gain a position in an Italian university.
Dorothea Beale studied at Queen’s College, London where she became the first female mathematics tutor. She became Principal of Cheltenham Ladies’ College and a founder of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.
Grace Alele-Williams was the first Nigerian to be awarded a doctorate. She became a professor of mathematical education, then the first female Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin.