Category Archives: Science

Mary Putnam Jacobi

American physician Mary Putnam Jacobi was the first woman to graduate from the New York College of Pharmacy, and the first woman to study medicine at the University of Paris.

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Florence Bascom

American geologist, Bascom was the second woman to earn Ph.D in geology in the United States, in 1893. She became the first woman to work for the United States Geological Survey in 1896.

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June Opie

June Opie was a polio survivor, clinical psychologist, writer and broadcaster who overcame discrimination against the disabled to achieve professional and personal success. Her memoir, Over my dead body (1957), was an international best-seller and brought her widespread fame.

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Marie Boivin

French midwife who invented the pelvimeter and vaginal speculum, which are used to dilate the vagina and examine the cervix. She discovered causes of miscarriages and was the first to use a stethoscope to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Her books Mémorial de l’art des accouchements (The Art of Obstretrics, 1812) and Traité pratique des maladies de l’utérus et de ses annexes (1833, on diseases of the uterus) were important texts for medical students and midwives.

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Sophia Jex-Blake

In 1886 she opened the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women, of which she was dean until her retirement in 1899. She is the author of American Schools and Colleges, Medical Women and Care of Infants.

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