Science Archives - Page 89 of 91

Ada E Yonath

Ada E Yonath is a biochemist and structural chemist, who earned her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in X-ray crystallographic studies on the structure of collagen.

Aglaonice is considered the first female astronomer in ancient Greece, regarded for her knowledge of the moon and its cycles. Plutarch wrote that she was “thoroughly acquainted with the periods of the full moon when it is subject to eclipse, and, knowing beforehand the time when the moon was due to be overtaken by the earth’s shadow, imposed upon the women, and made them all believe that she was drawing down the moon.”

Thelma Rittenhouse Wood-Lorz

Thelma R. Wood was an American zoologist who worked as a genetics assistant at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (1924-30). Her experience there inspired her to pursue graduate work at Brown University, where she worked as a biology assistant (1930-39) while she earned her Masters in 1932 and doctorate in 1938. She was particularly interested in researchin the genetics and life history of members of the Cladocera genus (tiny crustaceans commonly called water fleas), especially the single-celled organism Daphnia longispina.

Dr Yin May

Yin May, the first Burmese obstetrician and gynecologist, founded and ran the country’s main maternity hospital during the Japanese occupation of Burma. She was the first person to perform the Caesarian section in Burma and is known for her research on amoebic vaginitis, also called May’s disease.
While pregnant and separated from her family, Yin May founded the country’s primary maternity hospital during the Japanese occupation (1942–1945), working long hours with staff who had no OB/GYN experience. Burma had lost its main maternity hospital, Lady Dufferin Maternity Hospital, on 25 December 1941 due to Japanese aerial bombing and then the Japanese army commandeered Rangoon General Hospital for their use only. She later co-founded wartime medical and nursing schools (1943–1945). After World Wai II, she ran Lady Dufferin Maternity Hospital from 1946 to 1959, and was head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Faculty of Medicine of Rangoon University from 1947 to 1959. Under her leadership, Dufferin became a maternity hospital recognized by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1957.

Dr Yin Yin Nwe

Dr Yin Yin Nwe is a geologist who has held signficant positions with UNICEF since 1991, and was appointed UNICEF Representative to China on 1 December 2006, retiring in 2011.
Yin Yin Nwe served for 19 years at the Geology Department of Yangon University. Joining UNICEF as an Environment Project Officer in 1991, she served from 1992 to 1994, as UNICEF Programme Officer for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Central Asian Republics and Albania. She then became a regional advisor for western and central Africa in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1994-1999). In 1999, she was appointed UNICEF Regional Planning Officer for the Middle East and North Africa and in June 2005 was appointed UNICEF Chief of Tsunami Support, working to help victims in Indonesia.
In August 2012, President Thein Sein appointed Dr. Yin Yin Nwe as part of an Inquiry Commission to look into communal violence in Rakhine State. The commission completed its work and submitted a report the following year.
In June 2014, Presidnet Thein Sein appointed Dr. Yin Yin Nwe Chief Education Advisor. She had also previously served as an advisor to the Myanmar Peace Center (MPC), and was a member of the National Economic and Social Advisory Council and a member of the Education Promotion Implementation Committee (EPIC), advocating for education reform.

Angélique de Coudray

In 1759, French king Louis XV launched a project to reduce infant mortality in the country and commissioned Parisian midwife Angélique du Coudray to train peasant women as midwifes. From 1760 to 1783, she trained approximately 10,000 women across France, visiting poor women in rural areas and sharing her extensive knowledge with them. Presumably the women she taught also passed those skills on to outhers in following years. Du Coudray also invented the first lifesize obstetrical mannequin, so the women could practice mock births, and published a popular midwifery textbook, Abrégé de l’art des accouchements (The Art of Obstetrics, 1759). Due to the lack of accurate data collection, it is impossible to quote statistics about infant mortality rates (which were frequently underreported in the 1700s and earlier), but it seems inarguable that du Coudray must have directly and indirectly saved countless lives, of both mothers and children.

Dr Dian Fossey

Dr Dian Fossey was one of the world’s leading experts on primatology (the study of primates) and spent 18 years in African mountain forests studying gorillas. Fossey conducted the majority of her zoological research in the Congo jungle and Rwandan forests. In addition to anti-poaching activism, she pioneered scientific discoveries about gorilla societal structure. Her best-selling book, Gorillas In The Mist, was later adapted into a film. Her 1985 murder remains unsolved. She also reportedly tortured her enemies, kidnapped their children, and killed their livestock, along with lesser retaliatory acts. She was also known to be racist to the local Rwandans.

Ada Armytage

Ada Armytage’s photographs document life within the stately Como House (which her father owned) and among the social elite of her time. Ada’s photographs and her sisters’ diaries, letters and journals make up the Armytage family archive, which preserves the significant moment in history.

Thung Sin Nio

Betsy Thung Sin Nio was an Indonesian-Dutch women’s rights activist, medical doctor, economist and politician. As the daughter of a wealthy and progressive Peranakan family of the Cabang Atas gentry in Batavia, she was encouraged to pursue education, which was unusual for Indonesian women at the time. After completing high school, she earned her qualifications as a bookkeeper, but became a teacher instead because social norms prevented women from doing office work. In 1924 Thung enrolled at the Netherlands School of Business in Rotterdam to study economics, then went on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in economics. She enrolled at the University of Amsterdam in 1932 to pursue her medical studies.
During that time, Thung met Dutch physician and suffragist Aletta Jacobs, who encouraged her to become involved in the Dutch women’s movement and the Association for Women’s Interests and Equal Citizenship. Thung became an activist for improving the socio-economic and civil status of women, writing articles for feminist journals in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. After completing her medical degree in 1938, Thung returned to Batavia and opened a medical practice focusing on the health of women and children. She continued her feminist activism and fought for women’s suffrage; when the government proposed that only European women be given the rights to vote and stand in elections, Thung successfully campaigned for voting rights for educated women regardless of their race.
During World War II, she maintained her private practice, volunteered at a local public hospital and opened a private hospital to treat European patients. After the war ended, she became a medical officer for the Jakarta school system and entered local politics. She was elected as the first woman member of the Municipal Council of Jakarta in 1949, representing the Persatuan Tionghoa. From 1949 to 1965, she traveled abroad on numerous occasions on behalf of her country, including serving as a translator for trade delegations and as an economist on fact-finding missions to Russia and China. Following Indonesia’s 1965 coup d’état and the shift away from communism, she was released from government work. In 1968, when assimilationist policies were introduced to force Chinese citizens to take Indonesian names, Thung permanently immigrated to the Netherlands, where she continued to work as a physician.

Shya Chitaley

Shyamala “Shya” Chitaley was an Indian-American paleobotanist. Her early 60-year career of teaching and research in both the United States and India including being the founder and first curator of the paleobotany department at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, winning the 2010 Botanical Society of America Award for Contributions to Paleobotany, and authoring approximately 150 publications.