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There are profound expressions of remembrance of science and scientists, innovators and educators in Washington, DC. In this article, we survey the outdoor memorials and also include a few indoor memorials, if they are accessible to the public. There appears to be some predominance of physics and physicists, especially related to electricity among the memorials, but other areas of science are also represented. British and European scientists predominate, reflecting the time gap between memorials and contemporary science. Our coverage extends to a few concepts, such as education, with an emphasis on African American participation, energy, and the protection and conservation of the environment.

Women’s participation in mathematics began rather late compared with their work in science. Their increasing involvement was noteworthy beginning in the 18th century. Rare earlier examples, Elena Cornaro Piscopia of the 17th century and Laura Bassi and Maria Gaetana Agnesi, both of the 18th century, are mentioned. Ada Lovelace (née Byron) was a pioneer of computing, and Sonia Kovalevsky worked in a range of areas of mathematics. Their fame and recognition have grown recently. A number of outstanding women mathematicians had unusually difficult careers, among them Mileva Marić-Einstein, Emmy Noether, Rózsa Péter, Kathleen Ollerenshaw, Mary Winston Jackson, and Maryam Mirzakhani. Of those figuring in this book’s narrative, Karen Uhlenbeck, still alive, received the prestigious Abel Prize in 2019 for her discoveries in mathematical physics.

The renowned inventor Hertha Ayrton lived between the 19th and 20th centuries, yet even today relatively few women become inventors and technologists. When Ayrton’s fellowship at the Royal Society came up, it was declined on account of her husband already having been an FRS, and she was not considered to be an independent entity. Katharina Blodgett was lucky in having a fair-minded Nobel laureate mentor, Irving Langmuir. Pioneer aviators and space travelers had to be physically and emotionally able to handle unexpected situations and needed the necessary knowledge to do so. Of the seven individuals mentioned in this category, both aviators and two of the space travelers lost their lives during their respective missions. The modern innovator Nobel laureate Frances Arnold combined engineering and biochemistry to produce mutations of enzymes for useful purposes.

X-ray crystallography, with relatively quick experiments, voluminous calculations, and a friendly atmosphere, has been a popular field for women scientists. They have made seminal discoveries. Kathleen Lonsdale was a pioneer in studying fundamental molecules. Dorothy Hodgkin, mother of four, won the Nobel Prize for determining the structure of complex biological systems. Rosalind Franklin suffered from disadvantageous treatment of female scientists but made decisive contributions toward uncovering the double helix of DNA. The work of Isabella Karle was at the Nobel Prize level and provides another example of having children and being at the top of science. Ada Yonath worked her way through unfriendly circumstances, and her perseverance earned her a Nobel Prize. Two unusual achievements signified the creation of data banks, another led to the most beautiful photographs of quasicrystals, and yet another to the utilization of M. C. Escher’s unusual art for crystallography education.

Biology and biomedical research have traditionally been welcoming areas for female scientists, yet perseverance was often a prerequisite of success in addition to talent and hard work. Of the 13 scientists mentioned here, 8 became Nobel laureates. Barbara McClintock earned the Nobel Prize for discoveries in genetics that for many years had been ignored. Rita Levi-Montalcini’s Nobel Prize was for the discovery of a growth factor, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard’s for her work in developmental biology, Linda Buck’s for olfactory receptors, Françoise Barré-Sinoussi’s for co-discovering HIV, Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider’s for discoveries from their telomere and telomerase experiments, and May-Britt Moser’s for her work to understand the “GPS” of the human brain. Despite the tragic fate of her two scientist husbands persecuted by the inhuman Soviet regime, Zinaida Ermoleva became the decisive force in producing penicillin in the Soviet Union. Frances Kelsey saved the health of many newborn babies by meticulously and bravely examining the effects of thalidomide. Anne McLaren was a pioneer of human in vitro fertilization and excelled also in discussing its ethical and political aspects.

Five of the 15 scientists introduced in this chapter received the Nobel Prize, two of them sharing with their husbands. Ida Noddack’s career was controversial for favors she received from the Nazi regime; she may have co-discovered a new element and anticipated nuclear fission. Gertrude Elion helped in the discovery of new drugs, relying on new principles of drug discovery. Elena Galpern’s computations anticipated the beautiful new molecule buckminsterfullerene, C60, whose actual discovery later brought Nobel recognition to others. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier received the Nobel Prize for developing a method of great utility for genome editing. Katalin Karikó is another example of perseverance; following many frustrating years of failure and lacking proper support, she became a pioneer of the COVID-19 vaccine, saving many millions of lives. Carolyn R. Bertozzi is the latest Nobel laureate whose innovation has made possible to produce new substances inside of the living system.

Healing is an activity where women have found opportunities, though not always on equal terms. It used to be a stereotype to have a male doctor and a female nurse, and this is not yet as obsolete a notion as it should be. The first female medical doctors appeared by the middle of the 19th century, and it was an uphill battle, and even more so for female professionals of color. A rare recognition was bestowed on Florence Sabin, an MD and distinguished researcher, for whom a statue was erected at the U.S. Capitol. Russian medical students benefited from their separate school when renowned professors walked out of Moscow University to protest the autocracy and joined the Moscow Higher Courses for Women. Women have enriched the world of physicians and surgeons, but the most iconic names in collective memory belong to nurses: Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole.

It has been a long and arduous journey for female physicists, from being often alone among their male counterparts to becoming a less unusual contributor to modern physics. There was a gender-neutral atmosphere at the Vienna Radium Institute fostering the development of women scientists. Marie Curie in Paris became one of the greats in both physics and chemistry. Lise Meitner was a co-discoverer of nuclear fission, and Leona Woods Marshall participated in taming it in the world’s first nuclear reactor. Maria Goeppert Mayer discovered the shell structure of the atomic nucleus and was the only female Nobel laureate in physics during 113 years between Marie Curie’s in 1903 and Donna Strickland’s in 2018. The physicist Rosalyn Yalow’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was for her contribution to a medicinal discovery. Chien-Shiung Wu and Mildred Dresselhaus are most famous for their discoveries in elementary particle physics and carbon science, respectively.

Astronomy was the earliest science in which women’s participation has been recorded. Enheduanna, the Mesopotamian priestess, monitored the stars around 2350 bce, and Hypathia in the fourth century is especially famous. Women astronomers—such as Sophia Brahe, Maria Cunitz, Elisabetha Hevelius, Maria Margaretha Kirch, and Caroline Herschel—often worked alongside husbands or brothers. Succeeding generations were more independent; of them, Mary Somerville, Maria Mitchell, Williamina Fleming, and Nancy Grace Roman are mentioned. Vera C. Rubin had revolutionary ideas about the black holes whose real significance is recognized today. Jocelyn Bell Burnell helped in the discovery of pulsars, for which her professor received the Nobel Prize. France A. Cordova was elevated to various top administrative positions. The astronomer Andrea M. Ghez received a share of the physics Nobel Prize for her work on black holes.

Ecology is about the study, protection, and preservation of our environment. Female scholars and thinkers, as well as activists, have been at the forefront of ecology for decades. Most of the related activities have a close relationship with one or more of the science branches discussed in previous chapters, often with chemistry. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was very influential in shaping the modern environmental movement. Miriam Rothschild was arguably the most famous entomologist. Natural products chemistry has offered great possibilities for curing diseases, as shown by the achievements of the Nobel laureate Youyou Tu and others. Jane Goodall has been not only a great primatologist and anthropologist but also a great role model for many in valuing and working for nature.

Women have shown excellence in science and mathematics over the centuries despite the persisting societal attitude that “science is not for women.” With seminal discoveries, some awarded Nobel Prizes, as well as special achievements of a great variety, women have demonstrated their talent and ability and their aptitude for hard work. Outstanding examples in mathematics and computer science, in recognizing the laws of nature, in genome engineering, in the understanding of how our organism works, and in the quest to protect our health against deadly viruses are manifestations of women’s contributions. The road to success, often more bumpy than that of their male counterparts, is presented for over 120 women: astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, crystallographers, chemists, biochemists, biologists, medical professionals, inventors and technologists, and ecologists. Compelling human stories about their lives and careers inform and entertain. Accounts of all science Nobel laureate women, others of discoveries of similar significance, and many more with special achievements make this a fascinating read and will enhance science awareness for all interested readers, women and men alike, helping some make career choices.

In 1962, the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, moved into a new building and continued a success story that had begun 15 before. Milestone discoveries and Nobel Prizes have followed ever since. They have led to profound changes in our basic ideas about the nature of life and the way medicine operates. Structural chemistry has paved the way for this unprecedented progress.

Moving information, goods, and people at ever-increasing speed and efficiency contributed to the innovations that brought about industrial revolutions. Memorials honor inventors in electricity and electronics, telecommunications, computation, mining and steel production, geology, chemical engineering, biotechnology, civil engineering, transportation, and innovations in chronometry as well as those who applied the new technologies for defense and invented holography. Some of the names of honorees are Leonardo, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Francis Ronalds, Lord Kelvin (again), Hertha Ayrton, Guglielmo Marconi, John Logie Baird, Charles Babbage, Countess Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, William Smith, Henry Bessemer, Sir Charles Lyell, Alfred Nobel, Chaim Weizmann, John Rennie, James Walker, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, James Henry Greathead, James Watt, Richard Trevithick, Robert Stephenson, Sir George Cayley, Count von Rumford, Sir Henry Thomas Tizard, and Dennis Gabor.

“Physiology” and “Medicine” are two of the eight allegorical statues of the Albert Memorial. The science of physiology deals with the functioning of living organisms, whereas medicine involves the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. The two are distinct disciplinary areas even if they are strongly interwoven. Alfred Nobel preserved this distinction when he named one of his three science prizes Physiology or Medicine. The creators of the Albert Memorial also clearly differentiated between the two. While respecting this distinction, our chapter is titled “Medicine” for simplicity.

A tudomany legmagasabb szintjein a nők eppugy alulreprezentaltak, mint a tarsadalom egyeb teruletein. Hargittai Magdolna ennek is utanajart, amikor az elmult ket evtized soran szamos kiemelkedő női fizikussal, kemikussal, orvosbiologussal, a modern technologia kutatoival es mas teruletek kepviselőivel beszelgetett. A jelen konyv hatvan beszelgetesen keresztul koveti nyomon a női tudosok palyajat, felfedezeseit, dilemmait, nehezsegeit es sikereit. A szerző taglalja, hogy milyen akadalyok nehezitik azt, hogy a kutato nők elre keruljenek, vezető tudomanyos tisztsegeket nyerjenek el es hogy segitseget kapjanak abban, hogy a csalad vagy tudomany kozotti valasztas helyett a csalad es tudomany egyuttesen ervenyesulhessen eletukben. A konyv eredetileg a tekintelyes Oxford University Press kiadasaban angolul jelent meg New Yorkban. Harom reszben targyalja a negy kontinens 17 orszagaban elő tudos nők tapasztalatait, amelyeket a szerző mertektarto es előremutato kovetkezteteseivel egeszit ki. Az egyik resz az egyutt dolgozo hazasparok tapasztalatain keresztul mutatja be, hogy a kozos munka orome mellett ez a „felallas" sok frusztracioval is jarhat. Kulon resz foglalkozik azokkal a sikeres női tudosokkal, akik tudomanyos sikereik teljeben magas vezetői beosztasba kerultek. Erdekessege a konyvnek, hogy Indiaban, Japanban, Oroszorszagban es Torokorszagban dolgozo női tudosok is szerepelnek benne, akikről ritkan hallani. Hargittai Magdolna inspiralo torteneteket oszt meg velunk olyan nőkről, akik ugyuket sikerre vittek. Ez a kulonboző kulturakon batran ativelő konyv olyan női tudosokkal ismertet meg bennunket, akik kepesek voltak eletukben egyensulyt teremteni, es akik raszolgaltak melyseges tiszteletunkre. Roald Hoffman, kemiai Nobel-dijas, a Cornell Egyetem irodalmi tanulmanyok professzor emeritusa Ezt a konyvet mindenkinek kotelező elolvasni, aki erdeklődik a vilagszerte egyre tobb kivalo női tudos irant. Hargittai Magdolna, aki maga is kiemelkedő kutato, az Egyesult Allamokban, Europaban, Oroszorszagban, Torokorszagban es Indiaban interjuvolt meg tobb mint egy evtizeden keresztul sok, a legkulonbozőbb teruleteken dolgozo tudost. Az eredmeny egy paratlan bepillantas sok nagyszerű palya kulisszatitkaiba, tudomanyos jelentősegukbe es abba, hogy milyen sikeres vezetőnek lenni. Brian Uzzi, a vezetestudomany kiemelt Richard L. Thomas professzora, Northwestern Egyetem Hargittai Magdolna egy kincsesladikat ontott elenk. A kincsek a termeszettudomanyokat művelő nők a vilag negy kontinenseről, akik szakmajuk legmagasabb csucsaira jutottak el. Nobel-dijas, akademikus, professzor, egyetemi rektor, akik kozott sok mas mellett van csillagasz, entomologus, fizikus, kemikus, kutatoorvos es matematikus. Az altalanos tanulsagok levonasat a szerző szociologus lanyara hagyja. Ő csak mesel. A neves amerikai egyetem nem birja elviselni, hogy a kutato rendszeresen fel orat kesik, mert maskepp nem tudja reggelenkent utnak inditani a negy gyereket. A kaukazusi volt szovjet tagallamban a professzor asszony otthon csak főz es talal, a tradiciok okan azonban az asztalhoz nem ul le meghivott vendegeivel. Eddig is tudtuk, hogy minden „dolgozo" nő a vilag minden orszagaban talalkozik előiteletekkel, diszkriminacioval, a nők lenezesevel, hatterbe szoritasaval. Mindenutt meg kell kuzdenie a munka es a csaladi elet, gyerekneveles osszeegyeztetesevel. Hargittai Magdi interjuibol most azt tudjuk meg, hogy mindez a Nobel-dij arnyekaban jottanyival sincs maskepp. Beszelgetőpartnerei a kiveteles tehetseg es hivatasszeretet okan mindeme nehezsegekkel megkuzdve kiveteles teljesitmenyt nyujtottak. A csoda az, hogy bar tobbnyire megkesetten vagy reszlegesen, de kiveteles elismereshez is jutottak. Mindezt nem egy harcos feminista mondja. Hargittai Magdolna maga is nemzetkozileg elismert kemikus, akademikus, kutato-professzor. Masfel evtizede folytatja targyszerű es mindig empatikus beszelgeteseit, hogy megmutassa a „tudos nők" eletenek szepsegeit es nehezsegeit. Ferge Zsuzsa, szociologus akademikus, professzor emerita az Eotvos Lorand Tudomanyegyetemen

There are many greats in science history but relatively few women scientists that could be chosen as role models. This essay presents some from among contemporary contributors to chemistry, biochemistry, biology, physics, and astronomy. They had overcome barriers of discrimination, the difficulties of managing their time between research and family, and all have triumphed. They include some of the most famous, such as Isabella Karle, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Anne McLaren, and Vera Rubin, and some less famous, including examples from Russia, India, and Turkey. Their presentation is based on personal encounters with them by the author; herself a scientist, wife, and mother.

Gas-phase electron diffraction has produced structural parameters of the molecules of thousands of substances during its eight-decade history. It has contributed to the understanding of the nature of the chemical bond and has been instrumental in establishing trends of structural variations in extended classes of compounds. The most obvious information it provides is the molecular geometry (bond length, bond angles, and angles of rotation), but it also yields information about the vapor composition, energy differences of conformers, molecular force field, vibrational amplitudes, and other properties. The method is best for highly symmetrical molecules, in contrast with spectroscopic methods. There are limitations to its application; the larger and less symmetrical the molecule, the more difficult it is to resolve its different interatomic distances. It is advantageous to apply different, both experimental and theoretical, methods jointly for structure determination. Different structural techniques usually are sensitive to different characteristics of a molecule and may thus ideally complement each other. In the joint application of methods, quantum chemical calculations have played an increasing role.

Gas-phase electron diffraction is one of the principal techniques of molecular structure determination. A beam of fast electrons is scattered on a molecular beam in the experiment, and the resulting interference pattern is determined by the charge distribution of the molecule. The molecular component of the total electron scattering intensities is extracted from them and, aided by model building, the molecular parameters are determined from the molecular intensities. Fourier transformation of the molecular intensities leads to the so-called radial distribution, which is the probability density distribution of the internuclear distances in the molecule. The results of the structure determination appear as average internuclear distances or, in terms of internal coordinates, as bond lengths, bond angles, and angles of torsion. Gas-phase electron diffraction is an efficient tool of conformational analysis, yielding the geometries of the conformers and their relative abundances. In the best cases, the gas-phase electron diffraction technique yields precisions of a few tenths of a picometer for bond lengths, a few tenths of a degree for bond angles, and a few degrees for angles of torsion.

Jerome Karle (1918–2013) had to overcome adversities before he acquired the education he strived to get. He did pioneering work in modernizing the gas-phase electron diffraction technique of molecular structure determination. Drawing on this experience, he and Herbert Hauptman jointly came to a seminal discovery that solved the phase problem in crystal structure determination by X-ray diffraction. All along, he enjoyed close cooperation with his wife, the most distinguished scientist Isabella Karle. Jerome Karle was a revered colleague and a faithful friend.

Trends in the structural variations of all perhalo derivatives of dicarbenes and their Group 14 analogues have been studied. This included all M2X4 molecules, where M = C, Si, Ge, Sn, or Pb, and X = F, Cl, Br, or I. Mapping the potential energy surface of all molecules has uncovered several isomers. The stability of these isomers depends on both the Group 14 atoms and the halogen ligands. Several isomers were found stable; the ones that are global minima include (with their symmetries and an example in parenthesis): the typical ethene structure X2M=MX2 (D 2h, F2C=CF2), an X3M–MX structure (C S, F3Si–SiF, a trifluorosilyl–silylene), another X3M–MX structure (C 1, Cl3Si–SiCl), one more X3M–MX structure with a single halogen bridge (C 1, I2Si–μI–SiI), a trans double halogen bridged structure (D 2h, FSn–μF2–SnF), and another trans double-bridged structure with puckered ring (C S, IPb–μI2–PbI). Some of the other structures that are stable but are not the global minima include: a trans-bent structure X2M–MX2 (C 2h, all X2Si–SiX2), cis double-bridged structure (C 2v with planar ring, FPb–μF2–PbF, or with puckered ring, C 2v, IGe–μI2–GeI), and even a square bipyramidal structure (D 4h, Sn–μF4–Sn). The energy differences between some of the structures are small and the application of another computational method and using a different basis set might alter their relative stabilities. Reasons for the difference in the stabilities of isomers have been discussed.