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Female scientists as role models

Anyone who wants to be successful in the natural sciences must be talented, persistent – and historically male, it sometimes seems. However, there are many female role models with research successes – both in the past and today. On the International Day of Women & Girls in Science, we want to bring attention to these with this article, an online quiz, and a book exhibition at the Chemistry | Biology | Pharmacy Information Center which runs until March 8. We invite everyone to get inspired!  

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book exhibition female scientists as role models
Book exhibition in the Informationszentrum Chemie Biologie Pharmazie (Photo: Julia Ecker, ETH Zurich)

In the fall of 2020, an encouraging but rather unusual picture goes around the world: two women, Jennifer A. Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on CRISPR/Cas9. It was unusual mainly because in this league you would normally expect to see ties rather than colorful scarves: among more than 900 laureates who have been honored with the Nobel Prize since 1901, only 57 have been women so far, despite there being female candidates – and less than half of them came from the natural sciences.

Marie Curie was the first to achieve this feat (twice!), thanks also to the dedicated support of her husband Pierre. Still, the road was difficult. Even away from lofty Nobel Prize heights, it was never easy for women in STEM fields. Some never received the recognition they deserved during their lifetime, like Alice Augusta Ball, who developed the first therapy for leprosy. Others, like the chemist Erika Cremer, worked mostly under- or even unpaid for a long time on their way to full professorship and had to wait several decades for their appointment.

Franklin Hodgkin Kremer
Successful female scientists have always been there, but often they did not get the visibility and recognition they deserved (Photo: Julia Ecker, ETH Zürich). 

In the meantime, much has changed for the better, but a gap still exists today, especially in the STEM subjects. In Switzerland, for example, 41% of researchers in the higher education sector are women. However, they are significantly underrepresented in natural sciences, technology, and engineering (between 26 and 33% in 2019). In addition, there exists the phenomenon of the "leaky pipeline", which can also be clearly seen in Switzerland. It describes a decrease in the proportion of women with increasing career stage. This also applies to the D-CHAB and D-BIOL.

Measures are being taken to counteract the trend, but much remains to be done. The stories of talented female researchers can help (we meet some in the quiz). They highlight some of the extraordinary achievements of women in science. They were all self-confident enough never to give up and while some received support from male doctorate supervisors, husbands or like-minded female colleagues, others did not. Ultimately, the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Doudna and Charpentier is also inspiring because the two women, researching separately on the subject, decided to work together, which eventually led them as a team to the ultimate success.  

The quiz below was created for the International Day of Girls and Women in Science in cooperation with the external page Wall of Scientists – an initiative of three PhD students at the D-CHAB of ETH Zurich. The book exhibition on women in science is accessible during regular opening hours at the Information Center Chemie | Biologie | Pharmazie. On display are currently around a dozen biographies about notable women in science and almost as many supplementary works on topics related to female scientists and careers. The exhibition runs from February 11 to International Women's Day, March 8, and was created in collaboration with the Information Center Chemie | Biologie | Pharmazie.

Download Poster 1+2 Book exhibition Women in Science_Download (PDF, 1.1 MB)
 

Quiz: Women in Science

  1. Question 1 of 10
    Tu Youyou, Nobel Laureate in medicine in Stockholm Dec. 2015

    1. The pharmacological chemist Tu Youyou investigated the plant sweet wormwood (Artimisia annua). She and her team isolated the active ingredient responsible for the therapeutic effect of the plant, ‘Qinghaosu’ or artemisin. This was the basis for a new therapy. Do you know for which disease?

    • ✓ Correct Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria. She described artemisin as a gift from old Chinese medicine. (Image: Bengt Nyman , CC BY-SA 4.0 )

    • ✘ False Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria. She described artemisin as a gift from old Chinese medicine. (Image: Bengt Nyman , CC BY-SA 4.0 )

  2. Question 2 of 10
    Genome scheme of Trisomy 21

    2. The geneticist Irene Ayako Uchida made an important contribution to the understanding of Down syndrome. She was the first to use a specific method to detect anomalies in chromosomes – do you know which one?

      • ✓ Correct Irene Ayako Uchida is the first researcher to use fluorescence microscopy to detect the chromosomal anomalies associated with Down Syndrom. She proved that the causal supplementary chromosome can derive from both parents. She discovered evidence of the harm that exposure to X-rays can cause to pregnant women. In 1960, she developed the first blood test to establish the chromosomal karyotype of newborns. (Image: National Human Genome Research Institute)

      • ✘ False Irene Ayako Uchida is the first researcher to use fluorescence microscopy to detect the chromosomal anomalies associated with Down Syndrom. She proved that the causal supplementary chromosome can derive from both parents. She discovered evidence of the harm that exposure to X-rays can cause to pregnant women. In 1960, she developed the first blood test to establish the chromosomal karyotype of newborns. (Image: National Human Genome Research Institute)

    • Question 3 of 10
      Gerty Theresa Cori in the lab

      3. The biochemists Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori and her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori studied the body energy usage and described which cycle through which our body supplies our muscles with energy?

        • ✓ Correct The couple described the Cori cycle (lactic acid cycle). They shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1947 “for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”. Gerty Cori was the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize, and the first woman to be awarded in this category. (Image: Silvia Semeraro , CC BY-SA 4.0 )

        • ✘ False The couple described the Cori cycle (lactic acid cycle). They shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1947 “for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen”. Gerty Cori was the third woman to receive the Nobel Prize, and the first woman to be awarded in this category. (Image: Silvia Semeraro , CC BY-SA 4.0 )

      • Question 4 of 10
        Katherine Johnson, 1983

        4. Katherine Johnson was one of the first "human computers" in NASA. What was her contribution to the NASA programs Mercury (first human US space flight) and Apollo (moon landing)?

          • ✓ Correct The mathematician Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectories and launching windows for the Mercury and Apollo programs. Still, she had to struggle with gender and ethnicity bias. Do you know what answer she received when she requested to attend the briefings? Can you guess her response? Explore more on www.wallofscientists.com (Image: NASA )

          • ✘ False The mathematician Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectories and launching windows for the Mercury and Apollo programs. Still, she had to struggle with gender and ethnicity bias. Do you know what answer she received when she requested to attend the briefings? Can you guess her response? Explore more on www.wallofscientists.com (Image: NASA )

        • Question 5 of 10
          Dorothy Hodgkin

          5. In the 60s, Dorothy Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize for chemistry for her use of X-ray techniques to determine the structures of important biochemical substances, among them Insulin. How many years did it take her to solve the structure of insulin?

            • ✓ Correct Dorothy Hodgkin needed approximately 35 years to solve the highly complex structure of insulin via X-ray crystallography. It is said that she finished the model with her team in a three-day marathon. Apart from Insulin, Hodgkin also solved the structures of Penicillin and Vitamin B12. (Image: D-CHAB, ETH Zurich)

            • ✘ False Dorothy Hodgkin needed approximately 35 years to solve the highly complex structure of insulin via X-ray crystallography. It is said that she finished the model with her team in a three-day marathon. Apart from Insulin, Hodgkin also solved the structures of Penicillin and Vitamin B12. (Image: D-CHAB, ETH Zurich)

          • Question 6 of 10
            Tsunami warning sign

            6. The physicist Francisca Okeke brought us closer to understanding how big natural events such as tsunamis and earthquakes occur, by investigating:

              • ✓ Correct Francisca Okeke studies the ionosphere as well as the earth’s magnetic field, particularly the equatorial electrojet phenomenon. Her research focuses on the daily variation of the ionic currents in the upper atmosphere as well as geomagnetism and climate variability. These investigations could help to explain the occurrence of such natural phenomena as well as to predict their strength.

              • ✘ False Francisca Okeke studies the ionosphere as well as the earth’s magnetic field, particularly the equatorial electrojet phenomenon. Her research focuses on the daily variation of the ionic currents in the upper atmosphere as well as geomagnetism and climate variability. These investigations could help to explain the occurrence of such natural phenomena as well as to predict their strength.

            • Question 7 of 10
              Portrait of the scientist Erika Cremer by Letizia Mancino Cremer

              7. Gas chromatography is a frequently used analytical method for separating mixtures into individual chemical compounds, provided the components are gaseous or can be vaporized. The inventor was a physical chemist. What was her name?

                • ✓ Correct Erika Cremer, originally from Munich, is considered the inventor of gas chromatography. She habilitated despite many hurdles and published over 200 papers. Until her death in 1996, she taught as a professor at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). (Image: Letizia Mancino Cremer , CC BY-SA 4.0)

                • ✘ False Erika Cremer, originally from Munich, is considered the inventor of gas chromatography. She habilitated despite many hurdles and published over 200 papers. Until her death in 1996, she taught as a professor at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). (Image: Letizia Mancino Cremer , CC BY-SA 4.0)

              • Question 8 of 10
                Inge Lehmann 1932

                8. This Danish Geophysicist contributed greatly to the understanding of the structure and composition of our planet, especially through the discovery of the Earth’s inner core.

                • Question 9 of 10
                  Grace Murray Hopper at the UNIVAC keyboard, c. 1960

                  9. The mathematician Grace Hopper taught computers to speak our language. This set the basis of computer programming as it is understood today, and it led to the development of the early high-level programming language …

                  • Question 10 of 10
                    Marie Curie and her two daughters, Eve and Irene 1908

                    10. Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize twice, once for chemistry and once for physics, together with her husband Pierre. But what about her children? Mark the true statement:

                      • Correctly answered questions:

                      Rank:

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