Saturday, January 02, 2016

Lives of Interesting Women 2015

At the turn of the secular calendar year lots of people make lots of lists. Having always loved lists, I'm in the mood to recall notable women whose lives have ended in the past year. It's not that easy to find them, but I'll have a go. Meanwhile, the start of the search brought me to a list of women scientists that should be better known. I'd not heard of any of them except Rosalind Franklin. Have you? Have a quick read about:

Emilie du Chatelet
Caroline Herschel
Mary Anning
Mary Somerville
Maria Mitchell
Lise Meitner
Irene Curie-Joliot
Barbara McClintock
Dorothy Hodgkin
Rosalind Franklin

So many admirable women, often discouraged from studying science, often not acknowledged for their contribution.

In 2015 we also lost:

Claudia Alexander 
(geophysicist & top NASA scientist) Astronomy Magazine obituary

Grace Lee Boggs
(philosopher & feminist) obituary

Eugenie Clark aka "The Shark Lady"
(ichthyologistTelegraph obituary

Ronnie Gilbert 
(singer, the Weavers) obituary

Mary Ellen Mark
(photographer) Vogue retrospective, obituary

Melissa Mathison
(screenwriter, best known for ET the Extraterrestrial) obituary

Cynthia Robinson 
(trumpeter for Sly & the Family Stone) obituary

Dorothy "Dottie" Thomas, considered the mother of bone marrow transplantation.
Obituary

This is, of course, a tiny and random selection of names. I present them for consideration and possible inspiration. Happy 2016!

Nivchar shem may-osher rav - a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches (Proverbs 22:1).



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