1.6. Women and People of Color in Science http://www.ck12.org
Contributions of Women and People of Color
Despite their relative lack of opportunities, women and people of color have made many important contributions to
science. Several have won Nobel prizes for their discoveries. Just a few of their contributions to physical science are
presented inTable1.1. You can learn about more of their contributions at these URLs:
- http://new.inventions.org/resources/science/women/index.html
- http://www1.umn.edu/ships/gender/giese.htm
- https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/faces.html
TABLE1.1: Important Contributions to Physical Science by Women and People of Color
Scientist Contribution
Marie Curie (1867–1934) Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel
prize—and she won two of them! She won the 1903
Nobel prize for physics for her discovery of radiation.
She won the 1911 Nobel prize for chemistry for her
discovery of the elements radium and polonium.C. V. Raman (1888–1970) C. V. Raman was an Indian scientist who won the
1930 Nobel prize for physics. He made important
discoveries about how light travels through transparent
materials. He was also made a knight of the British
Empire for his work.Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–1972) Maria Goeppert-Mayer was a German-born American
scientist who won the 1963 Nobel prize for physics.
She helped to develop a new model of the nucleus of
the atom. She was just the second woman to win a
Nobel prize for physics, after Marie Curie.