The first recorded chemists were two women. Tablet describing Tapputi-Belatekallim and “Ninu”, courtesy Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. The original may be viewed online here. How do we know? This clay tablet from ancient Mesopotamia, dated to...
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was born in Cairo in 1910. Her father was working in the Egyptian Education Service, but soon moved to the Sudan to become the Director of Education and Antiquities. Her mother was involved in her father’s work, but became an authority...
Ada E. Yonath was born in Jerusalem in 1939 to a poor family. As a child, she actively investigated the world around her and took an interest in her father’s medical conditions. Her parents enabled her to obtain a formal education at prestigious secular grammar...
Today, Home Economics classes are generally considered dreary and outdated, but they might not exist at all without Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards. Born in 1842, Ellen was the first woman to be admitted to MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and also...
I just went to see Big Hero 6, the new superhero movie from Disney, and it is fantastic! Big Hero 6 is the story of Hiro Hamata, a 14-year-old robotics genius in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. His older brother, Tadashi, introduces him to his friends at the...
