List of female scientists before the 21st century

Please note: this is a historical list, intended to deal with the time period when women working in science were rare. For this reason, this list ends with the 20th century.

Contents

Antiquity

  • Agamede (12th century BCE), (possibly mythical) physician in Ancient Greece
  • Aglaonike (2nd century BCE), the first woman astronomer in Ancient Greece
  • Agnodike (4th century BCE), the first woman physician to practice legally in Athens
  • Arete of Cyrene (5th–4th centuries BCE), natural and moral philosopher, North Africa
  • Artemisia of Caria (c. 300 BCE), botanist
  • Aspasia of Miletus (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist
  • Cleopatra the Alchemist - identity is unclear, but her book, The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, is[1] first recorded as existing in the 2nd century A.D./C.E. in Alexandria.
  • Diotima of Mantinea (4th century BCE), philosopher and scientist, ancient Greece (sources vary as to her historicity; possibly a fictionalized character based on Aspasia of Miletus)
  • Enheduanna (c. 2285–2250 BCE), Sumerian/Akkadian astronomer and poet
  • Hypatia of Alexandria (370–415), mathematician and astronomer, Egypt
  • Lastheneia of Mantinea, (5th century BCE), one of Plato's only female students
  • Mary the Jewess (1st or 2nd century CE), alchemist
  • Merit Ptah (c. 2700 BCE), Egyptian physician
  • Pythias of Assos (4th century BCE), marine zoologist
  • Tapputi-Belatekallim ([2] first mentioned in a clay tablet dating to 2000 BCE), Babylonian perfumer, the first person in history recorded as using a chemical process
  • Theano (6th century BCE), philosopher, mathematician and physician

Middle Ages

15th to 17th centuries

18th century

19th century

20th century

See also

Notes

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ a b c d Walsh, 1911
  3. ^ a b c d e Howard, 2006

References

External links