Girls in STEM Rock: Fun Stories of Awesome STEM Superstars

 Women have always been involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, though historically their contributions have not always been highlighted.  Read on to learn about some amazing women in STEM that you may not have heard of!

Ana Roqué de Duprey was a botanist and educator born in Puerto Rico in 1853.  She started a school in her home at the age of 13, where she taught from a geography textbook that she had written herself.  Her textbook was later adopted by the Department of Education in Puerto Rico.  She founded several girls-only schools as well as the College of Mayagüez.  She wrote the Botany of the Antilles, which was the most comprehensive study of flora in the Caribbean at the beginning of the 20th century.  She also founded the first women's suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917!

Ruth Rogan Benerito was a chemist and pioneer in bioproducts.  She is credited with saving the cotton industry in post-WWII America through her discovery of a process to produce wrinkle-free, stain-free, and flame-resistant cotton fabrics.  She also developed a way to deliver fat intravenously to patients who were too sick to eat.  This is the foundation of the system we use today in hospitals!

Grace Hopper was a computer pioneer and naval officer.  She is considered one of the first three modern "programmers".  She completed her PhD in mathematics at Yale University in 1934.  In 1943, she enlisted in the Navy, where she helped program one of the earliest electromechanical computers, the Mark I.  One crowning achievement of her decades long career in programming was the creation of the computer language COBOL, which is still in use today.

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and nature writer.  Her book Silent Spring is credited as being the catalyst for the modern environmental movement.  Outlining the dangers of chemical pesticides, her book sparked a national movement that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was a British-born American astrophysicist and astronomer.  In 1925, she proposed in her doctoral thesis that stars were composed of mainly hydrogen and helium-- a groundbreaking discovery.  She is the first person--male or female--to gain a doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University.  Despite working in academia for the entirety of her career, because of her gender, she wasn't recognized as a full professor until 1956.  She was the first woman granted full professorship at Harvard University, and went on to become the first female chair of the Astronomy Department there.

So many incredible women have contributed to STEM fields!  Who is your favorite woman in STEM?