Stories of STEM Women That Deserve to Be Told—All Year Long

Some names are remembered. Others are erased.

Not because their work mattered less—but because history looked the other way. For centuries, women in STEM have made breakthroughs in medicine, computing, mathematics, and space exploration. Yet too often, their discoveries were dismissed, stolen, or buried under someone else’s name. Their impact is everywhere. Their credit? Nowhere.

Boost Her Voice exists to change that. From Women’s Day to Women’s Day, every Monday, we bring forward twelve exceptional women. Fifty-two weeks. Six hundred twenty-four stories.

These women didn’t wait for permission. They built the future anyway.

This is Edition #2—twelve more names history tried to forget. But today, we tell their stories.

Grace Hopper – The Woman Who Made Computers Speak

Before Grace Hopper, computers spoke only in numbers. She changed that. A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy and a computer scientist, Hopper didn’t just build systems—she made them understandable. In an era when computers were intimidating machines reserved for mathematicians, she saw their potential to serve everyday people.

While working on the UNIVAC I, one of the first commercial computers, she developed COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language)—the first programming language designed for business and government use. Before COBOL, programming was an elite skill, locked behind symbols and binary. Hopper changed that by making it human-readable, ensuring that businesses and institutions could harness the power of computing without needing to speak machine code.

Her vision was met with resistance. The industry dismissed the idea of "plain English" programming. But Hopper was relentless. She proved that computers should adapt to humans—not the other way around. Today, her work lives on in every high-level programming language, in every system designed to be intuitive, and in every woman in tech who refuses to take "no" for an answer. Hopper didn’t just write code. She rewrote the future.

Virginia Apgar – The Woman Who Gave Babies Their First Test

A baby is born. The room holds its breath. Will it cry? Will it breathe? Will it survive? For centuries, doctors had no standardized way to assess a newborn’s health in those critical first minutes. Some babies struggled, their bodies weak, their breathing shallow—but too often, the warning signs were missed until it was too late.

Virginia Apgar saw the problem. And she refused to look away. A pioneering anesthesiologist in the 1940s, she noticed an unsettling trend—infant mortality was alarmingly high, but there was no structured way for doctors to detect which babies were in distress. She developed a simple, yet revolutionary solution: the Apgar Score. With five key indicators—heart rate, breathing, reflexes, muscle tone, and skin color—her system gave doctors a way to quickly assess a newborn’s condition and act before it was too late. It took just seconds to perform but meant the difference between life and death.

The medical community dismissed it at first. Too simple. Too obvious. She was a woman telling doctors to change the way they worked. But Apgar didn’t stop. She fought to prove its effectiveness, gathering data, refining the process, and forcing the world to pay attention. Today, her test is standard practice in every hospital across the globe. Millions of newborns have survived because of her innovation. Yet, outside the medical field, few know her name. Virginia Apgar didn’t just create a test—she rewrote the rules of neonatal care and saved countless lives.

Saalumarada Thimmakka – The Woman Who Planted a Forest

Some people leave a legacy in books. Others build theirs in stone. Saalumarada Thimmakka grew hers—one tree at a time. Denied motherhood, she found another way to nurture life. In the 1940s, she and her husband began planting trees along a barren stretch of highway in Karnataka, India. No government support. No financial backing. Just their hands, the soil, and an unshakable commitment. Day after day, they carried water in heavy pots, walking miles to ensure each tree survived. They fought droughts, extreme heat, and the indifference of those who couldn’t see their vision. By the time they were done, 385 banyan trees stood tall—living testaments to their relentless care.

What started as a simple act of healing turned into an ecosystem. Her trees now prevent soil erosion, provide oxygen, shelter wildlife, and shade thousands of travelers. Her work didn’t just change a landscape—it changed the way people saw reforestation. For decades, her efforts went unnoticed. She didn’t plant for fame, but for generations she would never meet. Recognition only came later in life when she was named one of the world’s greatest environmentalists. Today, her trees thrive, and her story inspires a new generation of climate warriors. Saalumarada Thimmakka didn’t wait for permission to create change. She just started planting.

Watson and Crick’s discovery of DNA’s structure is one of science’s most celebrated moments. But behind their success was research they didn’t do alone.

Enter Marie Maynard Daly—a pioneer whose work shaped modern genetics. In 1947, she became the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, breaking a barrier that should never have existed in the first place. Her research uncovered how DNA and proteins interact, paving the way for the field of molecular biology. But Daly wasn’t just unlocking the secrets of genetics—she was also investigating something closer to home: how diet and hypertension impact heart health. Her findings were decades ahead of their time, showing the link between high blood pressure, cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease—insights that fuel modern medicine today.

Yet, her name is rarely mentioned in textbooks. She worked in laboratories where she was often the only Black scientist, fighting racial and gender barriers at every step. Recognition was scarce. The impact of her work was not. Without her contributions, genetics, heart disease research, and molecular biology wouldn’t be where they are today. Marie Maynard Daly changed science, even if history tried to leave her out of it.

Maryam Mirzakhani – The Woman Who Rewrote Geometry

Mathematics has always been an elite world—one where women were rarely seen, let alone celebrated. For centuries, the Fields Medal—the highest honor in mathematics—was awarded exclusively to men. Then came Maryam Mirzakhani. In 2014, she became the first and only woman to ever win the Fields Medal, shattering a glass ceiling that had remained intact for nearly a century. Her work didn’t just solve problems—it transformed geometry, topology, and dynamic systems, unraveling mathematical mysteries that had puzzled the world for generations.

Her specialty? The mathematics of curved spaces. She explored the behavior of geodesics—the paths that curves follow on complex surfaces—bridging disciplines that seemed worlds apart. Her research reshaped our understanding of the structure of the universe, influencing everything from quantum physics to cryptography, from the way light bends around black holes to the foundations of modern cybersecurity.

But Mirzakhani’s brilliance wasn’t just in numbers—it was in how she saw them. She didn’t approach math like an equation to be solved but as a vast, uncharted landscape to explore. She filled notebooks with sketches and diagrams, drawing her way through mathematical problems like an artist mapping out a masterpiece. Her work was a fusion of creativity, intuition, and logic, revealing patterns where others saw only abstraction.

Despite being a global icon, she never sought fame. When asked about her success, she simply said, "I don’t have any particular recipe. I just love what I do." Maryam Mirzakhani’s life was cut short by cancer at just 40 years old. But her impact is eternal. Her equations are written into the very fabric of mathematics, shaping fields that will continue evolving for centuries. She didn’t just break barriers. She redefined what was possible.

Kalpana Chawla – The Woman Who Took India to the Stars

Kalpana Chawla didn’t just dream of space—she defied gravity in every sense. Born in a small town in India, where girls were expected to follow tradition, not the stars, she was told that space was not for her. But she refused to accept a world where her dreams had limits. She wanted to fly—and nothing would keep her grounded. She left India to pursue aeronautical engineering in the U.S., earning a doctorate in aerospace engineering. She was not just learning about space—she was preparing to go there.

In 1997, she became the first woman of Indian origin to fly in space, boarding STS-87 Columbia as a mission specialist. But it was her second mission, STS-107, that would seal her place in history.

On February 1, 2003, disaster struck. As the Columbia shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry, Kalpana and six fellow astronauts were lost. She died doing exactly what she had fought so hard to achieve—pushing the boundaries of space exploration.

Her legacy is not just about where she went, but what she stood for. She was more than an astronaut—she was proof that barriers exist only until someone breaks them. She became a symbol of resilience, a role model for generations of Indian women, and a name that would never be forgotten. Kalpana Chawla did not wait for permission to reach the stars. She charted her own path and left the door open for others to follow.

Marie Curie – The Woman Who Redefined Science

Marie Curie faced every obstacle designed to keep women out of science—and crushed them all. Born in 1867 in Poland, she was denied higher education simply because she was a woman. So she studied in secret, attending underground classes in Warsaw before moving to France to build her own future. At Sorbonne University, she was one of the few women in a field that never wanted her there. She changed it anyway.

In 1903, she became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, sharing the Physics award with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity—a term she coined herself. Then, in 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for discovering radium and polonium—making her the only person in history to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields. Her discoveries reshaped medicine, physics, and chemistry. Radiation therapy for cancer treatment? Born from her research. The foundation for modern nuclear physics? Her work made it possible. She didn’t just advance science—she changed how we see the universe itself. Recognition came at a cost. She was never fully accepted by the scientific establishment. After Pierre’s death, they tried to dismiss her work. When she applied for a professorship at the French Academy of Sciences, they rejected her—because she was a woman.

Still, she pushed forward. She built laboratories, trained generations of women in science, and even developed mobile X-ray units for battlefield hospitals in World War I. Her research wasn’t just theoretical—it saved lives. Marie Curie didn’t just break barriers—she erased them. Her legacy isn’t in history books—it’s in every discovery that followed.

Chien-Shiung Wu – The Woman Who Rewrote the Laws of Physics

Chien-Shiung Wu didn’t just challenge physics—she forced it to rewrite its own rules.

Born in 1912 in China, she grew up in a society that offered few opportunities for women in science. That didn’t stop her. She moved to the U.S., where she became one of the most influential experimental physicists of the 20th century. Her research shaped modern physics, but history tried to erase her name.

During World War II, she played a critical role in the Manhattan Project, helping refine uranium enrichment processes for the atomic bomb. But her biggest breakthrough came in 1956, when she designed the Wu Experiment—a test that shattered one of physics’ fundamental laws. For decades, scientists believed that the law of conservation of parity was universal—a rule stating that nature doesn’t favor left or right in particle interactions. Wu proved otherwise. Her experiment demonstrated that in weak nuclear forces, parity is violated, leading to a revolution in theoretical physics and paving the way for the Standard Model of particle physics.

The discovery was groundbreaking. The Nobel Prize? It went to her male colleagues, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, who had proposed the theory—but without her work, it would have remained unproven. She was shut out of the Nobel, but not out of history. Wu didn’t just prove physics wrong—she proved that women in science weren’t just assistants, but leaders of discovery. She fought for recognition, for equality, and for future generations of women in STEM. Chien-Shiung Wu didn’t need permission to change science. She forced the world to catch up.

Mae Jemison – The Woman Who Took Dreams to Space

Space was never meant to be a place for women like Mae Jemison. She went anyway.

Born in 1956, she grew up watching Apollo missions where all the astronauts looked the same—white, male, untouchable. When she told teachers she wanted to be an astronaut, they laughed. She became one anyway. In 1992, Mae Jemison flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African American woman in space. But getting there took more than training. She had already broken barriers as a physician, engineer, and NASA astronaut, facing racial and gender bias at every stage. But for Mae, reaching space wasn’t the finish line—it was the beginning. She used her historic mission as a launchpad for change, founding the DREAMS program (Dare to Reach for the Stars) to inspire young women and people of color to pursue STEM careers.

Her impact extended beyond NASA. She led research on satellite technology, climate change, and sustainability, proving that science isn’t just about discovery—it’s about shaping the future. Mae Jemison didn’t just break into space—she made sure others could follow.

Jane Goodall – The Woman Who Rewrote the Rules of Nature

Science didn’t make space for Jane Goodall. She carved her own path. In the 1960s, primatology was dominated by men. Degrees mattered more than discovery. Jane had no formal training, no lab, no doctorate. But she had something else—a vision that would change the way we understand animals forever. At 26 years old, she stepped into Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, to observe chimpanzees—alone, with nothing but a notebook and a determination that science hadn’t seen before.

Her approach was radical. She didn’t watch from a distance—she immersed herself in their world. She gave the chimpanzees names instead of numbers, studying them not as test subjects, but as individuals with emotions, relationships, and intelligence. Then came the discovery that shattered everything scientists thought they knew: chimpanzees use tools.

Before that, tool-making was considered a defining trait of humans. Goodall’s discovery forced science to rethink the boundary between humans and animals. Her work rewrote textbooks, reshaped behavioral science, and redefined intelligence itself.

But her mission didn’t end with research. She became a global advocate for conservation, fighting for endangered species, deforestation prevention, and ethical treatment of animals. She founded the Jane Goodall Institute, empowering future generations to protect the planet. Jane Goodall didn’t just change science—she changed the way we see ourselves.

Emmy Noether – The Woman Who Built the Backbone of Modern Physics

If Albert Einstein called someone “the most important woman in the history of mathematics”, you’d expect the world to know her name. But history tried to erase Emmy Noether—even as her work shaped modern physics. Born in 1882 in Germany, she was denied university teaching positions, forced to lecture under male professors’ names, and eventually driven out of academia by the Nazi regime. But she never stopped working, even when the world refused to acknowledge her. Her breakthrough? Noether’s Theorem—one of the most fundamental discoveries in physics.

At a time when Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was reshaping science, Noether provided the missing piece: she proved the deep link between symmetry and conservation laws. Her theorem showed that for every symmetry in nature, there is a corresponding conserved quantity—the foundation of everything from particle physics to quantum mechanics. Without Noether, our understanding of the universe would be incomplete. Her work became the backbone of relativity, electromagnetism, and the Standard Model of physics—yet she spent most of her life overlooked and uncredited. She wasn’t chasing prestige. She was chasing truth. Emmy Noether changed physics forever, even if history refused to give her the spotlight. Today, her theorem is one of the most cited principles in science. The recognition she never received in life? Her ideas earned it for her.

Rachel Carson – The Woman Who Made the World Listen

When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, she didn’t just write a book—she sparked a revolution. At a time when chemical companies ruled unchecked, she exposed the deadly effects of pesticides like DDT, revealing how they poisoned ecosystems, wiped out wildlife, and threatened human health. The backlash was brutal. Corporations discredited her, industry leaders called her “hysterical,” and government officials tried to silence her. But she never backed down.

Her research proved a radical truth: humans are not separate from nature—we are part of it. What we release into the environment comes back to us. Her work led to the eventual ban of DDT, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the birth of the modern environmental movement. But Silent Spring was only the final chapter of her fight. Before the world knew her as an activist, she was a marine biologist, a poet of science, translating the complexity of the natural world into words that captured hearts and minds. She made people feel the urgency of conservation—not through fear, but through understanding. Rachel Carson didn’t just raise awareness—she forced change. The world before her book and the world after were never the same.

The Stories That Built the Future

These 12 women didn’t just make history—they rewrote it. From the depths of the ocean to the vastness of space, from the precision of mathematics to the urgency of environmental science, their discoveries have shaped the world we live in. They pushed boundaries, defied expectations, and built legacies that science still stands on today.

But too often, their names were left out of the textbooks. Their work was claimed by others, their breakthroughs dismissed, their impact quietly absorbed into progress.

That’s why we tell these stories. Not just once. Not just for a day. But all year long.

Because history doesn’t change unless we change the way we tell it. Because recognition isn’t just about the past—it’s about the future voices we amplify and the next generation we inspire. 24 stories down. 600 more to come. Who’s next?

Thanks to Instant Power for sponsoring this series and for helping amplify voices that matter. If you’re ready to transform your own career and build a lasting legacy, Instant Power is the 21-day blueprint to help you do just that.

Stay tuned for the next 12 stories as we continue to share the stories of extraordinary women who are shaping our future.