Pictures of Women in Chemistry

By
Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Chemistry Expert
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
  • B.A., Physics and Mathematics, Hastings College
Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences and is a science writer, educator, and consultant. She has taught science courses at the high school, college, and graduate levels.
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Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
Updated November 05, 2019
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Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin 1964 Nobel Laureate

See photos of women who made contributions to the field of chemistry.

Dorothy Crowfoot-Hodgkin (Great Britain) was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for using x-rays to determine the structure of biologically important molecules.

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Marie Curie Driving a Radiology Car

Marie Curie
Marie Curie driving a radiology car in 1917.
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Marie Curie Before Paris

Marie Curie
Marie Sklodowska, before she moved to Paris.
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Marie Curie from the Granger Collection

Marie Curie
Marie Curie. The Granger Collection, New York
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Marie Curie Picture

Marie Curie
Marie Curie.
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Rosalind Franklin from the National Portrait Gallery

Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin used x-ray crystallography to see the structure of DNA and the tobacco mosaic virus. I believe this is a photo of a portrait in the National Portait Gallery in London.
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Mae Jemison - Doctor and Astronaut

Mae Jemison
Mae Jemison is a retired medical doctor and American astronaut. In 1992, she became the first black woman in space. She holds a degree in chemical engineering from Stanford and a degree in medicine from Cornell. NASA
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Iréne Joliot-Curie - 1935 Nobel Prize

Iréne Joliot-Curie was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesis of new radioactive elements. The prize was shared jointly with her husband Jean Frédéric Joliot.

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Lavoisier and Madame Laviosier Portrait

Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and his Wife
Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and his Wife (1788). Oil on canvas. 259.7 x 196 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Jacques-Louis David

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier's wife helped him with his research. In modern times, she would have been credited as a colleague or partner. Lavoisier sometimes is called the Father of Modern Chemistry. In addition to other contributions, he stated the law of conservation of mass, dispoved the theory of phlogiston, wrote the first list of elements, and introduced the metric system.

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Shannon Lucid - Biochemist and Astronaut

Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid as an American biochemist and US astronaut. For a while, she held the American record for the most time in space. She studies the effects of space on human health, often using her own body as a test subject. NASA
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Lise Meitner - Famous Female Physicist

Lise Meitner studied radioactivity and nuclear physics.
Lise Meitner (November 17, 1878 – October 27, 1968) was an Austrian/Swedish physicist who studied radioactivity and nuclear physics. She was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, for which Otto Hahn received a Nobel Prize.

The element meitnerium (019) is named for Lise Meitner.

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Curie Women After Arrival in US

Marie Curie
Marie Curie with Meloney, Irène, Marie, and Eve shortly after their arrival in the United States.
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Curie Lab - Pierre, Petit, and Marie

Curie Lab
Pierre Curie, Pierre's assistant, Petit, and Marie Curie.
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Woman Scientist Circa 1920

This is a photo of a woman scientist, circa 1920.
Female Scientist in America This is a photo of a woman scientist, circa 1920. Library of Congress
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Hattie Elizabeth Alexander

Hattie Elizabeth Alexander and Sadie Carlin - 1926
Hattie Elizabeth Alexander (on bench) and Sadie Carlin (right) - 1926. Library of Congress

Hattie Elizabeth Alexander was a pediatrician and microbiologist who developed the study of antibiotic resistant strains of viruses and pathogens. She developed the first antibiotic treatment for infant meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae. Her treatment significantly reduced the mortality rate of the disease. She became one of the first women to head a major medical association when she was the president of the American Pediatric Society in 1964. The photograph is of Miss Alexander (sitting on lab bench) and Sadie Carlin (right) before she received her medical degree.

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Rita Levi-Montalcini

Rita Levi-Montalcini
Doctor, Nobel Prize Winner, Italian Senator Rita Levi-Montalcini. Creative Commons

Rita Levi-Montalcini was awarded half the 1986 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of nerve growth factors. Upon graduation in 1936 with a medical degree, she was denied an academic or professional position in her native Italy under Mussolini's anti-Jewish laws. Instead, she set up a home laboratory in her bedroom and began researching nerve growth in chicken embryos. The paper she wrote on chick embryos earned her an invitation to a research position at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1947 where she stayed for the next 30 years. The Italian government recognized her by making her a member of the Italian Senate for life in 2001.