3 Fantastic Women of STEM
Women and STEM
Throughout history, there have been countless fantastic female scientists, inventors and engineers! Yet unfortunately, the gender gap in STEM is very much still alive and well. Despite a greater awareness of the issue in recent years, women are still vastly under-represented. According to a study earlier this year by the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology), women only account for 29 percent of the STEM workforce. [1] But why is this the case?
Multiple deep-set, societal factors contribute to this, including the still prevalent stereotype that maths and science are ‘for boys’ at school. As well as this, the male domination of work in these fields often perpetuates to girls, from a young age, the sense that there isn't room for them in STEM. [2] A lack of visibility of female role models for girls just feeds into the cycle of under-representation. [3]
During the aforementioned IET survey, out of those asked, only 8% could name a women who had made significant contributions to STEM fields. [1] This is by all accounts, abysmal, and denotes the fact that inspirational women scientists are not celebrated or highlighted enough.
Women in STEM have been consistently and systematically ignored and overlooked. It is therefore vital to shed light on the amazing women who have made vital advancements to STEM in order to inspire today’s girls to be tomorrow’s innovators!
Here are 3 (of many) amazing women who have taken the world of STEM by storm.
1) Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)
You’ve probably heard of Charles Babbage, one key contributor to the invention of the first computer. But Ada Lovelace is considered the world’s first computer programmer! Ada was a pioneering mathematician in the nineteenth century, which is especially remarkable considering this was not the norm in education for girls at the time. Ada had famous parentage; she was the daughter of Lord Byron. Rather cutely, he called her his ‘Princess of Parallelograms’. [4]
Ada met Charles Babbage when she was seventeen, and worked closely with him on his ‘Analytical Engine’- the first proposed computer. This very early computer had some key similarities with modern computers. It stored data, and was programmable, but it could only perform arithmetic. [5] What makes Ada so amazing and modern was her additions and extrapolations of the potential of Charles’ machine. She suggested that the machine would have potential to go beyond just mathematics, and ‘might act upon other things’. [4]
As well as this, ‘looping’ was her brain child; the method of the engine repeating a series of instructions. This is still used in modern computing! In her notes, she also described how she believed the device could handle letters and symbols if codes could be created for them. [5]
Ada defied the odds of being born a woman in the nineteenth century, and was a visionary in computing. With this in mind, ‘Princess of Parallelograms’, doesn't seem to do her justice, does it?
2) Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000)
Hedy Lamarr is perhaps best known for being a glamorous movie star from the golden age of Hollywood. She made over 25 movies, yet aside from her cinematic success, her talents for innovation and invention make her even more remarkable! She’s known as the ‘Mother of Wi-Fi’, as her invention of a type of frequency hopping in the 1940’s became the foundation of modern day Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. [6]
Hedy was born in Austria in 1914 and moved to America in 1937, where she pursued her movie career. As a young girl however, her passion was for engineering. From the age of 5 Hedy would take apart her music box to see how the machinery inside worked, and then reassemble it. [7] (This is an excellent way to understand how tech works- check out our free resource for a product teardown session!)
In between takes on movie sets, Hedy would work on her inventions! One of these innovations was a dissolvable tablet that turned still drinks fizzy. As well as this, she created a glow in the dark dog collar and a swivelling seat that would allow the elderly to get out of the shower safely.[7]
But perhaps her most important innovation was of a type of frequency hopping that forms the basis of secure communications within Wi-Fi and Bluetooth . This was developed alongside the composer George Anthiel. The pair wanted to figure out a way to guide torpedoes and take down Nazi submarines in World War Two. Hedy knew that radio controlled torpedoes would be easy for the Nazis to hack into. So they came up with the idea of switching between radio frequencies to avoid signals being jammed and intercepted. This would allow the torpedo to find the necessary target, without the Nazis knowing about it. The technology unfortunately didn’t get used during the war in the end, but Hedy had the technology patented. [8]
This would form the foundations for modern day Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Imagine modern life without those things? Hedy Lamarr was an incredible innovator whose brains and creativity paved the way for technology that is often taken for granted today!
3) Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)
Katherine Johnson was an incredible woman and contributed to the world of STEM outstandingly in her work with NASA. In 1961, for Alan Shepard’s ‘Freedom 7’ (NASA’s launch of the first American in space), the flight path wasn’t calculated by computers, but by Katherine Johnson! She was also responsible for calculations in other projects such as NASA’s first space orbit and the moon landing. [9]
From a young age, Katherine was an exceptional mathematician, and as such graduated high school aged 10, went to college at 15 and graduated at age 18! She began working for NASA in the 1950’s and quickly gained recognition for her abilities. [10] One notable instance for this was when NASA was preparing for the Orbital Mission of John Glenn. This was NASA’S most complex mission to date, and they utilised computers to programme the trajectory of John Glenn’s vessel. It is reported that John Glenn, perhaps nervous of the new technology, asked the engineers to “get the girl”, to check and confirm the numbers from the computer by hand. That girl, being Johnson! [9] After Johnson's confirmation, Glenn was happy to go into orbit!
Recently, her story was celebrated in the 2016 film ‘Hidden Figures’. Katherine Johnson sadly passed away in 2020, but lived until the incredible age of 101! [10] Katherine Johnson is a true STEM hero!
Team Repair’s Mission
At Team Repair, we aim to make STEM engaging, fun and accessible especially to those that struggle with traditional STEM teaching. Within this, we are passionate about inspiring girls to get into science. So far, we’ve seen great results. In our 2023-24 survey, 29.7% of girls stated that they had an increased interest in having a science or tech job after completing our programme! As a company with two female co-founders, it is integral to us that we empower girls to have the confidence and skills to be the STEM innovators of tomorrow.
[2] https://www.aauw.org/resources/research/the-stem-gap/
[3] https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/fast-facts-stem/
[4]https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/adalovelace/
[5] https://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/adalovelace/2018/07/26/ada-lovelace-and-the-analytical-engine/
[7] https://www.history.com/news/hedy-lamarr-inventor-frequency-hopping-wifi
[8]https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/hedy-lamarr
[9] Book ‘50 Women in Technology’ by Georgina Ferry and Ines Almeida- pgs. 52-53
[10] https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/katherine-johnson-biography/
