Maria Agnesi

She spoke six languages, wrote on differential calculus and Newton's theory of gravity. A formula she devised for the curve that duplicates precisely the volume of a cube is named the 'Agnesi curve'.
www link :
Biography















































.


Louyse Bourgeois
1563-1626
French Nurse


Louyse is known as the mother of obstetrics after she delivered Marie de'Medici's first child before an audience of 200.

In 1608 she publishes a treatise on childbirth with illustrations and explanations of the causes of miscarriage and premature delivery.

www link :
Biography



























.


Ada Byron
1815-52
'Computer' Programmer




Augusta Ada Byron was the daughter of Lord Byron.

At age 17 she was introduced to Mary Somerville, a mathematician. There she heard about Charles Babbage's ideas for a new calculating engine, the Analytical Engine.

Ada wrote an article about the machine and added that such a machine might be used for both practical and scientific use. She suggested to Babbage writing a plan for how the engine might calculate Bernoulli numbers. This plan is now regarded as the first 'computer program'.

A software language developed by the U.S. Department of Defense was named 'ADA' in her honor in 1979. Ada anticipated by more than a century modern technology and computing.

www link :
Biography
























.



Rachel Carson
1907-64
American Writer


Science writer and biologist, known for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea.

Her influential book 'Silent Spring' (1962) created a worldwide awarness of the danger of pollution. It was based on data of DDT levels in Clear Lake, Ca. It was found that DDT level is 250 times greater in plankton than in it was in the water, 12 000 greater in fish, and in birds that feed on the fish 80 000 greater.

Vilified during her lifetime for 'preservationist hysteria' Carson's warnings would eventually lead to a ban on indiscriminate use of DDT.

www link :
Biography
































.


Gabrielle du Chatelet
1706-49
French Scholar and Mathematician


Married to the Marquis Florent du Chatelet, governor of Semur-en-Auxois. In the absence of her husband Gabrielle-Emilie du Chatelet developed a 15-year relationship with Voltaire and they worked on philosophical and scientific topics.

Her chateau at Cirey in Champagne became one of the outstanding centres of literary, scientific and philosophical activity in France. Her' Dissertation on the Nature and Propagation of Fire' was published by the Academy in 1744.

Her major work was a translation of Newton's 'Principia Mathematica'. Voltaire wrote the preface. The complete work appeared in 1759 and was for many years the only translation of the 'Principia' into French.
www link :
Biography















































.



Rosalind Franklin
1920-58
British Scientist


Rosalind was a biophysicist whose x-ray research identified the double helix.

Her studies provided important information for Watson and Crick to postulate the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the 'gene substance'.

www link :
Biography