Women in the Scientific Revolution

By David(El mosquito)

  • Anna Maria van Schurman

    Biography: Dutch scholar (1607–1678). Spoke many languages and supported women’s education.
    Discovery: Wrote feminist works and promoted women’s access to higher education.

  • Margaret Cavendish

    Biography: English writer and philosopher (1623–1673). One of the few women to publish under her own name.
    Discovery: Wrote The Blazing World, an early science fiction book, and criticized how women were excluded from science.

  • Maria Sibylla Merian

    Biography: German naturalist and illustrator (1647–1717). One of the first to study insects scientifically.
    Discovery: Studied insect life cycles and made detailed scientific drawings.

  • Émilie du Châtelet

    Biography: French mathematician and physicist (1706–1749). She translated and explained Newton’s Principia Mathematica in French.
    Discovery: Translated Newton’s work and developed ideas about kinetic energy.

  • Laura Bassi

    Biography: Italian physicist (1711–1778). First woman university professor in Europe.
    Discovery: Introduced Newtonian physics in Italy and did many studies.

  • Dorothea Erxleben

    Biography: First woman doctor in Germany (1715–1762). Fought for women’s right to study medicine.
    Discovery: Wrote a thesis supporting women’s medical education and worked as a doctor.

  • Maria Gaetana Agnesi

    Biography: Italian mathematician (1718–1799). Wrote one of the first clear books about calculus.
    Discovery: Wrote an important book on differential and integral calculus.

  • Jeanne Baret

    Biography: French explorer and botanist (1740–1807). First woman to sail around the world, disguised as a man.
    Discovery: Collected over 6,000 plant species during an expedition.

  • Caroline Herschel

    Biography: German-British astronomer (1750–1848), sister of William Herschel. First woman paid as a scientist.
    Discovery: Discovered 8 comets and created star catalogs to map the sky.

  • Sophie Germain

    Biography: Self-taught French mathematician (1776–1831). Studied secretly because women weren’t allowed in university.
    Discovery: Developed “Germain prime numbers” and worked on elasticity theory.