Women in the Physical Sciences
Join Us in Documenting & Celebrating Women’s Contributions to the Physical Sciences.
Submit your own photo to the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives here !
Chien-shiung Wu
Chien-shiung Wu assembling an electro-static generator at Smith College.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Wu Chien-shiung F3
Chien-shiung Wu (1912-1997) was a Chinese American particle and experimental physicists, often called the “First Lady of Physics” for her groundbreaking discoveries.
More about Chien-shiung Wu:
- Book spotlight: Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- May Photos of the Month: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
- Oral History Highlights: Should-Have Won-A-Nobel Edition
- Physics is Immigrants
Nancy Grace Roman
Nancy Grace Roman at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Roman Collection
Roman Nancy B9
Nancy Grace Roman (1925-2018) was an American astronomer known as the “Mother of Hubble” for her work on the Hubble Space Telescope. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch in 2027 and has a field of view 100x larger than Hubble.
More about Nancy Grace Roman:
- Nancy Grace Roman and Early Space Telescopes
- Women Leaders in Astronomy
- Science Communication Collections at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives
- World Space Week: Curiosity for the Cosmos
Vera Rubin
Vera Rubin looking through a telescope at Vassar College
Vassar College, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Rubin Vera F7
Vera Rubin (1928-2016) was an American astronomer who provided compelling evidence for the existence of dark matter.
More about Vera Rubin:
- Vera Rubin: A Life, with Author Dr. Jacqueline Mitton
- Women Leaders in Astronomy
- Oral history: Vera Rubin, astronomer and dark-matter trailblazer
Lucy Mensing
Photograph shows German physicist Lucy Mensing, seated, facing the camera, circa 1928.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Mensing Collection, Gift of Dr. Dorothea Roloff
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Lucy Mensing (1901-1995) was a German physicist with a speciality in quantum mechanics.
More about Lucy Mensing:
- What happened on Helgoland 100 years ago—and what didn’t?
- Book spotlight: Women in the History of Quantum Physics
- Lucy Mensing: Forgotten Quantum Pioneer
Shirley Ann Jackson
Shirley Jackson inspecting equipment with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Ronald E. Mickens Collection
Jackson Shirley C3
Shirley Ann Jackson (1946-) is an American physicist, administrator, and educator. She was the second African American woman to earn a PhD in the US.
More about Shirley Ann Jackson:
Lise Meitner
Portrait of Lise Meitner at Bryn Mawr College. Photo taken in April 1959.
Photo by Robert R. Davis, courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection
Meitner Lise B6
Lise Meitner (1878-1968) was a Austrian physicist who spent her career in Germany before the Nazi’s rise to power led her to flee to Sweden. She was the first woman to become a full professor in Germany. Meitner co-discovered nuclear fission but was not included in the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry given to her partner, Otto Hahn.
More about Lise Meitner:
