Women's History Month

Celebrating Women in the Physical Sciences

AIP is committed to highlighting resources and materials that celebrate the contributions of women in science.

Highlighting Achievements and Challenges for Women in the Physical Sciences Community

Women have been vital to the physical sciences from the very beginning. Contrary to modern stereotypes, before the 1850s, physics was considered a “girls” subject . Since then, the work of luminaries such as Marie Curie, Lisa Meitner, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Chien-Shiung Wu, and countless other women set foundational knowledge that continues to drive our understanding of the universe and advance collective scholarship.

Zoe Adams, a graduate student at the University of Maryland and 2025 intern at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives, is on a mission to ensure the contributions of women in science are never lost. In the video below, Zoe discusses her work processing the papers of Gloria Lubkin, a pioneering physicist and longtime editor of Physics Today, and why making these historical materials accessible is vital for the future of science.

Uncovering Forgotten Voices: Zoe Adams & the Legacy of Women in Physics

Thoughts from AIP Leadership

The history of the physical sciences is also a history of women breaking barriers and redefining what leadership in science looks like. Trailblazers like Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Greenmade, and Dr. Patricia Cowings made space for careers like mine, and this fuels my commitment to advancing opportunity for women to thrive across the physical sciences.

Jovonni Spinner

Career Opportunity and Advancement Officer, AIP
Exploring the historical record, like oral history interviews, correspondence, and memoirs, we can see the moments where women working in the sciences have struggled and waited, but also moments where women have succeeded and laid a path for others to follow. We strive to collect contemporary stories of women in science to provide a clear picture of how far women have come and a vision for a more diverse and welcoming world of science in the future.

Melanie Mueller

Director Niels Bohr Library & Archives

Marching Towards Equality: Recognizing Women’s Achievements in Physics

Throughout March, AIP is committed to highlighting archival images, statistical data, teaching resources, and news and analysis that celebrate the accomplishments of women in science. By elevating their experiences, we hope to inform and inspire meaningful change and inclusion. Be sure to follow our social media channels and join in on the conversation.

The Faces of Sisters in Science

Explore rare archival photographs that illuminate the lives of Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hildegard Stücklen—four physicists who fled Nazi Germany and helped reshape modern science.

Meet the Archives Fellow Enriching the Historical Record of Women in the Physical Sciences

A new NBLA fellowship is strengthening the historical record of women in the physical sciences through research, oral histories, and outreach.

Dava Sobel standing in front of a sun dial, smiling wearing red glasses.

Translating Science History

Take a closer look at Dava Sobel’s NBLA collection and the scholarship behind her bestselling works on science history.

Juan Roederer and his wife Beatriz Susana Cougnet de Roederer

How AIP is Giving a Name to Mrs. Scientist

Learn how our librarians and archivists are working together to recognize more Faces of the Physical Sciences.

Women Leaders in Astronomy

Discover archival photographs of women who served in leadership roles within the American Astronomical Society and other astronomical organizations.

1901-2023: Women Nobel Physics Prize Laureates

Since its inception in 1901, the Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to 225 laureates – just five of those laureates were women. In recent years, there has been more recognition for women in the Physics category of Nobel and other sciences. This timeline spotlights the inspiring women laureates for the physics prize who defied the norms of their time and the ones breaking barriers today.

1900-1930s

1901

The Nobel Prize in Physics is established.

1903

Marie Curie became the first woman to win the prize in only the third year it was given for her pioneering work on radioactivity. And in 1911 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium.

1930-1960s

1963

Sixty years after Curie, Maria Goeppert Mayer became the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on nuclear shell structures. Noted for working most of her career without pay or a tenured position, Mayer pursued her research “just for the fun of doing physics.” She was 58 before she became a full professor.

2000-Present

2018

Another 55 years passed, and in 2018 Donna Strickland won the prize for creating high-intensity laser pulses – a technique called chirped pulse amplification. Strickland’s work helped enable the most intense laser pulses there are with wide-ranging applications in medicine, industry, science, the military and security.

2020

Andrea Ghez won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for her role in discovering a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Ghez shared the half of the prize awarded for the discovery with Reinhard Genzel. While they worked on the research at the same time, their separate teams verified each others’ results with a spirit of friendly competition.

2023

And in 2023, Anne L’Huillier won the Nobel Prize in Physics for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter - work that reveals the hidden world of electrons, probing at the atomic timescale for electronic, chemical, and medical applications.

Closing the Divide: Tackling the Gender Disparity in Physics and Astronomy

Despite advancements across various fields, the physical sciences continue to grapple with a significant gender disparity in both representation and experiences. AIP’s research team showed that 25% of physics bachelor’s degrees and 21% of physics doctorates were awarded to women in the 2022-2023 academic year, while results from a 2018 Global Survey of Scientists indicated that women’s experiences in science are consistently less positive than men’s.

Efforts to address this disparity range from initiatives aimed at encouraging women to pursue STEM education to implementing policies that promote equitable hiring, funding, and advancement opportunities . Fostering an environment where all individuals, regardless of gender, can thrive and contribute to the advancement of physics is essential for the field’s continued growth and innovation.