Author: mnagaraja

Women's History Month Shout Out

“The Indian woman informed me that she had been in this plain frequently and knew it well…. She said we would discover a gap in the mountains in our direction…” as written by Clark in his Expedition journal.  The gap did exist and is now called Gibbons Pass.



(1788-?) Sacagawea is most well known as a Native American woman who was asked to accompany the famous Lewis and Clark expedition from 1804-1806 of the Western United States.  She was their guide and interpreter as they trekked from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean. As a young girl about 12 to 14 years of age, Sacagawea was taken captive by the Hidatsa Indians. She married the French-Canadian guide and interpreter Toussaint Charbonneau in her late teems and when he was hired by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, she also came along as legend says.  Her name means Bird Woman or White Bird Woman.

Sources: Oregon Blue Book and PBS

Women's History Month Shout Out

“Historians may decide that Mrs Bandaranaike was an innocent, inheriting policies whose consequences she did not at first understand. That could be true. ” – From an article in The Economist

 

(1916-2000) Sirimavo Bandaranaike was the world’s first elected female prime minister on July 20, 1960, leading the country of Sri Lanka. She served as the head of state for 12 years and then returned to lead Sri Lanka in 1994 for another six years.  During her early years, she was expelled after being charged with abuse of power. She passed away at the age of 84 on Election Day in 2000 after casting what would become her very final vote.  She had roots in the Sri Lankan government as the widow of a former prime minister. 

Source: BBC

Women's History Month Shout Out

“If women can be railroad workers in Russia, why can’t they fly in space?” – Valentina Tereshkova

(1937- ) Valentina Tereshkova was the first female cosmonaut to go into space in 1963 aboard Vostok 6.  After returning back to Earth, she was honored with the title “Hero of the Soviet Union”, the highest award granted by the entity.  While she never flew again, Dr. Tereshkova did become a spokesperson for the Soviet Union at that time.  She also received the Gold Medal of Peace, awarded by the United Nations. 

Sources: Goddard Space Flight Center Bio and 100 Best Articles

Women's History Month Shout Out

“I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done.” – Clara Barton


(1821-1912) On a vacation to Europe, Clara Barton found herself volunteering with the International Red Cross for nearly four years.  Upon her return to the U.S., she found no Red Cross.  In 1881, she created the organization and built the headquarters one block from the White House with funds from John D. Rockefeller.  She subsequently ran the American Red Cross for 23 years thereafter.

Women's History Month Shout Out

“Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist.” -Lisa Meitner in a lecture to the Austrian UNESCO Commission (1953)

(1878-1968) Lisa Meitner was an Austrian physicist who worked on nuclear physics and radioactivity.  She was on the team that discovered nuclear fission.  For this achievment, teammate Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize, which has led to many accounts of opinion that she was overlooked for such a recognition.  However, the creators of the periodic table did no such thing as they honored her by naming element 109 for her: Meitnerium, which was first synthesized in 1982.  Dr. Meitner was the second female to earn a Ph.D. at the University of Vienna in 1905.

Source: Atomic Archive


Women's History Month Shout Out

“In addition to the scientific aspects of her work, she made a substantial effort to communicate her enthusiasm to the public. After the Spacelab 2 mission she often gave presentations to adult and student audiences on her experiences, sometimes bringing along her flight suit. She received letters from all over the world from correspondents who had read of her role.” – From her Smithsonian and NASA obituary 

(1938-2002) Dianne Prinz retired from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) after 29 years of service.  During her career, she supervised the team of scientists that was operating the SUSIM (Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor) experiment on the UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) spacecraft.  SUSIM flew aboard the US Space Shuttle and a Spacelab 2 mission.  Dr. Prinz was selected as a payload specialist astronaut in 1978 but her slated flight was cancelled in the aftermath of the Challenger tragedy.  Dr. Prinz was the head of the Solar Radiation section at the NRL at the time of her death in 2002, when she succumbed to lymphatic cancer. 

Source: Harvard University

Women's History Month Shout Out

“If the ambience of her home had been different, she might have never chosen a career in mathematics, but the provocative discussions that swooped and soared around the young Emmy’s head sparked an interest that was overpowering.”  Lynn M. Osen, Women In Mathematics , MIT Press, 1974

(1882-1935) Emmy Noether was a German mathematician who is most well known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics..  She is regarded by many as the most influential woman in the history of math, including by the likes of Albert Einstein.  As a young girl, however, Dr. Noether’s concentration was on languages, having become fluent in French and English.  She did earn her doctorate in math but found it difficult to get a job in the field as a female.  She chose to work for her father in the same field and published many papers during that decade. 

Source: Agnes State College

Women's History Month Shout Out

“Despite the encouraging and wonderful gains and the changes for women which have occurred in my lifetime, there is still room to advance and to promote correction of the remaining deficiencies and imbalances.” Sandra Day O’Connor 


(1930- ) Sandra Day O’Connor was the first female Supreme Court justice and was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1981.  She completed her education at Stanford University and served in the Arizona courts before assuming her place in the nation’s highest judicial position.  O’Connor battled and won her fight with breast cancer in 1994.  She retired from the Supreme Court in 2006.

Source: Cornell University

Women's History Month Shout Out

This is a special place with exciting missions that push the frontiers of human knowledge, and it’s filled with people that love the work they do and are completely committed to America’s space program.- Shana Dale 

(1964- ) Shana Dale was nominated by former President George W. Bush to preside as deputy administrator of NASA in 2005, making her the first female to hold the post and consequently the highest rank a woman has ever held at NASA. As deputy administrator, she served as the agency’s second in command and was responsible to the administrator for providing overall leadership, planning, and policy direction for the agency. Before serving in this post, Dale was the deputy director of Homeland and National Security for the Executive Office of the President. She received her law degree from California Western School for Law. 

Source: NASA