The International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated annually on February 11 to promote full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. Recognised by the United Nations, this day emphasises the critical role women and girls play in science and technology communities. Despite their vast contributions, women and girls often remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, facing gender stereotypes, a lack of visible role models, and unequal access to education and opportunities.
The observance of International Day of Women and Girls in Science serves to encourage more inclusive policies and practices in science and education, ensuring that women and girls can pursue and excel in STEM careers without barriers.
Here is a list of 15 questions about women in science from India and the world. Let’s see how many you can answer correct.
15 Simple Questions On Women In Science
Q1. Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and in what field?
Q2: Who was India’s first woman doctor and practitioner of western medicine?
Q3: Which woman scientist was responsible for the discovery of the structure of DNA?
Q4: Who was the first Indian woman to receive a PhD in a scientific discipline?
Q5: Who was the first Indian woman to receive a PhD in a scientific discipline from an Indian university, and in what field?
Q6: Who is known as “the first computer programmer” for her work on Charles Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine?
Q7: Name the woman scientist who won two Nobel Prizes in two different sciences and what were those fields?
Q8: Who was the first woman to be awarded a PhD in Computer Science in the United States, and in what year?
Q9: Who was the first woman astronaut to travel into space and in what year?
Q10: Who is the Nigerian mathematician that became the first African woman to receive a PhD in Mathematics, and in what year?
Q11: What groundbreaking medical discovery is Françoise Barré-Sinoussi known for, which earned her the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine?
Q12: Which Indian woman scientist is known for her work in the field of meteorological instrumentation?
Q13: Who was the first Indian woman to go to space, and in what year did this historic flight take place?
Q14: Who is the first Indian woman to win the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, one of the highest Indian science awards, and in what year?
Q15: Who was the first Indian woman scientist to be elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society in its 358-year history?
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The Answers
A1: Marie Curie, Physics (1903).
A2: Kadambini Ganguly. She was the first Indian woman to get admission to Calcutta Medical College (1884), and she became the first woman doctor and practitioner (1886) of western medicine in not only India but the whole of South Asia. Technically, Anandibai Joshi was the first woman doctor, and she had got her degree in western medicine from the US, but she died young due to tubercolosis, even before she could start her medicine practice.
A3: Rosalind Franklin; her X-ray diffraction images of DNA were critical to the understanding of its double helix structure.
A4: Kamala Sohonie, from Cambridge University, England (1938). She discovered ‘Cytochrome C’, an enzyme that plays an essential role in the electron transport chain in plants, human and animal cells for synthesis of energy.
A5: Asima Chatterjee, in Organic Chemistry (1944). She became the first woman to be elected as the General President of the Indian Science Congress.
A6: Ada Lovelace.
A7: Marie Curie, Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911).
A8: Sister Mary Kenneth Keller in 1965.
A9: Valentina Tereshkova, 1963.
A10: Grace Alele-Williams in 1963.
A11: Françoise Barré-Sinoussi played a pivotal role in the discovery of HIV.
A12: Anna Mani. She was the first woman to join the meteorological department in Pune, in 1948. Her major contributions were in the field of solar radiation, ozone and wind energy instrumentation.
A13: Kalpana Chawla, 1997.
A14: Asima Chatterjee, in Chemical Science Category, in 1961.
A15: Gagandeep Kang in 2019, known for her interdisciplinary research, development, and policy on public health and vaccines.
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