From the 1st until the 31st of March, people all across the world are celebrating Women's History month, which is a time to celebrate the talent and courage of women all over the world. 

 

It is a time for us to celebrate women from past generations and acknowledge how their efforts and bravery meant that women today have the opportunities that we have available to us. They leave behind a legacy that will never be forgotten.

 

Katherine Johnson was a black, female mathematician who was one of the first African American women to work as a NASA scientist. You may recognise the name from a popular film, Hidden Figures. She is  best known for making the calculations that allowed the first Americans to enter the Earth's orbit and set foot on the moon. She faced racism, discrimination and sexism because of her identity but that didn’t prevent her from achieving greatness. 

 

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was an English physician and suffragist who paved the way for women in medicine. She was the first female doctor in England and overcame every barrier she came across, especially because women at that time were not allowed to practise medicine. She established London's New Hospital for Women in 1871 which was the very first hospital in England where only women were appointed to its medical staff. 

 

Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer (a type of science that deals with the forms and structures of crystals.) She is best known for discovering the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Using the technique of X-ray crystallography she revealed the helical shape of DNA. Franklin, whose lab produced the photograph that helped unravel the mystery of DNA, received no credit for her role until after her death. It was James Watson and Francis Crick who received the credit and won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.

 

Without the contributions from these women, advancements in several fields may not have been possible until years in the future.