Women in Math and Science Quiz

Women in Math and Science Quiz

1. Who turned to the study of ancient climates and cosmology after teaching at the University of Colorado (1963-1972) and working with Enrico Fermi on the nuclear reactor for the atomic bomb (1943-45)?

2. Who photographed wildlife in Africa and worked for preservation of animals, especially in the Congo, in her books on conservation?

3. Who earned more than 27 patents including a safety feature for sharp shuttles in textile mills, improved window sashes, and perfected a machine to create square bottoms in paper bags?

4.  Who spurred the rise of molecular biology using mathematical techniques and published 192 monographs while lecturing at Smith College for 30 years?

5.  Who was a famous and highly respected mathematician, astronomer and neo-Platonic philosopher in Alexandria who designed an astrolabe, a plan sphere, and a method of distilling water; and was tortured and torn apart by a mob because she would not convert to Christianity?

6. Who was the first African-American woman to earn a degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1890?

7. Who was an army surgeon in the Civil War and won the Congressional Medal of Honor; and worked for dress reform, declaring “corsets are coffins”?

8.  Who studied the life history of the song sparrow after authoring The Birds of Oklahoma in 1920?

9.   Who received patents – probably the first American woman – for cleaning and curing Indian corn in 1715, and for staining palmetto leaves and straw for hats and bonnets in 1716?

10. Who expanded the theory that the Appalachian area was where plants survived during the Ice Age and wrote the classic Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America in 1950?

11. Who joined the Office of Naval Research in 1946 to promote government funding for scientific research and encouraged women to engage in math research as Dean of Graduate Studies at CUNY?

12. Who studied societies in the South Pacific and published popular accounts of her work from 1925 to 1939?

13. Who was the first computer programmer (1833), largely self-taught in math, for which the programming language ADA was named by the Department of Defense in 1977?

14. Who discovered a comet named for her in 1847, taught astronomy at Vassar, and   was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences?

15. Who became the first African-American graduate of a nursing school in 1879 – New England Hospital for Women and Children?

16.  Who explored and unearthed ancient Mexican art as well as examples of religious rites and military exploits of original people in 1902?

17.  Who studied damage done by crustacea to ships and wharves, and also the dangers of pesticides and radioactive materials in the ocean?  After serving as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1973, she was governor of Washington State in 1976. 

18.  Who has been named the founder of the profession of home economics? She worked for better nutrition, and set up balanced meals at Chicago’s 1893 World Fair.

19.  Who was the first woman to earn a dental degree in 1866 from Ohio College of Dental Surgery?

20. Who was the first Native American to graduate from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1890?  She returned to the Omaha reservation in Nebraska to serve 1,300 patients and helped set up a hospital in 1913.

21.  Who patented a vacuum process of preserving food in 1872, an improved oil burner in 1880, and three more objects in 1904, 1912 and 1914?

22. Who originated the concept of a cotton gin and helped solve the mechanical problems Eli Whitney encountered?

23. Who was the biophysicist who developed standards for radiation protection, and established techniques for treating tumors with radiation and X-rays?

24.  Who developed the computer programming language COBOL in 1960 for the Navy, and rose to rank of Admiral?

25.  Who collected more than 12,200 sets of plants in the western world after attending the Chicago Exposition in 1893, and improved disease-resistant grasses?   An avid suffragist, she was arrested and force-fed for her advocacy.

26.  Who improved war-time gas masks, invented “invisible” (nonreflective) glass, received other military patents, and was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University in 1926?

27.  Who was probably the first woman in America to perform major surgery when she successfully removed an ovarian tumor in 1875?

28.  Who produced a lipstick that would not rub off or stain in 1950, with sales over 10 million dollars in 1953?

29.  Who used spectroscopy to analyze organic compounds at Mt. Holyoke as head of chemistry department from 1914-1946? In 1937 she was the first recipient of the Garvan Medal for service in chemistry.

30.  Who is the author of Silent Spring and other books on the environmental protection of the world?

ANSWERS:

1. Leona Marshall Libby, Aug. 9, 1919 – Nov. 10, 1986

2. Mary Jobe Akeley, Jan. 29, 1878 – July 19, 1966

3. Margaret Knight, Feb. 14, 1838 – Oct. 12, 1914

4. Dorothy Wrinch, Sept. 12, 1894 - Feb. 11, 1976

5.  Hypatia, c. 355 – 415

6. Dr. Ida Gray, Mar. 4, 1867 – May 3, 1953

7. Dr. Mary Walker, Nov. 26, 1832 - Feb. 21, 1919

8. Margaret Nice, Dec. 6, 1883 – June 26, 1974

9. Sybilla Masters, 1675 – Aug. 23, 1720

10. E. Lucy Braun, Apr. 19, 1880 – Mar. 5, 1971

11. Mina Rees, Aug. 2, 1902 – Oct. 25, 1997

12. Margaret Mead, Dec. 16, 1901 – Nov. 15, 1978

13.  Lady Ada Lovelace, Dec. 10, 1815 – Nov. 27, 1852

14.  Maria Mitchell, Aug. 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889

15.  Mary Eliza Mahoney, May 7, 1845 – Jan. 4, 1926

16.   Zelia Nuttall, Sept. 6, 1857 – Apr. 12, 1933

17.  Dixie Lee Ray, Sept. 3, 1914 – Jan. 2, 1994

18.  Ellen Swallow Richards, Dec. 3, 1842 - Mar. 30, 1911

19.  Lucy Hobbs Taylor, Mar. 14, 1833 – Oct. 3, 1910

20.  Susan LaFlesche Picotte, June 17, 1865 – Sept. 15, 1915

21.  Amanda Jones, Oct. 19, 1835 – Mar. 31, 1914

22. Catherine Greene, Feb. 17, 1755 – Sept. 2, 1814

23. Edith Quimby, July 10, 1891 – Oct. 11, 1982 

24. Grace Hopper, Dec. 9, 1906 – Jan. 1, 1992

25. Agnes Chase, Apr. 20, 1869 – Sept. 24, 1963

26.  Katharine Blodgett, Jan. 10, 1898 – Oct. 12, 1979

27.  Emeline Cleveland, Sept. 22, 1839 – Dec. 8, 1878

28.  Hazel Bishop, Aug. 17, 1906 – Dec. 5, 1998

29. Emma Carr, July 23, 1880 – Jan. 7, 1972

30. Rachel Carson, May 27, 1907 – Apr. 14, 1964