Estrogen Supremacy: 5 Female Scientists and 5 Female Athletes

These ladies proved that in terms of brainpower, they can be greater than most persons in the masculine domain. Who among these women is the greatest female scientist?

Rosalind Franklin

She is the herald of understanding crystals within the X-ray spectrum. Because of her findings, crystals became more than just glittering tiny objects – they became instrumental to our modern understanding of the DNA structure. Although her works on coal and viruses were appreciated in her lifetime, her contributions were just hugely recognized after her death.

From: London, England

Born: July 25, 1920

Died: April 16, 1958 (aged 37)

Grace Hopper

This lady is a warrior, both figuratively and literally. She was a navy admiral who also fought with her wits within the computer science community. Her work led to the development of one of the first high-level programming languages, a very crucial tool used by today’s computer programmers. She was given the nickname “Amazing Grace” by her colleagues for the reason that she is just extraordinary in all the things she does.

From: New York City, USA

Born: December 9, 1906

Died: January 1, 1992 (aged 85)

Sally Ride

She stepped into a region where no American woman ever trekked before. As a physicist, she earned the favors of many influential persons which led her into becoming the first American woman to journey through outer space. Before her first space flight, she was subject to media attention due to her gender. In April 2013, the U.S. Navy announced that a research ship would be named in honor of Sally Ride.

From: California, USA

Born: May 26, 1951

Died: July 23, 2012 (aged 61)

Rachel Carson

She was known as an author whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. She was a marine biologist who devoted much of her time to some problems caused by synthetic pesticides. She was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but her achievement won everyone over as she garnered lots of awards and recognition from environment advocates all over the world.

From: Pennsylvania, USA

Born: May 27, 1907

Died: April 14, 1964 (aged 56)

Gertrude B. Elion

Initially, she worked as a food quality supervisor at supermarkets in New York. But driven by the memory of her grandfather who died of cancer when she was 15, her desire to cure the disease burned bright once again. Working alone as well as with some associates, she developed a multitude of new drugs, that would later lead to the development of a wonder drug for curing AIDS.

From: New York City, USA

Born: January 23, 1918

Died: February 21, 1999 (aged 81)

Now, let’s take a look at the feminine side in the realm of athletics and answer the question: Who among these ladies is the best female athlete in the earliest days of sports?

Babe Didrikson, Track and Field

From youth, she had shown remarkable athletic abilities. At age 16, she was known throughout Texas as the star forward of the undefeated, state-champion Beaumont High School girls’ basketball team. She is clearly an ace player as a basketeer. Surprisingly though, it wasn’t the sport that brought her to the pedestal.

In 1931, Babe entered 9 of the 10 events of the annual AAU women’s track and field meet and finished first in 7 of them. In the years that followed, she took other sporty endeavors and performed exceptionally well too. During the last days of her life, an Associated Press poll voted her the greatest female athlete of the preceding half of the century.

Marion Ladewig, Bowling

Her accomplishments within the years of her competitive career are unmatched. Perhaps some of her success can be attributed to the fact that according to her, she bowled every day of the year from 1940 to 1962. She won her first championship, The Western Michigan Golden Pin Classic, in 1940.

In addition, she also won 7 women’s national all-star titles, the last of which she attained in 1959, and was named “Woman Bowler of The Year” 9 times. Marion Ladewig is generally acclaimed to be the best woman bowler of all time. She was elected to the Women’s International Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 1964.

Andrea Mead, Slalom

She grew up at a ski center operated by her parents. Such an early exposure gave her the push to become an early starter in the realm of athletics. She started joining competitions when she was only 11 and in 1948, when she was only 16, she won the Slalom trial for that year’s Olympics.

A year after that, she won the US downhill skiing and slalom combined. Andrea married another skier, David Lawrence, and the 3rd of their 5 children was born only 4 months before the 1956 Olympic games. She is the first American skier to have won 2 gold medals in a single Olympics.

Betty Richey, Lacrosse

She began participating in sports while still in high school and continued to perform during her college days. Probably, no other woman has won national honors in a greater variety of sports other than Betty Richey who had a long and successful career in field hockey, squash, golf, and of course, lacrosse.

As early as 1933, she was ushered to the first national women’s lacrosse team of the US and continued to play for 21 years. In retirement, she spends a great deal of time playing golf which she claims “the joy of her life,” because, with it, she can play without the great pressure of competitiveness.

Mary Lou Retton, Gymnastics

Her achievements and very image carved a new niche for gymnastics in the Olympics as well as in the entire scenery of athletics all over the world. In contrast to most gymnasts which are thin, ballet dancer types, Mary Lou is somewhat stocky and muscular. Weighing only 95 lbs. and standing only at 4’9, she was dubbed as a “cast-iron toy truck.” In spite of these downsides, she was the queen of women’s gymnastics in the first half of the 1950’s. She was the first gymnast to be elected to the US Olympics Hall of Fame.