physics

Physics can lay claim to being one of, if not the oldest of the scientific disciplines. Physics, and the topics studied within the discipline, can often serve to be a window onto the world at large, and reflects the progress and thoughts of humans of the time. From the use of astronomy in ancient times as way to communicate with the Gods, through to using the stars as a navigational tool in the Middle Ages, to the study of nuclear physics in an effort to release energy efficiently in modern times, the evolution of the physics discipline shows how human thinking and technology has also evolved over time.

Pre-18th century

Aglaonice (c.200BC) Ancient Greek 1st female astronomer in ancient Greece

Al-'Ijiyyah bint al-'Ijliyy (c.10th Century AD) Syrian Astronomer; Astrolabe maker

Zulema l'Astrologa (c.1190 – 1229) Moorish Astronomer

Gentile Budrioli (d.1498) Italian Astrologer

Maria Cunitz (1610 – 1664) German-Polish Astronomer

Elisabeth Hevelius (1647 – 1693) German-Polish Astronomer 

Jeanne DumΓ©e (1660 – 1706) French Astronomer

Maria Margaretha Kirch (1670 – 1720) German Astronomer

Maria Clara Eimmart (1676 – 1707) German Astronomer 

Christine Kirch (1696 – 1782) German Astronomer 

18th century

Laura Bassi (1711 – 1778) Italian 1st Woman to chair a university 

Nicole-Reine Lepaute (1723 – 1792) French Astronomer ad mathematician

Petronella Johanna de Timmerman (1723 – 1786) Dutch Physical scientist

Cristina Roccati (1732 – 1797) Italian Physics teacher

Louise du Pierry (1746 – 1791) French Astonomer

Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) German Astronomer 

Marie-Jeanne-AmΓ©lie Le Francais de Lalande (1768 – 1832) French Astronomer and mathematician

Wang Zhenyi (1768 – 1797) Chinese Astronomer and mathematician

Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780 – 1872) Scottish Astronomer and author

19th century

Caterina Scarpellini (1808 – 1873) Italian Astronomer 

Maria Mitchell (1818 – 1889) American Astronomer

Elizabeth Brown (1830 – 1899) British Astronomer

Agnes Mary Clerke (1842 – 1907) Irish Astronomer

Sarah Frances Whiting (1846 – 1927) American Physicist

Mary Watson Whitney (1847 – 1921) American Astronomer and Head of the Vassar Observatory

Margaret Lindsay Murray Huggins (1848 – 1915) Irish Astronomer 

Isis Pogson (1852 – 1945) English Astronomer and Meteorologist

Williamina Fleming (1857 – 1911) Scottish Astronomer

Anna Winlock (1857 – 1904) American Astronomer and 'Human Computer'

Mary Adela Blagg (1858 – 1944) English Astronomer

Marcia Keith (1859 – 1950) American Physics teacher

Florence Cushman (1860 – 1940) American Astronomer

Margaret Eliza Maltby (1860 – 1944) American Physicist 

Dorothea Klumpke-Robert (1861 – 1942) American Astronomer

Kirstine Meyer (1861 – 1941) Danish Physicist 

Annie Jump Cannon (1863 – 1941) American Astronomer

Margrete Heiberg Bose (1866 – 1952) Argentinian Physicist 

Antonia Coetana Maury (1866 – 1952) American Astronomer

Annie Scott Dill Maunder (1868 – 1947) Irish Astronomer and mathematician

Isabelle Stone (1868 – 1944) American Physicist

Henrietta Swan Leavitt (1868 - 1921) American Astronomer

Edith Anne Stoney (1869 – 1938) Irish Physicist

Fanny Gates (1872 – 1931) American Physicist 

Elizabeth Laird (1874 – 1969) Canadian Physicist 

Mileva Maric (1875 - 1948) Serbian Physicist

Harriet Brooks (1876 - 1933) Canadian Nuclear Physicist

Alice Grace Cook (1877- 1958) English Astronomer

Lise Meitner (1878 – 1968) Austrian-Swedish Nuclear Physicist

Gabriele Rabel (1880 – 1963) Austrian Physicist and Botanist

Geertruida Luberta de Haas-Lorentz (1885 – 1973) Dutch Physicist 

Alice Grace Cook (1887 - 1958) English Astronomer 

Hedwig Kohn (1887 – 1964) German Physicist 

Lucy Wilson (1888 – 1980) American Physicist 

Julie Vinter Hansen (1890 – 1960) Danish Astronomer 

Edith Quimby (1891 – 1982) American Medical Researcher and Nuclear Physicist

Maude Bennot (1892 - 1982) American Director of the Adler Planetarium

Marietta Blau (1894 – 1970) Austrian Physicist 

Hertha Sponer (1895 - 1968) German Physicist 

Lili Bleeker (1897 – 1985) Dutch Physicist 

Irene Joliot-Curie (1897 – 1956) French Physicist and Chemist

Elizaveta Karamihailova (1897 – 1968) Bulgarian Physicist 

Katharine Blodgett (1898 – 1979) American Physicist 

Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898 – 1990) American Astronomer 

20th century (1900-1919)

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchikin (1900 – 1979) British Astronomer and astrophysicist

Katharine Way (1902 – 1995) American Physicist

Bertha Swirles (1903 – 1999) British Physicist 

Hertha Wambacher (1903 – 1950) Austrian

Berta Karlik (1904 – 1990) Austrian Physicist 

Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906 -1972) German Theoretical physicist

Melba Phillips (1907 – 2004) American Physicist 

Yvette Cauchois (1908 – 1999) French Physicist 

Tikvah Alper (1909 – 1995) South African Radiobiologist 

Marguerite Perey (1909 – 1975) French Physicist

Jenny Rosenthal Bramley (1909 – 1997) Russian Physicist 

Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber (1911 – 1998) German Nuclear physicist

Ruby Payne-Scott (1912 – 1981) Australian Radiophysicist

Chien-Shiung Wu (1912 – 1997) Chinese Experimental physicist

Luise Meyer-Schutzmeister (1915 – 1981) German Physicist 

Liisi Oterma (1915 - 2001) - Finnish Astronomer

Joan Curran (1916 - 1999) - Welsh Physicist

Sameera Moussa (1917 – 1952) Egyptian Nuclear physicist

Carolyn Parker (1917 – 1966) American Physicist

Katherine Johnson (1918 – 2020) American Physicist and mathematician

Bruria Kaufman (1918 – 2010) Israeli Theoretical physicist

Anna Mani (1918 – 2001) Indian Meteorologist

Margaret Burbidge (1919 – 2020) British Astrophysicist 

Jean Hanson (1919 – 1973) British Biophysicist

Leona Woods (1919 – 1986) American Physicist 

20th century (1920-1949)

Δ€lenush Teriān (1920 – 2011) Iranian Astronomer 

Phyllis S. Freier (1921 – 1992) American Astrophysicist 

Joan Hinton (1921 – 2010) American Nuclear physicist

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (1921 – 2011) American Medical physicist

Xie Xide (1921 – 2000) Chinese Physicist

Esther M. Conwell (1922 – 2014) American Physicist

Margherita Hack (1922 – 2013) Italian Physicist and writer

Evans Hayward (1922 – 2020) American Physicist

Doris Kuhlmann-Wilsdorf (1922 – 2010) German Metallurgist

Sulamith Goldhaber (1923 – 1965) Austrian Physicist

Yvonne Brill (1924 – 2013) Canadian Rocket scientist

Milla Baldo-Ceolin (1924 – 2011) Italian Particle physicist

Nancy Roman (1925 - 2018) - American Astronomer

Fay Ajzenberg-Selove (1926 – 2012) German Nuclear Physicist

Betsy Ancker-Johnson (1927 -2020) American Plasma physicist

Gertrude Neumark (1927 - 2010) German-American Physicist

Margaret G. Kivelson (1928 -) American Planetary scientist

Vera Rubin (1928 – 2016) American Astronomer

Bice Sechi-Zorn (1928 – 1984) Italian-American Experimental nuclear physicist

Magda Ericson (1929 -) French Nuclear physicist

Johanna Levelt Sengers (1929 -) Dutch Physicist

Carolyn S. Shoemaker (1929 - 2021) - American Astronomer

Carolyne Van Vliet (1929 – 2016) Dutch-American Physicist

Christiane Bonnelle (1930 – 2016) French Physicist

Nina Byers (1930 – 2014) American Theoretical physicist

Mildred Dresselhaus (1930 – 2017) American Physicist

Caroline Herzenberg (1932 -) American Physicist, Science historian

Noemie Benczer Koller (1933 -) Austrian-Born Nuclear physicist

Annie Easley (1933 – 2011) American Rocket and computer scientist

Juliet Lee-Franzini (1933 – 2014) French-American Physicist

Myriam Sarachik (1933 – 2021) Belgian-American Physicist 

Janine Connes (1934 -) French Astronomer 

Inge Schmitz Fuerhake (1935 -) - German Physicist

Helen T. Edwards (1936 – 2016) American Physicist

Daphne Jackson (1936 – 1991) British Nuclear physicist

Patricia Cladis (1937 – 2017) Canadian Physicist and mathematician

Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (1937 -) Russian Cosmonaut

Nancy M. Dowdy (1938 -) American Nuclear physicist

Judy Franz (1938 -) American Physicist 

Sheila Widnall (1938 -) American Aerospace researcher

Mary K. Gaillard (1939 -) American Particle physicist

Deborah Ajakaiye (1940 -) Nigerian Physicist

Sau Lan Wu (c.1940 -) Chinese-American Physicist

Carole Jordan (1941 -) British Astronomer

Jane Richardson (1941 -) American Biophysicist

Beatrice Tinsley (1941 – 1981) New Zealand Astronomer

Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943 -) Northern-Irish Astrophysicist

Renata Kallosh (1943 -) Russian Theoretical physicist

Lorella M. Jones (1943 – 1995) Canadian Physicist

Helen Quinn (1943 -) Australian Particle physicist

Sandra Moore Faber (1944 -) American Astrophysicist

Jill Tarter (1944 -) American Astronomer 

Catherine Brechigac (1946 -) French Physicist

Shirley Ann Jackson (1946 -) American Physicist

MarΓ­a Teresa Ruis (1946 -) Chilean Astronomer

Lyudmila Zhuravleva (1946 -) - Russian/Ukrainian Astronomer

Gail Hanson (1947 -) American Particle physicist

Heather Couper (1949 – 2020) British Astronomer

Judith Resnik (1949 – 1986) American Engineer and NASA Astronaut

20th century - present (1950 - present)

Louise Dolan (1950 -) American Mathematical physicist

Martha P. Haynes (1951 -) American Astronomer and astrophysicist

Chiara Nappi (1951 -) Italian Physicist

Mazlan Othman (1951 -) Malaysian Astrophysicist

Sally Ride (1951 – 2012) American Physicist and astronaut

Athene Donald (1953 -) British Physicist 

Ingrid Daubechies (1954 -) Belgian Physicist and mathematician

Joanna Haigh (1954 -) British Physicist

Melissa Franklin (1956 -) Canadian Particle physicist

Penny Sackett (1956 -) American-Australian Astronomer

Anne L'Huillier (1958 -) French-Swedish Physicist

Ann Nelson (1958 – 2019) American Physicist 

Maria Zuber (1958 -) American Planetary scientist

Lene Hau (1959 -) Danish Physicist 

Donna Strickland (1959 -) Canadian Optical physicist

Michele Dougherty (1962 -) British Astrophysicist 

Fabiola Gianotti (1962 -) Italian Particle physicist

Lisa Randall (1962 -) American Theoretical physicist

Jane Luu (1963 -) - Vietnamese-American Astronomer

Rabia Salihu Sa’id (1963 -) Nigerian Atmospheric physicist

Anja Cetti Anderson (1965 -) Danish Astrophysicist and author

Andrea Ghez (1965 -) American Astronomer 

Victoria Kaspi (1967 -) - Canadian Astrophysicist

Maggie Aderin-Pocock (1968 -) - British Space Scientist

Deborah S. Jin (1968 -) American Physicist 

Amanda Barnard (1971 -) Australian Theoretical physicist

Sara Seager (1971 -) Canadian-American Astronomer and planetary scientist

Fotini Markopoulou-Kalamara (1971 -) - Greek Theoretical Physicist

Pamela Gay (1973 -) American Astronomer and author

Lisa Kaltenegger (1977 -) Austrian Astronomer

Melissa Trainer (1978 -) - American Astrobiologist

Karen Masters (1979 -) British Astrophysicist

Priyamvada Natarajan (1985 -) Indian Cosmologist

Tasneem Zehra Husain (fl. 1990s) Pakistani Theoretical physicist

Yuki Okoda (fl. 2000s) Japanese Astronomer

Jane Rigby (fl. 2000s) American Astrophysicist