This article discusses women who have made an important contribution to the field of physics.
Five women have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded annually since 1901 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. [1] These are: [2]
Marie Curie was the first woman to be nominated in 1902 and to receive the prize in 1903 and shared 1/2 of the prize with her husband Pierre Curie for their joint work on radioactivity, discovered by Henri Becquerel who got the other half of the prize. Marie Curie was the first woman to also receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911, making her the first person to win two Nobel prizes and, as of 2023, the only person to be awarded two Nobel prizes in two different scientific categories. [8]
Maria Goeppert Mayer became the second woman to win the prize in 1963, for the theoretical development of the nuclear shell model, a half of the prize shared with J. Hans D. Jensen (the other half given to Eugene Wigner). Donna Strickland shared half of the prize in 2018 with Gérard Mourou, for their work in chirped pulse amplification beginning in the 1980s (the other half given to Arthur Ashkin). Andrea Ghez was the fourth female Nobel laureate in 2020, she shared one half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel for the discovery of the supermassive compact object Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy (the other half given to Roger Penrose). In 2023, Anne L'Huillier shared the prize in equal parts with Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz for their experimental contribution and development of attosecond physics. L'Huillier is the first female laureate to receive 1/3 of monetary award of the Nobel Prize in Physics (Curie, Goeppert–Mayer, Strickland and Ghez received 1/4).
Physicists and physicochemists that won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry include Marie Curie, [9] Irène Joliot-Curie, daughter of Marie Curie, in 1935, [10] and Dorothy Hodgkin in 1964. [11] Nuclear physicist Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was the second female scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977 for the development of radioimmunoassays. [12] Human right activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, Narges Mohammadi, was trained in nuclear physics. [13]
According to the Nobel archives (updated up to 1970), other physicists that were nominated to the Nobel Prize in Physics but did not receive it, include:
Irène Joliot-Curie [10] and Dorothy Hodgkin [11] were also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 and 1964, respectively. Lise Meitner is the female physicist the most nominated, 16 times for Physics and 14 times for Chemistry. [20] About 1.7% of the Nobel nominations in Physics up to 1970 were women. [20]
Aside from the named above, other physicists and physicochemists that were nominated to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry but dit not receive it, include Ida Noddack, [21] Marguerite Perey, [22] Alberte Pullman, [23] and Erika Cremer. [24]
Up to 1970, eight female scientists have participated as nominators for the Nobel Prize in Physics. These are Marie Curie, Hertha Sponer, Marie-Antoinette Tonnelat, Anne Barbara Underhill, Katharina Boll-Dornberger, Maria Goeppert Mayer, Dorothy Hodgkin, and Margaret Burbidge. [25]
Several women have been selected as Clarivate Citation laureates in Physics, which makes an annual list of possible candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physics based on citation statistics, these include:
†: deceased, no longer eligible.
Two women have been awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics, awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel since 1978. They are:
Women who have been awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics since 2012, include:
Female scientist have sometimes not been recognized in the naming of topics they discovered due to Matilda effect. Some physics phenomena that are named after female scientists include:
Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie, known simply as Marie Curie, was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. Her husband, Pierre Curie, was a co-winner of her first Nobel Prize, making them the first married couple to win the Nobel Prize and launching the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was, in 1906, the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris.
The Nobel Prizes are five separate prizes awarded to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind, as established by the 1895 will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist Alfred Nobel, in the year before he died. Prizes were first awarded in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel's will indicated that the awards should be granted in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. A sixth prize for Economic Sciences, endowed by Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, and first presented in 1969, is also frequently included, as it is also administered by the Nobel Foundation. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.
Irène Joliot-Curie was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were the second married couple, after her parents, to win the Nobel Prize, adding to the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.
Maria Goeppert Mayer was a German-American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for proposing the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus. She was the second woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics, the first being Marie Curie. In 1986, the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award for early-career women physicists was established in her honor.
Chien-Shiung Wu (Chinese: 吳健雄; pinyin: Wú Jiànxióng; Wade–Giles: Wu2 Chien4-shiung2; May 31, 1912 – February 16, 1997) was a Chinese-American particle and experimental physicist who made significant contributions in the fields of nuclear and particle physics. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project, where she helped develop the process for separating uranium into uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes by gaseous diffusion. She is best known for conducting the Wu experiment, which proved that parity is not conserved. This discovery resulted in her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen-Ning Yang winning the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu herself was awarded the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978. Her expertise in experimental physics evoked comparisons to Marie Curie. Her nicknames include the "First Lady of Physics", the "Chinese Madame Curie" and the "Queen of Nuclear Research".
Andrea Mia Ghez is an American astrophysicist, Nobel laureate, and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine chair in Astrophysics, at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was an American medical physicist, and a co-winner of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for development of the radioimmunoassay technique. She was the second woman, and the first American-born woman, to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Roy Jay Glauber was an American theoretical physicist. He was the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics at Harvard University and Adjunct Professor of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. Born in New York City, he was awarded one half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence", with the other half shared by John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch. In this work, published in 1963, he created a model for photodetection and explained the fundamental characteristics of different types of light, such as laser light and light from light bulbs. His theories are widely used in the field of quantum optics. In statistical physics he pioneered the study of the dynamics of first-order phase transitions, since he first defined and investigated the stochastic dynamics of an Ising model in a paper published in 1963. He served on the National Advisory Board of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, the research arms of Council for a Livable World.
Hélène Langevin-Joliot is a French nuclear physicist known for her research on nuclear reactions in French laboratories and for being the granddaughter of Marie Curie and Pierre Curie and the daughter of Irene Joliot-Curie and Frédéric Joliot-Curie, all four of whom have received Nobel Prizes, in Physics or Chemistry. Since retiring from a career in research Hélène has participated in activism centered around encouraging women and girls to participate in STEM fields. Her activism also revolves around promoting greater science literacy for the general public.
Giorgio Parisi is an Italian theoretical physicist, whose research has focused on quantum field theory, statistical mechanics and complex systems. His best known contributions are the QCD evolution equations for parton densities, obtained with Guido Altarelli, known as the Altarelli–Parisi or DGLAP equations, the exact solution of the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model of spin glasses, the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation describing dynamic scaling of growing interfaces, and the study of whirling flocks of birds. He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Klaus Hasselmann and Syukuro Manabe for groundbreaking contributions to theory of complex systems, in particular "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales".
Margaret Mary Murnane NAS AAA&S is an Irish physicist, who served as a distinguished professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, having moved there in 1999, with past positions at the University of Michigan and Washington State University. She is currently Director of the STROBE NSF Science and Technology Center and is among the foremost active researchers in laser science and technology.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on proposal of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry which consists of five members elected by the Academy. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award is an annual prize presented by the American Physical Society in recognition of an outstanding contribution to physics research by a woman. It recognizes and enhances outstanding achievements by women physicists in the early years of their careers.
This is a timeline of women in science in the United States.
This is a list of women chemists. It should include those who have been important to the development or practice of chemistry. Their research or application has made significant contributions in the area of basic or applied chemistry.
The Irène Joliot-Curie Prize is a French prize for women in science and technology, founded in 2001. It is awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Airbus Group corporate foundation, the French Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Technologies, it aims at rewarding women for their work in the fields of science and technology".
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women from the social sciences and the formal sciences, as well as notable science educators and medical scientists. The chronological events listed in the timeline relate to both scientific achievements and gender equality within the sciences.
Donna Theo Strickland is a Canadian optical physicist and pioneer in the field of pulsed lasers. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, together with Gérard Mourou, for the practical implementation of chirped pulse amplification. She is a professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
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