Celebrating The Top 5 'Women' Scientists Of The World

Breaking the stereotypes, these self made women remind us that any stream of study is not dependent on the gender. In this article, we celebrate the accomplishments of women in Science.

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Mangalyaan recently gave us a glimpse of the "Rocket Women" of India. When we think of scientists, we think of either serious men in suit and tie like Homi Bhabha or older men with long beards like Prafulla Chandra Ray. Emphasizing on "men". We never imagine women in brightly coloured silk saris with bindis and gajra whooping like college kids. But this picture that did the rounds of Facebook broke all stereotypes.

Barring a few women scientists like Kalpana Chawla or Madame Curie and her likes, rarely have women received their fair share of acknowledgement for their contribution to science. Let's break the trend with acknowledging these five amazing contemporary women scientists in the world.

Dr. Joanne Liu

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International president of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Dr. Liu and her team were the first to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Guinea. Liu has fought the outbreak fiercely and publicly criticized the international community for its slow response to the mounting disease.

Tessy Thomas - The Missile Scientist

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Tessy Thomas is the first woman scientist to lead a missile project in India and has now achieved the name “Missile woman”. Tessy was Associate Project Director of the 3,000 km range Agni-III missile project. She went on to be the Project Director for mission Agni IV. It was successfully tested in 2011. Tessy was appointed the Project Director for 5,000 km range Agni V. Agni V is a long-range, nuclear missile that was tested successfully in 2012.The media loves to call her Agni Putri (daughter of fire), after the missiles she has helped develop.

Dr. Pardis Sabeti

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Geneticist who sequenced the Ebola genome from the most recent outbreak

Dr. Sabeti and her team are responsible for quickly sequencing the genome of the Ebola virus that is destroying Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Many of her fellow researchers died of the disease while working. But the danger did not deter Sabeti and her team from finishing their work. They have saved many lives with their outstanding work. When she’s out of the lab, Sabeti is the lead singer of a rock band.

Did you ever hear of a “Rockstar Scientist” before? :P

Elizabeth Holmes

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Health technology entrepreneur

Holmes is the CEO of Theranos, a blood testing company that has challenged the traditional lab testing model. She studied chemistry in Stanford University before dropping out in her sophomore year. She started her own company. At age 31, she climbed into the Forbes’ Billionaires List as the youngest self-made woman billionaire. Now that’s a film script right there!

Emmanuelle Charpentier

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Creators of gene-editing technology

Charpentier and Doudna developed a gene-editing technique called CRISPR-Cas9, which allows scientists to add or remove any genetic material. The process has major implications for a variety of health problems from HIV to cancer.

These are self-made women who have broken the stereotypical moulds and made their own name. However much we harp about gender equality, we are still a long way completely implementing this ideology. Women still have to work harder to get recognition. Actresses are still paid less than actors.

These women however give us hope that things will change. Women power has and can achieve anything. So the next time you think of Science, think of some amazing woman with astounding contribution.

When we think of women, we think of our co-founder Dr. Naina Arora, majority of our interns and team that consists of women. Women who do us proud. Every single day!