She Persisted in Science: Brilliant Women Who Made a Difference

Being a woman in science isn’t always easy. Sometimes women are told that their ideas aren’t smart enough, their research isn’t good enough, and their work isn’t important enough- simply because they’re women. But that is not true. The world needs everyone’s scientific discoveries.

These women persisted to prove that to every generation.

As a girl, FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE dreamed of being a nurse. Even though her family didn’t agree, she persisted in becoming one. When the British government asked Florence to improve hospital care for soldiers, the staff did not want to listen to a woman. She persisted again and again, and soon hospitals were applying clean bandages to wounds, bathing patients and providing healthy meals. Her habit of walking the wards at night carrying a small light led to her nickname: “Lady with the Lamp”. She dedicated her life to improving medical care for patients and training for nurses. Students all over the world still study her methods to improve public health today.

REBECCA LEE CRUMPLER grew up with her aunt in Pennsylvania and saw how often she cared for their sick neighbors. Inspired, Rebecca became a nurse and then enrolled at the New England Female Medical College, the first school in the United States to train women to be doctors. After becoming the United States’ first Black woman doctor, she cared for low-income women and children and then, after the Civil War, worked at the Freedmen’s Bureau to care for people who had been enslaved. In the South, Rebecca faced intense racism and sexism. Some of her fellow physicians refused to work with her. She could have given up, but she persisted in caring for her patients, knowing many white doctors would refuse to treat them. Her legacy lives on in the Rebecca Lee Society  for Black women doctors.