Celebrating The Women of Math on Pi Day

Happy #PiDay This may be the birthday of #AlbertEinstein but we are celebrating 3.14 by recognizing the important and transformative role women have had in Math. A huge gender gap still exists for Women and Girls in #Stem and #stemeducation In 2023, women comprised only 28% of the STEM workforce
All the more important to spotlight women who defied expectations and social "norms" to show that Yes! This Girl Can! Change the World.

1. Hypatia (370-415 AD) was an Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher. After her father's death, she took up his work and became the world’s leading mathematician, astronomer, and teacher known for her number theory. She is considered the earliest female mathematician. Her teaching was considered pagan and she was killed by a gang of zealots. Her life and work became a beacon for other women to pursue studies despite prejudice.

2. Mary Somerville (1780–1872) was a Scottish mathematician, scientist, geographer, and astronomer. She began to study algebra on her own at 15 in secret because her parents disapproved. It wasn't til after the death of her first husband, who also disapproved of her studies, that she could study mathematics and astronomy openly and won her first medal for her work in 1811. Her work researching celestial mechanics brought her great acclaim. In 1833 Mary Somerville and Caroline Herschel were the first two women to be named honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society.

3. Ada Lovelace (1815–1852) was encouraged by her mother to study science, logic, and mathematics. She was fascinated by the new machines of the Industrial Revolution. Her mentor was Mary Sommerville who introduced her to Charles Babbage, known for his plans to make giant calculating machines. Ada was excited by his plans for a machine that combined calculating gears with a punchcard system, the components of the modern day computer. Babbage asked her to write an article on the “Analytical Engine” which included what are thought to be many early computer programs, as well as her views on how the machine could be used.. Ada Lovelace’s notes were vital to Alan Turing’s work on the first modern computers in the 1940s. She is considered to be “the first computer programmer.”

4. Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890–1980) was an American mathematician and educator, She was also the first African American woman to earn her doctorate in mathematics. Euphemia founded the mathematics department at Miner Teacher’s College, an institution in Washington dedicated to training African American teachers, She dedicated her career to battling racial discrimination and pushing down roadblocks to educational access and equity. She co-founded the Catholic Interracial Council of the District of Columbia and received a Pro Ecclesia medal from Pope John XXIII for her work in 1959. Euphemia fought racial segregation in the D.C. school system supporting a lawsuit to desegregate the school system.

Discover more about trailblazing women in Math and STEM and you can get involved in Stem at The National Women’s History Museum and Girls Who Code.

Celebrating HERstory Every Day

“Well behaved women rarely make history”

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

It is #WomensHistoryMonth and in this month and every month we share our hope that EVERY girl will believe that Yes! she can make #HERstory

This #WomensHistoryMonth we celebrate the rule-breakers, the trailblazers, the fearless, and the indefatigable who said Yes! #ThisGirlCan!… and She Will! Guess what, history is filled with stories of women and girls just like YOU who made their own way, defied societal expectations and command, and bravely and independently pushed down doors, ignorance, harassment, and even threats to their lives and well-being. Every day we celebrate these women and now it is your turn-and we cannot wait to see YOU make HERstory.

Why do we study women's history? The lives of women and their role in, and impact on, our history has rarely been spotlit. We need to know women's stories, we need to look to them as models, beacons of inspiration to follow as we aspire to our dreams and follow our convictions. We need to learn about their lives and experiences. Their trailblazing paths will show us the way forward. Ensuring that every woman's story is heard and respected provides every little girl, and not so little girl, with the opportunities to understand and to know they can realize the power of their dreams because there was someone who came before them who showed that Yes! This Girl Can! Change the World. So, let’s make HERstory!

#ThisGirlCanChangetheWorld #EveryMonthisWomensHistoryMonth #TheFutureisFemale #BelieveinthePowerofYourDreams

"I desire you would remember the ladies", Abigail Adams- Celebrating Women's History Month

“... I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

— Abigail Adams in letter to her husband March 31, 1776

Abigail Adams was not a woman who kept her opinions to herself. She did not sit idly by in Quincy Massachusetts while her husband forged a new nation. As the wife and the mother of presidents, and her husband’s closest advisor, she had a unique opportunity to influence the decisions of how a young country would be shaped and she implored her husband to “remember the ladies.” ​Abigail​ ​like so many women was left alone​ ​to manage the farm and raise her children while her husband was in Philadelphia and England for months and years, ​all ​ in the midst of a revolution ​on her doorstep finding​ her life and her children’s lives in danger at all times. Abigail knew very well that the future of the new country would depend as much on its women as the men​ and she let her husband know that to not include women in the decisions and for them to have a real voice would set the new country on the wrong path​. It would be 144 years until women were recognized as having the right to legally participate as a citizen with the passage of the 19th amendment acknowledging women’s right to vote, and would not be until 1965 and the passage of the ​V​oting ​R​ights ​A​ct that all women were allowed to vote.

“Well behaved women rarely make history”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

American history is filled with stories of women, most unknown​,​ who made their own way, defied societal expectation and command, ​and ​bravely and independently ​pushed down doors, ignorance, harassment and even threats to their lives and well being. Women such as Mabel Ping-Hua Lee ​​who in a 1912 New York Times article​ ​was ​cited​ as “the symbol of the new era, when all women will be free and unhampered.”​ She was just 16 years old at the time and was already gaining notoriety for her work as a suffragist who had led over 10,000 in the New York suffrage parade. Mabel would go on to become the first Chinese woman to get a PhD in economics.​ Think of Maria Mitchell​, born who on Natucket in 1818. In 1847 at the age of 29 Maria discovered a comet. She was the first female astronomer in the United States, ​and was also the first American scientist to discover a comet​!​ ​Maria​ was a​ strong ​ advocate for science and math education for girls and ​became ​the first female astronomy professor.​ Then there is Charlotta Spears Bass. Throughout the first half of the 20th century Charlotta was the ​ editor of the African American newspaper The California Eagle. ​She worked as a​ journalist, ​civil rights ​activist, and politician​...she was also ​ ​the first Black woman to run for vice president of the United States ​in 1952. ​Charlotta dedicated her work to fighting what she called “The two-headed monster, Segregation and Discrimination.”  

“Where there is a woman there is magic.”

— Ntozake Shange

​Why do we study women's history? The lives of women and their role in, and impact on, our history has been overlooked for so long. We need to know women's stories, we need to look to them as models, for inspiration, to follow our dreams and convictions. We need to learn about their lives and experiences. Their trailblazing paths will show us the way forward. Ensuring that every woman's story is heard and respected let’s every little girl know there is a role model to show her that This Girl Can!

This #WomensHistoryMonth we celebrate the rule breakers, the trailblazers, the fearless and the indefatigable who said Yes! #ThisGirlCan and She Will!​

Be sure to follow us to help us celebrate. For more great stories and biographies visit The National Women's History Museum​ and PBS Videos on Women in American History