For Women’s Day - A Few Favourites!

 In honour of International Women’s Day, here are some of my favourite heroines. These are just a few off the top of my head, there are plenty more I admire. Only one of those mentioned here is still alive, but I thought it simplest to mostly stick to historical heroines.

 Hildegard of Bingen - featured in my children’s book, Potions To Pulsars: Women Doing Science. She was an Abbess in the 11th century. As well as writing about science, she wrote what may have been the first mediaeval play, scared the hell out of (male) heads of the church, was a philosopher, a visionary, a composer who also wrote her own lyrics. You can still listen to her music, which is easily available. I have some CDs, but there is plenty on YouTube, and believe me, it’s glorious stuff! Here is a link to a YouTube post. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G8MGiPo5IxU&list=RDEMpkCeOPHCumrjqOP395xk5A&start_radio=1 Wander over and have a listen.

 Oh, and she scored sainthood.

Ada Byron Lovelace -  The mathematical genius daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Her parents were separated early in her life, and her mother had her taught maths and science so she wouldn’t become a poet like her good-for-nothing father. Ada worked with Charles Babbage, known as the Father of the Computer. She was the world’s first computer programmer. Unfortunately she died early, of cancer. She has her own day, in October, so nice to know at least this woman has been recognised. By the way, she appears as a character in Doctor Who(Spyfall, Season 12).

Jane Austen - author of some of the best rom coms I have ever read. And whatever anyone says, I, at least, need rom coms, stories that I know will end well, in this sad world. She has influenced so many later stories, and not only ones directly based on her books. I once saw a production of Shakespeare’s rom com Much Ado About Nothing performed in Regency costume, a definite tribute to Austen’s Pride And Prejudice.

Rosalind Franklin - the British scientist who discovered the double helix of DNA in the 1950s. Unfortunately, she wanted to be sure she had it right before publishing, and a group of male competitors who had no such hesitancy used her notes to get it right and published first - and got the Nobel Prize and the credit ever since. (At one stage, these geniuses were working on a triple helix theory). She was dead by then and dead people don’t get that award, but who knows if she would have been a part of the prize if she had been alive?

She did score a play about her, Photograph 51, mentioned on my blog, in this post. https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com/2019/11/of-women-in-science-and-play-about.html 

Jocelyn Bell Burnell - Irish astrophysicist discoverer of pulsars, in 1967. She was a PhD student at the time, so the Nobel Prize went to her supervisor instead of her. She wasn’t upset about it, saying it would demean the prize to give it to a student. Still, we know who discovered pulsars. She is still around, by the way, I contacted her about my chapter about her in Potions To Pulsars. Such a nice lady! 

Do you have  any favourites? Please share.