In honor of 'Hidden Figures,' here are 10 trailblazing women who changed STEM forever
"I can't change the color of my skin, so I have no choice but to be the first, which I can't do without you sir," says Mary Jackson, an African American NASA engineer, as she asserts her case before a white, male Virginia judge. Though the scene is brief, it is a moment that best captures the tone of Theodore Melfi's Hidden Figures -- its poignancy, its hopefulness, its call for collaboration.
Clearly the film, based on the previously untold stories of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three female African American NASA mathematicians who helped launch astronaut John Glenn into space, has resonated with audiences. For the second weekend in a row, the movie has topped the box office, surpassing both Ben Affleck's Live by Night and Martin Scorsese's Silence.
As a tribute to the film's inspirational success, and the very real trials Johnson, Vaughan and Jackson had to face, here are 10 other courageous women who battled sexism and racism to transform STEM fields and make history.
1. Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
Silent Spring
worldwide environmental movement
2. Kalapana Chawla (1962-2003)
In 1997, Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman in space as a member of NASA's flight STS-87 crew. Born in Karnal India, Chawla held undergraduate and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering and aerospace engineering, as well as a doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering. She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, after she and the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia were killed upon re-entry.
3. Grace Hopper (1906-1992)
4. Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915)
5. Vera Rubin (1928-2016)
6. Mae Carol Jemison (1956- )
7. Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000)
8. Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997)
9. Mary G. Ross (1908-2008)
10. Sally Ride (1951-2012)
Lauren Padilla is a student at Johns Hopkins University and a USA TODAY College digital producer.
This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.