Born: 1932, Belgium Irigaray is a French feminist psychoanalyst and philosopher who examined the uses and misuses of language in relation to women.Irigaray was a member of the Freudian School of Paris, founded by Jacques Lacan, and taught at the University of Paris VIII-Vincennes from 1968 until she was dismissed in 1974 because of her […]
Born: c. 370, Alexandria, EgyptDied: March 415, Alexandria Hypatia was an Egyptian Neoplatonist philosopher who was the first notable woman in mathematics.The daughter of Theon, also a notable mathematician and philosopher, Hypatia became the recognized head of the Neoplatonist school of philosophy at Alexandria about 400, and her eloquence, modesty and beauty, combined with her
Born: September 16, 1885, Blankenese,near Hamburg, GermanyDied: December 4, 1952, New York, U.S. Karen Horney was a German American psychiatrist, born in Hamburg, and educated at the universities of Freiburg and Berlin. She was an instructor at the Institute for Psychoanalysis in Berlin from 1920 to 1932, when she immigrated to the United States. After
Born: July 10, 1846, Röcken, near Lützen,Prussia [Germany]Died: Nov 8, 1935, Weimar, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach [Germany] Elisabeth was the sister of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who became his guardian and literary executor.An early believer in the superiority of the Teutonic races, she married an anti-Semitic agitator, Bernhard Förster. In the 1880s, they went to Paraguay and
Born: March 30, 1863, Hartford, Conn., U.S.Died: Feb 26, 1930, Newton, Massachusetts Calkins was a philosopher, psychologist, and educator, the first American woman to attain distinction in these fields of study.Calkins grew up mainly in Buffalo, New York, and moved with her family to Newton, Massachusetts, in 1880. She graduated from Smith College in 1885,
Born: AD 45, Anling, Gufang [now Xianyang,Shaanxi province], ChinaDied: c. 115, China Ban Zhao was a renowned Chinese scholar and historian of the Dong (Eastern) Han dynasty.The daughter of a prominent family, Ban Zhao married at age 14, but her husband died while she was still young. She never remarried, devoting herself instead to literature
Flourished AD 430-485 Asclepigenia was a Greek philosopher of the Neo-Platonist school, teacher and lecturer.After the death of her father, Plutarchus, Asclepigenia was active in perpetuating the eastern version of Platonism, in cooperation with her brother, Hiero. Upon the succession of Proclus as head of the school at Athens, Asclepigenia instructed him in the philosophies
Born: October 14, 1906, Hannover, GermanyDied: December 4, 1975, New York, U.S. Hannah Arendt was a German-born American political scientist, noted for her writings on totalitarianism.Arendt was born in Hannover, on October 14, 1906. After studies at three universities, she received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Heidelberg at the age of 22. In
Born: May 16, 1718, Milan, Habsburg crown land[now in Italy] Died: January 9, 1799, MilanAgnesi was an Italian mathematician and philosopher, considered to be the first woman in the Western world to have achieved a reputation in mathematics. Agnesi was the eldest child of a wealthy silk merchant who provided her with the best tutors
Born: July 19, 1921, New York, U.S. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow is an American medical physicist and Nobel Prize winner, who helped to develop the testing technique known as the radioimmunoassay. Yalow was born in New York City in 1921 and obtained a doctorate in physics from the University of Illinois in 1945. She taught at
Born: Sept 11, 1847, Waltham, Mass., U.S.Died: Jan 20, 1921, WalthamWhitney was an American astronomer who built Vassar College’s research program in astronomy into one of the nation’s finest. Whitney graduated from public high school in 1863 and entered Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, with advanced standing in 1865. She immediately came under the influence
Born: March 6, 1937, Maslennikovo, Russia, U.S.S.R. Valentina Tereshkova Soviet cosmonaut and parachutist, the first woman to fly in space. Tereshkova flew aboard Vostok 6 from June 16 to June 19, 1963.Tereshkova was born to a peasant family in the Yaroslavl’ region of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Yaroslavl’ is now part
Born: Oct 15, 1880, Edinburgh, ScotlandDied: Oct 2, 1958, near Dorking, Surrey, Engand Stopes was an advocate of birth control who, in 1921, founded the United Kingdom’s first instructional clinic for contraception. Although her clinical work, writings, and speeches evoked violent opposition, especially from Roman Catholics, she greatly influenced the Church of England’s gradual relaxation
Born: Sept 19, 1915, Cobalt, Ont., CanadaDied: Aug 18, 1980, Los Angeles, California, U.S. Stern was a Canadian-born American pathologist, noted for her work on the stages of a cell’s progression from a normal to a cancerous state.Stern received her medical degree from the University of Toronto (1939) and the following year went to the
Born: c. 1786, probably near present-dayLemhi, Idaho, U.S.Died: Dec 20, 1812, Fort Manuel,on the Missouri River, Dakota Territory Sacagawea or Sacajawea was a Shoshone Native American woman, who served as an interpreter and guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 and 1806. Sacagawea was probably born in present-day Idaho. She was captured by