Admirable Women

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah is a pioneering Ghanaian physician & diplomat. Originally anti-abortion, her life changed when one her pediatric patients, a 14-year-old, died from a botched procedure. She vowed to fight unsafe abortions, which cause up to 30% of maternal deaths in Africa. #WomenInSTEM

As VP for Africa at Ipas (2001–2014), she turned her clinical mission into policy. She united lawyers, doctors, and leaders to liberalize reproductive laws in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Benin, Eswatini & Kenya, contributing to a 40% drop in regional unsafe abortion deaths. #WomenInSTEM #WomensRights

Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah is a pioneering Ghanaian physician & diplomat. Originally anti-abortion, her life changed when one her pediatric patients, a 14-year-old, died from a botched procedure. She vowed to fight unsafe abortions, which cause up to 30% of maternal deaths in Africa. #WomenInSTEM

Victorian artist & naturalist Marianne North (b. #OTD in 1830) defied gender norms to document global plant life. Over 14 years, she traveled solo across 6 continents and 15+ countries, creating a revolutionary visual archive of the natural world. #WomenInSTEM #Art #ArtSky

Initially dismissed by male peers as a "decorative artist," her intense visual accuracy led to real scientific breakthroughs. She documented ~900 species; a genus (Northia) & the massive Bornean pitcher plant (Nepenthes northiana; she was the first non-local to find it 👇) bear her name. #WomenInSTEM

Victorian artist & naturalist Marianne North (b. #OTD in 1830) defied gender norms to document global plant life. Over 14 years, she traveled solo across 6 continents and 15+ countries, creating a revolutionary visual archive of the natural world. #WomenInSTEM #Art #ArtSky

On Dec 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, AL. A veteran NAACP activist, she was arrested and fined. Her defiance sparked the 381-day bus boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., forcing a SCOTUS ruling that ended bus segregation.🧵 #CivilRights

Kenyan environmental activist Phyllis Omido is known as the “East African Erin Brockovich.” Her multi-year fight against toxic lead pollution from a battery smelter transformed her from a plant employee into one of #Africa’s leading environmental justice advocates.

engaged in aggressive litigation to demand the plant's closure. Her grassroots pressure succeeded & the toxic smelter was permanently shut down in January 2014. Her activism came w/a high personal cost including violent intimidation, physical assaults, & arbitrary arrests by authorities...

Kenyan environmental activist Phyllis Omido is known as the “East African Erin Brockovich.” Her multi-year fight against toxic lead pollution from a battery smelter transformed her from a plant employee into one of #Africa’s leading environmental justice advocates.

Mathematician & geodeist Dr. Irene Fischer helped guide NASA to the moon. Joining the US Army Map Service in 1952, she unified centuries of broken data to calculate the Earth’s precise size/shape. Her calculations allowed NASA to safely program Apollo moon landing trajectories. 🧵 #WomenInSTEM

Before satellites existed, Fischer mapped the "Astrogeoid"--the planet's irregular geometric bumps caused by massive mountain ranges. Her data became the "Fischer Ellipsoid," a master global map model that modernized data grids across entire continents like South America. #WomeninSTEM

#Music teacher, conductor & composer Nadia Boulanger shaped generations of the world's leading musicians. Her students, the "Boulangerie," spanned genres and include: + #Classical: Aaron Copland & Philip Glass + #Jazz: Quincy Jones + #Tango: Astor Piazzolla #MusicSky #MusicHistory

American aviator, test pilot & #WWII commander Nancy Harkness Love fundamentally reshaped the role of women in military #aviation. She founded the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) in 1942, which later merged to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). She died #OTD in 1976.

Engineer & inventor Beatrice Hicks: pioneering figure esp. for women in #engineering & for sensing technology used in aerospace. Her work directly advanced aviation & NASA's Apollo Moon missions.🧵 Co-founder & first president of the Society of Women Engineers. She died #OTD in 1979. #WomenInSTEM

TIME named the #NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope one of the best inventions of 2026. Roman, "Mother of Hubble" & NASA's first Chief of #Astronomy: the foundational architect who transitioned the concept of a large space telescope from "hopeful speculation" to a funded reality. #WomenInSTEM

Dr. Mae Jemison was born #OTD in 1956. In 1992, she launched into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour making her the first Black woman to travel into space. 🚀 An incredible life: + Physician (M.D., Cornell 1981) + Peace Corps Area Medical Officer in Sierra Leone & Liberia #WomenInSTEM

Investigative journalist Daphne Galizia reported on government corruption, allegations of money laundering & more in #Malta. A "one-woman WikiLeaks." Known internationally for her investigation of the Panama Papers, she was assassinated by a car bomb in #OTD in 2017. 🧵 #Journalism #PressFreedom