Babes of Science

Every early chemist has heard of Boyle’s law -- the equation that relates a gas’s pressure to its volume. But even if you have some awareness of Robert Boyle himself, it’s unlikely that you’ve heard of his sister...even though she was probably talking him through his ideas, either in person or by letter.

This episode of Babes of Science was produced in collabora...

Henrietta Lacks developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer, and died at the age of 31. The cells from the tumor on her cervix, however, are still alive today. More than twenty tons of her cells have grown in labs, participating in disease research for the polio vaccine and for AIDS treatment. And Henrietta's cells have literally traveled to space and back.

MUSIC:

Secret Place by Alex Fitch
Kelp Grooves by Little Glass Men
Love...

Bertha Pappenheim was spending each night by her sick father's bed when she began hallucinating. Josef Breuer would diagnose her with hysteria and spend two years practicing "the talking cure." He and Sigmund Freud later published her account as a case study under the name Anna O.

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Irène Joliot-Curie found that radioactivity wasn't just something to be found in the earth's elements -- scientists could make other metals radioactive. And then her research took her right up to nuclear fission...and World War II.

To support the show, head to patreon.com/babesofscience. Or visit babesofscience.com for more information on Babes of Science. You can also follow @babescience on twitter for fun facts about women in sci...

Margaret Cavendish used her writing to debate philosophy with some of the great thinkers of the scientific revolution. And she was the only woman to visit the Royal Society meetings for at least its first hundred years.

Visit babesofscience.com for more information on Babes of Science, or follow @babescience on twitter for fun facts about women in science history.

Music in this episode:
Panoramic Showers by Podington Bear
Rise by I...

Rita Levi-Montalcini worked with homemade tools in her bedroom laboratory when she and her family were forced into hiding during World War II. The findings from her bedroom lab were the beginning of her Nobel-winning research and life obsession.

Music in this episode:
Illway by Blue Dot Sessions
Pineapple by Podington Bear
New England is Interesting by BOPD
Poppyseed by Podington Bear
Sunset Part 2 by Podington Bear
Wonder Cycle by...

Maria Sibylla Merian painted caterpillars with their corresponding cocoons and butterflies on a host plant. While most of Maria's peers in the 17th century admired her for her artistry, now her work is considered one of the earliest examples of ecology.

Image courtesy of Smithsonian Libraries.

Music in this episode:

The Everlasting Itch For Things Remote by Gillicuddy
Violins and Tea (Instrumental) by Loch Lomond
Skirting Boards by...

Imagine you're a PhD student, just getting started. And you realize you can't hear anything out of one ear, and THEN you learn that's because there's a tumor wrapped around the nerve starting at your inner ear and heading into the brain.

That's what happened to Brittany Bushnell. She was studying neuroscience...and then she became the class example for abnormal visual reflexes.

Music in this episode:
Modulation of the Spirit by Lit...

Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore and stories from communities throughout the rural south. Her stories were some of the first that represented black people with pride, and not with a feeling of distance or exoticism.

*for links to Zora Neale Hurston's recordings with the Federal Writers' Project, check babesofscience.com

Music in this episode:
Tilly Lend Me Your Pigeon performed by Zora Neale Hurston
Mule On The Mount performed...

Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. one hundred years ago this week. The clinic only lasted ten days, but Margaret was just getting started.

Music in this episode:
Surly Bonds by Blue Dot Sessions
Idea by Kai Engel
Bliss by Podington Bear
City Limits by Blue Dot Sessions
I Am Running With Temporary Success From A Mons...

Babes of Science is a podcast about women who made an impact in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Learn more at babesofscience.com IN THIS EPISODE Poncie talks about Maria Mitchell, one of the first women to discover a comet. She spent decades predicting how stars would move through the night sky, became the first professor hired at Vassar, and in her spare time, advocated for women's education. Music in this episod...