Telkes, Máriacredit: New York World Telegram and the Sun Newspaper—Al Ravenna/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-USZ62-113268)

Not counting well-known women science Nobelists like Marie Curie or individuals such as Jane Goodall, Rosalind Franklin, and Rachel Carson, whose names appear in textbooks and, from time to time, even in the popular media, how many prominent or pioneering women scientists can you name? If any of the 10 women listed here sound familiar, we’re impressed. (And if names like Carson and Franklin don’t ring a bell, we recommend reading Britannica’s entry Women in Science).

Women scientists “who should be famous (or more famous)” implies a certain level of obscurity. Yet, each of the women presented here (in no particular order) made groundbreaking, insightful, or novel contributions to science. Singling out 10 women to champion was of course no easy task, but we figured that this list, which consists of women from a wide array of scientific fields and who practiced in eras when science was still largely the domain of men, was a good place to start.

This list is adapted from a Britannica Blog post.