Women in Science
Women have been central to the production of science, medicine, and technology since antiquity, though their role has been—intentionally or not—obscured or missing in the annals of history. Recent scholarship has done much to reveal the extensive work women have done in producing scientific, medical, and technical knowledge, as well as the role that gender has played and continues to play in the social, cultural, economic, and political construction of science, medicine, and technology. The purpose of our Women in Science oral history project is to preserve the history of women’s contributions to science, medicine, and technology in their own words.
In addition, the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s oral history program is currently pursuing a project intended to serve a specific community, that of women in chemistry. The purpose of the Career Pathways for Women in Chemistry Oral History Project is twofold:
- to collect and make available to scholars oral histories of women in the chemical sciences who entered the workforce in the first and second generations after the establishment of Title IX in order to gain insight into the careers of women who have chosen, and then persevered in, chemistry as a profession;
- and to provide a forum in which undergraduate and graduate students can learn from the experiences of their elders about the trials and tribulations of a career in chemistry and discover potential avenues to overcome limitations facing women in chemistry in order to ensure success in their own careers.
Individuals interviewed for this collection so far are (oral histories conducted specifically for Career Pathways for Women in Chemistry are indicated with an asterisk):
Click here for a more detailed description of each of the oral histories in this collection.