BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING

10 Hugely Important Discoveries Made By Women But Attributed To Men

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Did you know that women made many scientific contributions, but their names were hidden and their discoveries attributed to men? This phenomenon is so common that it even has a name: the Matilda Effect. American historian of science Margaret W. Rossiter coined the term in 1993 in honor of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a prominent suffragist and abolitionist who had highlighted the importance of women inventors almost a century earlier. In an attempt to give them back at least some of the recognition they deserve, in this article, we have selected 10 women who changed the history of humanity.

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Probably one of the best examples of the Matilda effect is the story of British scientist Rosalind Franklin. While doing research at King's College in London in 1951, Rosalind discovered that the molecule of DNA existed in a helical conformation when she was taking X-ray photographs of the structure. She presented her findings, which included a picture of the double helix, at a conference attended by the American molecular biologist James Watson.

Later, this important finding was the basis for Watson and Francis Crick's research on the subject. In 1953 the scientists published a study attaching the photograph taken by Rosalind without giving her credit for it. Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Rosalind had died four years earlier without ever receiving recognition for her work.

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In 1967, British scientist Jocelyn Bell Burnell was studying for her PhD at Cambridge when she noticed signals repeating at regular intervals through the radio telescope she was working on. It was the first step in the discovery of pulsars, stars that emit very small radiation.

The findings appeared in scientific journals signed by her advisor, the astrophysicist Antony Hewish, as first author. For this reason, it was only Hewish who received the Nobel Prize in 1974. At the time, the academy ignored her altogether, although now the entire scientific community accepts that it was Jocelyn Bell Burnell who first made the observation.

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The prehistory of computer science was blessed with the invaluable contribution of Ada Lovelace, one of the most exciting characters of the 19th century, not only because of her lineage —she was the daughter of the great poet Lord Byron— but also because she was a pioneer in computer programming.

Her excellent notes to mathematician Charles Babbage's work on the "analytical machine" are

considered the first approaches to computer algorithms. Although Babbage himself acknowledged Lovelace's merit, his contemporaries tried to minimize her contribution based on Ada's eccentric nature and, above all, for being a woman. Fortunately, today her achievements are vindicated: Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated every second Tuesday in October as a way of honoring women's contributions to science and technology.

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This Chinese scientist is one of those women who deserve an extensive biopic for having dedicated almost her entire life to working passionately on the development of science. Emigrated to the United States before World War II, Chien-Shiung Wu was part of the team that worked on the Manhattan Project and the birth of the atomic bomb.

After the war, scientists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang formulated the theory that the principle of conservation of parity was not valid and asked Chien-Shiung Wu to join in proving the ineffectiveness of this then-commonly accepted law. Although it was her work that finally disproved the theory, only Lee and Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1957. Be as it may, her legacy is not entirely invisible: she is now known as the "First Lady of Physics" or "the Chinese Madame Curie" for her contributions to experimental physics.

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Hollywood star by day, researcher by night, Austrian-American actress Hedy Lamarr was not only a beauty icon of the 1940s but also responsible for developing a secure communications system called "frequency hopping."

Lamarr patented her invention in 1942, but unfortunately, at the time she was not given any credit due to the widespread belief that women could not be scientists or inventors and the fact that she was an actress. It wasn't until many years later that her work was finally recognized and became the basis for the development of technologies we use every day, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. So now you know, it’s thanks to Hedy Lamarr's groundbreaking invention that today we can send messages, make calls, and connect to the internet without any wires.

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Unfortunately, the story of Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg is very common, not only in science but also in other disciplines such as art and philosophy. Lederberg was a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University and did pioneering work in genetics, yet it was her husband who took all the credit.

Esther and Joshua Lederberg specialized in research on bacterial colony transfer. It was she who, in 1951, discovered a virus that infects bacteria. Together they developed a transfer technique, called the Lederberg Method, which is still used today. But in 1958, her husband received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and during the award ceremony, he didn’t mention Esther, even though the work had been done in collaboration.

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You've probably heard of Katherine Johnson thanks to the 2016 three-time Academy Award- nominee Hidden Figures. But before her film fame, Johnson was only known at NASA, where she worked for 35 years in the Space Task Group.

Her journey, however, was not an easy one. Her accomplishments often went unrecognized by her male co-workers, and she faced double discrimination: as a woman and as an African-American. Despite this, and thanks to her brilliant mathematical skills, Johnson gradually earned a place on the teams that worked on the first spacecraft launch in 1961 and her tireless work ultimately helped send astronauts to the moon in 1969.

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In 1938, Austrian physicist Lise Meitner had to flee Nazi Germany for being Jewish. Settled in Sweden, she embarked on a research on uranium with her laboratory partner, the German chemist Otto Hahn. Shortly thereafter, they discovered that the act of splitting atomic nuclei during "fission" releases enormous amounts of energy.

Although it was Meitner herself who wrote the first theoretical explanation of the process after the discovery, it was only Hahn who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1944. Well, not everything is lost, although she wasn’t awarded, she has an element of the periodic table named after her, meitnerium.

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American biologist and geneticist Nettie Stevens had the misfortune of discovering the XY chromosomes at exactly the same time as another —male— scientist in 1905. After receiving a master's degree from Stanford and a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr, Stevens set out to revive and explain the genetic research of Austrian-Czech biologist Gregor Johann Mendel.

But Edmund Beecher Wilson also published his findings about the chromosomal XY sex-determination system and was widely praised as the sole discoverer. Interestingly, the two reports differed slightly: Wilson claimed that environmental factors determined sex, while Stevens thought it was only genetic. Lo and behold, time has proven that Nettie Stevens was right.

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Vera Rubin was a pioneering and brilliant American scientist. Through her research, she managed to convince the scientific community of the existence of dark matter, considered a scientific milestone and one of the great persistent mysteries of the universe.

Her work was also a forerunner in the study of the rotation of spiral galaxies. However, despite being one of the most influential astronomers of her time, Vera Rubin was not awarded the Nobel Prize nor did she receive the same recognition as some of her male colleagues. Perhaps this is why Vera dedicated her life to relentlessly advocating for the advancement of women in science, inviting them to important conferences and awarding them prizes in fields that historically were exclusive to men.

DECODING DOCTORS

Check Out These 10 Medical Terms Explained!

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Have you ever had a doctor explain that you "suffer from otitis" to simply mean you have an ear inflammation? The terminology used by doctors can be very confusing to patients, as medical words are full of roots, prefixes, and suffixes that come from Greek or Latin. If you want to understand your doctor better during your next visit, or just show off your lexicon to your friends, read on! Today, we are reviewing and explaining what these 10 aspects of medical terminology mean.

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"Hypo-" is a prefix that comes from Greek, meaning "under" or "below."

In medicine, this term is used to refer to low levels or deficient functioning.

For example, you may see this prefix in "Hypoglycemia" (low blood sugar) or "Hypotension" (low blood pressure). To refer to an organ or gland that is below its normal function, we have the word "Hypothyroidism" as an example, which indicates an underactive thyroid gland.

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"Hyper-" is the opposite of the previous prefix. Hyper- also comes from Greek, meaning "excessive" or "above normal."

This prefix is used when levels, functioning, or certain conditions are elevated or above values considered normal. For example, "Hyperthermia" refers to elevated body temperature. "Hypertension" is blood pressure that exceeds the values indicated as healthy. Finally, "Hyperthyroidism" is the overactivity of the thyroid gland, which leads to the overproduction of thyroid hormones.

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"-itis" is one of the best-known suffixes in medicine. Greek is again the language of origin here, this time meaning "inflammation."

Doctors often add this suffix to the scientific name of a body part to indicate it is swollen. As already mentioned, "Otitis" is the inflammation of the ear, as frequent as it is painful. "Appendicitis" indicates inflammation of the appendix, often resulting in surgery to remove it. Another example is "Bronchitis," which refers to inflammation of the bronchial tubes.

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"Gastro-" is a prefix that, rather than referring to a condition, injury, or disease, indicates a specific body part where all those things can occur.

Gastro- comes from Greek and means "stomach" or "tummy." Therefore, this term refers to conditions, procedures, or tests that affect or are performed on the stomach or gastrointestinal tract.

For example -using one of the suffixes already mentioned above- we have the term "Gastritis," the inflammation of the stomach, which causes so much pain. "Gastroenterology," on the other hand, is the general study of the stomach and gastrointestinal tract.

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"-osis" is a suffix that comes to indicate that something is not working as it should or was affected in some way.

Coming from Greek, "-osis" can mean "condition," "disease," or "abnormal."

For example, we can cite "Fibrosis," the formation of excess fibrous connective tissue, which can occur in some scars. On the other hand, "Thrombosis" is a well-known term indicating the presence of a blood clot (thrombus) within a blood vessel.

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Like "Gastro-," "Osteo-" indicates a specific part or area of the human body.

This prefix comes from the Greek osteon meaning "bone." Thus, any medical term that includes this prefix indicates a condition, disease, procedure, or treatment that affects or is applied to the bones.

For example, "Osteoporosis" combines this prefix with the familiar "-osis" suffix, indicating a condition characterized by porous and fragile bones. On the other hand, "Osteotomy" refers to a surgical procedure on a bone.

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The Greek skopein, meaning "to look" or "to examine," gives rise to the medical suffix "-scopy."

Following its word of origin, the suffix "-scopy" doesn't refer to a disease or body part but to an examination or viewing of some organ or function.

To give some examples, we can mention the well-known "Endoscopy," a procedure through which an internal part of the body is examined using a flexible tube with a lamp and camera attached. "Bronchoscopy," on the other hand, indicates the examination of bronchi.

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Originating from the Greek haima, any medical word that includes the prefix "Hemat-" refers to something related to blood.

"Hematology," for example, is the science that studies the blood, its functions, its elements, and the conditions or diseases that can affect it. "Hematoma" is a bit of blood that collects in a certain spot because it has escaped from blood vessels, commonly known as a bruise. "Hematopoiesis," on its part, refers to the process by which new blood cells are formed.

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We have to admit we've left a few spoilers, as the suffix "-ology" was mentioned before. But let's take a better look at it.

Coming from the Greek logos ("study" or "reason"), "-ology" applies to different medical fields dedicated to studying specific parts or functions of our body.

One of the best known, "Cardiology," is the study and care of the heart and related conditions. Another example is the word "Dermatology," the area of medicine that studies and treats the skin.

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The suffix "-ectomy" indicates a surgical procedure. Coming from the Greek ektomē, meaning "a cutting out" or "excision," practices ending with this suffix are performed to remove a specific body part.

While that sounds a bit strong, these types of surgeries are actually very common, and many of them are performed quickly. "Appendectomy," for example, involves the surgical removal of an infected appendix. There are other examples, such as "Mastectomy," which is the surgical removal of breast tissue.