![]() ![]() Grace Hopper was a trailblazing computer programmer who helped develop multiple computer languages and is considered one of the first programmers of the modern computing age.Īrmed with a master’s degree and PhD in mathematics from Yale, Hopper went on to have an influential career in the private sector and the US Navy. Many people in the scientific community argue that Franklin should have been awarded a Nobel Prize alongside Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.” Unfortunately, Franklin died from ovarian cancer in 1958, just four years before the prize was awarded, even though at the time the organization could have awarded it posthumously. Her data was used by James Watson and Francis Crick to get their research on the DNA model across the finish line, and was published separately as supporting data alongside Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins’ research articles in Nature. That dream went on to become a reality when she was offered a prestigious scholarship to King’s College London, where she became an expert in the X-ray crystallography unit.įranklin’s research data was the first to demonstrate the basic dimensions of DNA strands and reveal the molecule was in two matching parts, running in opposite directions. Legend has it that British chemist and DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin knew she wanted to be a scientist since she was 15 years old. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images ![]() It wasn’t until the 21st century that her achievements were fully recognized and the governor of Hawaii declared February 29 “Alice Ball Day.” Unfortunately she died before she was able to publish the findings, and the president of the University of Hawaii attempted to claim the research as his own until Ball’s former supervisor publicly spoke out that she deserved the credit for the lifesaving injection. While working as a research assistant at Kalihi Hospital in Hawaii, Ball developed an easily injectable form of the oil that ultimately saved countless lives and became the best treatment for leprosy until the 1940s. Prior to Ball’s research on leprosy, the best treatment available was chaulmoogra oil, which was difficult for patients to ingest or apply topically and too thick to inject. At just 23 years old, Ball developed a groundbreaking treatment for leprosy – a disease which previously had little chance of recovery and forced victims into exile. ![]() American chemist Alice Ball was the first woman and first African American to receive a master’s from the University of Hawaii and went on to become the university’s first female chemistry professor. ![]()
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