Lost Women of Science

When Laura J. Martin decided to write a history of ecological restoration, she didn’t think she would have to go back further than the 1980s to uncover its beginnings. What she found, however, deep in the archives, was evidence of a network of early female botanists from the turn of the last century who had been written out of history. Wild by Design: The Rise of Ecological Restoration sets the record straight. It tells the stories of Eloise Butler, Edith Roberts and the wild and wonderful gardens they planted and studied.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In our final episode, we explore Dorothy Andersen’s legacy — what she left behind and how her work has lived on since her death. Describing her mentor’s influence on her life and career, Dr. Celia Ores gives us a rare look at what Dr. Andersen was really like. We then turn to researchers, physicians, and patients, who fill us in on the many areas of progress that have grown out of Dr. Andersen’s work. These major developments include the discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene, the tremendous impact of the drug Trikafta, and the lifesaving potential of gene editing techniques. We end the episode with an update on the effect Trikafta has had on the lives of many CF patients, who can now expect to live a normal life.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The missing portrait of Dr. Andersen takes us on a journey into the perils of memorialization and who gets to be remembered. Dr. John Scott Baird, Dorothy Andersen’s biographer, looks for the portrait, and Drs. Nientara Anderson and Lizzy Fitzsousa, former medical students at Yale University, explain how “dude walls” — the paintings of male scientists that line institutional walls — can have an insidious effect on those who walk past them every day. And we go back to Columbia University to give you an update on the hunt for the missing portrait. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Our associate producer, Sophie McNulty, rummages through boxes in a Connecticut basement, looking for clues to Dorothy Andersen’s life story. Pediatric critical care physician Dr. John Scott Baird, who published a biography of Dorothy Andersen in 2021, suggests we take a second look at the conventional wisdom surrounding the evolution of cystic fibrosis research in the 1950s. And in this updated episode, we interview science historian Margaret Rossiter, who coined the term “Matilda Effect” to describe how credit for work done by female scientists too often goes to their male colleagues. We examine how this affected Dorothy Andersen and her groundbreaking research into cystic fibrosis. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A few important things have happened in the three years since we first aired The Pathologist in the Basement, the story of Dr. Dorothy Andersen, the first to identify cystic fibrosis. It’s safe to say that Dr. Anderson is now a little less lost. In Episode 1, Dr. Andersen sleuths her way to the discovery of cystic fibrosis, a fatal disease that affects the lungs, the pancreas, and a host of other organs. So, who was Dorothy Andersen, and how did she come to make this seminal medical contribution? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When poet Jessy Randall started researching the lives of female scientists she became angry. And we certainly can relate here at Lost Women of Science. So many women made important discoveries but received little recognition. In this episode of Lost Women of Science Conversations, Randall talks to Carol Sutton Lewis about Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science, the collection of poems born of that anger. They discuss what it means to be the first in a field, the ethics of poetic license, and the importance of female role models in STEM. Randall’s poems are about some of the women we’ve featured in our podcast, including the first Black female doctor, Rebecca Lee Crumpler, and the physicist Lise Meitner. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Psychologist Elizabeth Bates challenged prevailing theories on human language acquisition, sparking intense debates with linguists like Steven Pinker and Noam Chomsky. Bates believed language emerges from brain-environment interactions, not an innate capacity, reshaping perspectives on cognition and language. The podcast explores the clash between established theories and innovative ideas in linguistics, shedding light on the legacy of Bates' groundbreaking work in language studies.

Meet Melba Phillips, a pioneering theoretical physicist who worked with J. Robert Oppenheimer. They discovered the Oppenheimer-Phillips Process, a key nuclear reaction explanation. Although Phillips opposed nuclear weapons, she faced adversity during the McCarthy era. Her resilient journey and impact in theoretical physics inspire.

Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, known for her groundbreaking discovery of what stars are made of, paved the way for female astronomers. The podcast explores her journey of discovery, the challenges she faced, and her collaboration with astronomer Sergei Koposkin at the Harvard Observatory. It highlights the importance of women astronomers in reshaping scientific knowledge and their invaluable contributions to astrophysics.

Annie Maunder, a Victorian woman astronomer, embarked on a journey to photograph a total solar eclipse in 1897, shedding light on her fascinating passion for the sun. The podcast delves into her inspiring adventures and the challenges faced by early female scientists in a male-dominated field. It highlights her groundbreaking research and the significance of studying solar phenomena and eclipses to connect astronomical events with Earth.