Women overlooked for Nobel honors

Abstract

“The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious recognition a scientist can have,” according to Magdolna Hargittai of Budapest University of Technology & Economics. “It’s also the prize that is best known and appreciated by the general public.” Therefore, many have lamented over the years the dearth of women on the list of science Nobel winners. Speaking at last month’s ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C., Hargittai noted that only 17 women have ever won Nobel Prizes in chemistry, physics, and physiology or medicine. Marie Curie, who won chemistry and physics Nobels, her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, and Ada E. Yonath are the only women among the 175 chemistry Nobel winners. Physics counts just two women among its 204 awardees, and physiology or medicine has had only 12 female laureates out of 211. These 17 women represent about 3% of the total number of science awardees since the Nobels