Florence Sabin (1871-1953) made the spectacular breakthrough in making invisible lymphatic system visible by staining lymphatic fluid with ink. Lilian Morgan (1870-1952) invented the first polio vaccine for primates. Without her work Jonas Salk would not have become a household name. American biologist and early geneticist Nettie Maria Stevens (1861-1912) proved in 1905 that chromosomes determine the sex of organisms. Her work outlined the future of modern genetics research. But the credit for the discovery went to her colleague Edmund B. Wilson. Rosalind Franklin was the unsung hero behind the discovery of double helix of DNA. Franklin used the x-ray diffraction technique to first capture the image of DNA molecule (famous photo 51), too tiny for regular photography. Without Rosalind's knowledge, her boss showed the picture to James Watson. With that image, James Watson and Francis Crick (winners of Nobel Prize for discovery of DNA structure) could solve the mystery of the DNA structure. Barbara McClintock won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Medicine for her discovery of genetic transposition, or the ability of genes to change position on the chromosome.

Maria Goeppart Mayer was one of at least two dozen other women scientists who worked in the secret Manhattan project (1942-44) for making an atomic bomb. She received joint Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for her theoretical analysis of atomic structure. Among them were Leona Marshall Libby and Dr Chien Shiung Wu - the renowned Columbia physicist of Chinese descent. Libby directed the construction of the first thermal column and Wu developed the process of separating Uranium-235 from Uranium-238 by gaseous diffusion. Her work also led to the development of more sensitive Geiger counters. Wu turned the discipline of Atomic Physics on its head by disproving the law of conservation of parity, showing that the laws of nature are not always symmetrical with respect to right and left. Despite their initial doubt, Wu's elegant experiment on beta decay proved Lee and Yang's theory, for which they received the Nobel Prize in 1957, but Wu was not recognised!

Ada Byron (Lady Lovelace), daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron was brought up by her mother to be a scientist and mathematician. Ada collaborated with Charles Babbage and wrote the worlds first computer program in 1843. Babbage devised the plan for Analytical Engine in 1841, a forerunner of modern day computer. Ada's scientific paper anticipated the development and creative use of software (including the very term software) and the analytical machine to compose music, produce graphics, carry out personal and scientific tasks including artificial intelligence. British Government's rejection of Analytical Engine, many believe, set the computer technology by 100 years. One has to wonder what if a Lord, instead of a Lady wrote the paper!

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