Women in Science: From Ancient Times to Modern Breakthroughs

by Kerry-Ann McDade · Published March 24, 2025 · Updated March 24, 2025

Women in Science: From Ancient Times to Modern Breakthroughs – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 145

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“Did you ever wonder who invented Kevlar, the coffee filter, the car heater, or liquid paper? Would you be surprised to find out that they’re all invented by a woman?”

In this podcast episode, titled “Women in Science: From Ancient Times to Modern Breakthroughs,” host Beth Barany shares 3 books, great learning resources to uncover the history of women in science. Beth spotlights inspiring women scientists and inventors who revolutionized science, technology, and medicine, such as Barbara McClintock , Rachel Carson and Patricia Bath who shaped how we live today. Plus, she shares a book about the ground-breaking actress, Nichelle Nichols, and how she and Star Trek helped advance civil rights.

RESOURCES

Books referenced in this episode

To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights by Angela Dalton (Author), Lauren Semmer (Illustrator) https://www.harpercollins.com/products/to-boldly-go-how-nichelle-nichols-and-star-trek-helped-advance-civil-rights-angela-dalton

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Change the World written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/534776/women-in-science-by-rachel-ignotofsky/

Women of Invention: Life-Changing Ideas by Remarkable Women by Charlotte Montague (Author) https://www.abebooks.com/9780785835004/Women-Invention-Life-Changing-Ideas-Remarkable-0785835008/plp

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About the How To Write the Future podcast

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

This podcast is for you if you have questions like:

– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?

– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?

This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

Transcript for Women in Science: From Ancient Times to Modern Breakthroughs

[00:00] Introduction to the Podcast

Hi everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. I am a science fiction and fantasy writer and writing teacher and coach, and this is why I have this podcast. I want to inspire you. I want to show you all the amazing resources out there, and I also want to show you women doing amazing things in science.

So this week I am sharing with you a few resources, a few books, that I really want you to know about.

[00:30] Highlighting Nichelle Nichols’ Biography

So I’m actually gonna start with a book that is a biography of a woman who played someone in science fiction. This is a book about Nichelle Nichols who played Uhura in Star Trek, in the original Star Trek.

This book is called To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights. It’s a beautiful picture book.

And just to let you know, it says this book has not been approved, licensed, or sponsored by any entity involved in the production or distribution of Star Trek: The Original Series. Just so you know.

And it’s a gorgeous picture book. It is definitely for kids, and I got to meet the author at a book signing last year, and I really recommend it for understanding the struggles that Nichelle went through and also what she stood for so many people in terms of playing an amazing character on this show.

I just wanna call your attention to it. I think it’s important that we see ourselves in media and it’s important, what Nichelle did in representing for her community. And also as a human being, bringing her beautiful acting skills and talents to the screen.

I just really admire her. Learning about her story was so inspiring. So I highly recommend this book, especially if you want to share it to children who love science and, black girls who want role models.

[01:56] Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers

So the next book I wanna talk about is Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Change the World, written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky. All right. Here’s the beautiful cover.

So this is a beautifully illustrated book and about 50 notable women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. From ancient to the modern world; has gorgeous art, wonderful glossary, and it includes well-known figures like primatologist Jane Goodall, as well as lesser known pioneers. Such as Catherine Johnson, the African American physicist and mathematician who calculated the trajectory of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission to the moon, which actually there was a movie made about her.

There’s one page per scientist. Here, for example, is Rachel Carson, Marine biologist conservationist and author. And I actually heard about her book as a child. It was called Silent Spring, and her research found that DDT was poisoning livestock, killing fish, fatally weakening birds, eggs, and wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. She even spoke in front of the US Senate and her book was seminal in the ecology movement. Here for example is Barbara McClintock, who is a cytogeneticist, which is amazing. so she was way ahead of her time. She was the first person to make a complete genetic map of corn. And she was considered a troublemaker at the University of Missouri because she was always wearing pants and working late with students. Her techniques were so advanced that her work was too confusing for most scientists at the time. And she was the Genetics Society of America’s first woman president. Also elected to the National Academy of Sciences. So she really changed the way we understand evolution and botany.

If you wanna know more about these 50 women in science, I highly recommend that you check out this book.

There’s one more book I wanna talk about today.

[04:04] Women of Invention: Life-Changing Ideas

It’s called Women of Invention: Life-Changing Ideas by Remarkable Women.

This is a fabulous big picture book.

On the back it says:

Did you ever wonder who invented Kevlar, the coffee filter, the car heater, or liquid paper? Would you be surprised to find out that they’re all invented by a woman? Over 100 women are featured here, along with their innovative ideas and ingenious creations of invention in the fields of technology, science, engineering, medicine, transport and communications, beauty and fashion, culinary and food technology, domestic technology, healthcare, toys and games.

It’s organized alphabetically by the inventor’s name. It’s a beautifully illustrated guide. I was flipping through it and I was just really impressed. Wow, I didn’t know that. So for example, I’m very interested in science.

So we have here Ida Freund shaping the teaching of science invention. Periodic table cupcakes and a gas measuring tube. She lived from 1863 to 1914. Hey, if you wanna teach kids the periodic element, table of elements, make cupcakes. It’s a wonderful hands-on tool. She was also a chemist and she also helped in the struggle for women to be able to gain admission to the Chemical Society in the early 20th century.

And she championed teaching science in girls schools, even though women were not permitted in the same laboratories as men in Cambridge, She was able to, hold special classes at Newham College.

So there’s a lot of amazing women in here. I actually haven’t looked through this whole thing. Let’s see if we can pull another person outta here for you. Ah, really interesting. Here’s Patricia Bath making the blind see. She invented the laser phaco probe. Dr. Patricia Bath helped people who were blind.

Patricia Bath started working on her amazing invention in 1981. And it uses laser technology to provide a less painful and more precise treatment for cataracts. And it helped restore eyesight of patients who had been blind for up to 30 years. In 2000 she patented a method for cataract treatment using ultrasound.

So cool.

When I was a kid, I thought of inventions. I never got the training to be an inventor, and turns out I was way more interested in ideas and storytelling anyway. But I am so interested in the women, and men, but in this case we’re talking about women, who invented things. So I highly recommend you check out the women of invention if you’re curious about inventing things.

[06:48] Conclusion and Resources for Writers

Alright, that’s it for this week, everyone. If you are at all interested in finding out more about how I help writers go ahead and check out my services and my products and my programs at Beth Barany dot com.

And you’ll see in the show notes you can sign up for your very own world building workbook for fiction writers.

That’s it for this week. Everyone write long and prosper.

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ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She’s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, “How To Write The Future.”

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CREDITS

EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA (Refer-a-Friend link)
MUSIC CREDITS : Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/fuzz-buzz License code: UMMKDRL02DFGKJ0L. “Fuzz buzz” by Soundroll. Commercial license: https://musicvine.com/track/soundroll/fuzz-buzz.
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SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

C 2025 BETH BARANY

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