Women in STEM: Pioneering Female Scientists at Carnegie Science

Mount Wilson staff 1917, including Louise Ware

Leading the Way

Since our founding, Carnegie has invested in top scientific minds, giving exceptional individuals the freedom and flexibility to follow their curiosity. This included trailblazing scientists like Nettie Stevens, whose work Carnegie funded in 1905, as well as luminaries like Barbara McClintock, Vera Rubin, Nina Fedoroff, Marilyn Fogel, and Wendy Freeman. These incredible scientists overcame significant barriers to make their transformational discoveries and paved the way for women in STEM today.

Still, work remains to be done to bring STEM fields to gender equality. "Scientific research, like all human endeavors, yields the best results when done by an inclusive and diverse community," said President Eric D. Isaacs.

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Quotes from Pioneers

Science is not an inhuman or superhuman activity. It's something that humans invented, and it speaks to one of our great needs—to understand the world around us.

Maxine Singer Carnegie's first woman President, Maxine Singer, served between 1988 and 2002. During her tenure, she advocated for the societal responsibility of the scientist and access to STEM education for all.
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There is no problem in science that can be solved by a man that cannot be solved by a woman.

Vera Rubin In 1970, Carnegie's Vera Rubin published her first rotation curve of the Andromeda galaxy. Repeating these measurements on a variety of galaxies confirmed the existence of dark matter.
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If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off... no matter what they say.

Barbara McClintock Carnegie's Barbara McClintock received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of transposons, or “jumping genes.
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How could you think your questions would bother me? They never will, so long as I keep my enthusiasm for biology; and that, I hope will be as long as I live.

Nettie Stevens In 1905, Carnegie-funded Nettie Stevens published a revolutionary paper offering cytological evidence that the X and Y chromosomes are associated with sex determination.
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But oh, I do want so much a position as astronomer, part of my work with the instruments and part with the reduction of my plates, as men here have.

Phoebe Waterman Haas Phoebe Waterman Haas was one of many woman of the Mount Wilson Computing Division who worked meticulously reducing and analyzing data from astronomical glass plates.
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Maxine Singer.
Vera Rubin at Lowell Observatory with Kent Ford in white helmet.
Barbara McClintock working with maize in the lab.
Phoebe Waterman Haas using a bucket lift to ascend the 150-foot solar tower at Mount Wilson Observatory

Phoebe Waterman Haas using a bucket lift to ascend the 150-foot solar tower at Mount Wilson Observatory. Waterman Haas captioned this photograph “The start up in the bucket.” Image Credit: Phoebe Waterman Haas Photo Album [Digital Scans], NASM.2015.0045, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Video Spotlights

Nina Federoff, a former Staff Scientist at Carnegie Science's Department of Embryology and National Medal of Science recipient, recounts an encounter with Carnegie's Barbara McClintock and reflects on her influence and on Federoff's own career trajectory in molecular biology.
In the above video, Maxine Singer reflects on her career, the impact of the DNA double helix discovery, and her time at Carnegie Science. She advocates for science education reform, proposing fellowship support for aspiring teachers, and emphasizes the need for both thoughtful institutions and charismatic communicators to advance public understanding of science.

Nina Fedoroff: How Barbara McClintock inspired me

2008 Interview with Maxine Singer for ASCB Public Service Award

There's a New Call Box in Town

Documental: Mujeres en ciencia

Women of Carnegie Science

Gwen Rudie

Gwen Rudie

Staff Scientist, Director of the Carnegie Astrophysics Summer Student Internship (CASSI)

Today's Innovators

Today, women make up about one-third of Carnegie Science staff scientists and researchers. Meet the women who are pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, shaping the future of science, and inspiring generations to come.

From unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos to delving into the complexities of the human genome, women in STEM are at the forefront of innovation and discovery.

An explosion of rainbow powders on a black background

2024 Women of Influence

We're telling the remarkable stories of Carnegie scientists as a part of our 2024 Women of Influence campaign. Don't miss more engaging Q&A sessions, where you'll get to know the inspiring women in STEM who drive our research forward.

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Emily Zakem writes on the whiteboard wall of a Carnegie Science office at Caltech.
Meet Emily Zakem
We sat down with Biosphere Sciences and Engineering's Emily Zakem to learn about her research, which aims to improve our understanding of the connections between microbial ecosystems, global biogeochemistry, and the climate system. She is a member of Carnegie's prestigious Staff Associate program, which was designed to empower outstanding early career scientists, enabling them to pursue bold, creative research.
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Hot springs, hot science
“I could have stuck to working with cyanobacteria and been content,” Bhaya said. “But this overwhelming richness of information was just too much to pass up. ... The ‘omics approach has changed how people think about sharing their data and about biology as a more communal field of research."
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The Next Generation

These early-career women in STEM are shaping the future of scientific discovery.