Notable Women

Ada Lovelace

Ada Byron Lovelace (1815-1852) was one of the most remarkable visionaries in the history of science. Her friend Charles Babbage invented the Analytical Engine to crunch numbers; it was Ada who ...

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) is the most famous aviator of all time. And it's not just because she disappeared. She was ferociously brave and determined, continually doing things that people said it ...

Anne Bonny/Mary Read

Pirates of the Caribbean! Real pirates, that is: Anne Bonny (1690s-?) and Mary Read (1690s-1721). They sailed the high seas with the infamous Calico Jack, and so much has been written about the ...

Annie Oakley

Will Rogers called her “the greatest woman rifle shot the world has ever produced.” The Associated Press dispensed with the female qualifier in her obituary, calling her “perhaps the greatest ...

Bessie Coleman

Aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman (1892-1926) was the first black woman in the world to earn a pilot's license. The child of sharecroppers in Texas, she overcame incredible odds---poverty, racism, ...

Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane (1852-1903) was born Martha Canary, and after that things get fuzzy. Almost every detail of her life is disputed, mostly because she told quite a few tall tales (as did all the other ...

Ching Shih

Ching Shih, or Madame Ching (1775-1844), has been called the most successful pirate in history. For one thing, there was the sheer size of her operation: her Red Flag Fleet consisted of at least ...

Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan (ca.1364-1430) was a brilliant writer, poet, philosopher, and feminist. At a time when females were regarded as profoundly defective beings, Christine boldly imagined a "City of ...

Emma Goldman

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." Did Emma Goldman (1869-1940) really say that? In a word, no. The sentiment was certainly hers, and in her memoirs she told of being ...

Enheduanna

Enheduanna (ca. 2300 BCE) has been called the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature. It might be more accurate to call Shakespeare the Enheduanna of English literature. Enheduanna is the earliest ...

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) is quite possibly the most celebrated female artist in history. The elements of her personal style have become iconic: long skirt, Mexican blouse, rebozo, flowers on her ...

Grace Hopper

If it weren't for Admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992), you wouldn't be reading this. There wouldn't be an Internet to read it on. There wouldn't be personal computers or word processors or any of the ...