STEM Cards
Patricia Bath
Technology
Though neither of her parents had a background in science, they both encouraged her when she was a child to explore her wants. Her mother bought Bath her first chemistry set.
Mansukh Wani
Technology
If someone was treated for cancer in 2002, they had a 33% chance of their treatment benefitting Wani’s actions.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Science
Many people credit Chandrasekhar’s mother, Sita Balakrishnan, who was devoted to intellectual pursuits, for inspiring Chandra’s curiosity at a young age. In 1979, NASA named one of its four “Great Observatories” after him, to celebrate his research and legacy.
Mary Jackson
Engineering
In 2021, the Washington D.C. headquarters of NASA was renamed the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters.
Grace Hopper
Math
“The only phrase I’ve ever disliked is, ‘Why, we’ve always done it that way.’ I always tell young people, ‘Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'”
Dorothy Vaughan
Math
With a B.A. in Mathematics earned in 1929, Dorothy was hired by NASA (then NACA) in 1943, during the height of World War 2.
Jerry Lawson
Engineering
Changed the course of the gaming industry with the introduction of a gaming system that used cartridges.
Flossie Wong-Staal
Technology
Wong-Staal co-founded Immusol, a biopharmaceutical company, and specialized it into supplying drugs to treat hepatitis C. In 2019, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in the medical field.
Henrietta Lacks
Science
She is remembered for her cancer cells - rather, the HeLa cell line derived from those cancer cells, the first immortalized human cell line, used in medical research from the days of her death to today.
Chien-Shiung Wu
Science
Wu attended a school started by her father, who based his policies off of education for girls, despite the concept being a rare belief at the time. Her ashes were spread and buried at this school after her passing.
Narinder Singh Kapany
Engineering
Kapany was the founding chairman of the Sikh Foundation, and funded much of its activities for over five decades.
Garrett Morgan
Engineering
In 1908 Garrett co-founded the Cleveland Association of Colored Men, which helped to support the black community in his hometown, and donated money to historically black colleges and universities.
Frederick Jones
Engineering
His inventions in refrigeration are crucial in today’s food delivery supply chain. Without his inventions, transporting perishable foods cross-country would not be possible.
Hedy Lamarr
Technology
Lamarr was an only child, and her father spent much time with her in her early years. Reportedly, he would take her for long walks to discuss the inner workings of machines, and encouraged her to look at the world with open eyes.
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Science
Bell Burnell’s father was an architect, who was one of the designers for the Armagh Planetarium - he encouraged her to pursue a career in astronomy. Later, when she attended a prep course through Lurgan College, a place with policies that restricted women from studying science, her parents (and others) challenged those policies and enabled her to study what she wanted to.
Frederick Jones
Engineering
His greatest accomplishment was probably the invention of the portable air-cooling unit for trucks that were carrying perishables, which was used extensively during World War 2.
Katherine Johnson
Math
By the age of 13, this STEM innovator was attending the high school on the campus of West Virginia State College. When the school decided to integrate its graduate schools in 1939, Katherine and two others were selected to be the first black students offered spots at West Virginia University.
Euphemia Lofton Haynes
Math
Haynes was born in 1890, to a dentist father and a mother very active in the Catholic church. In 1930, she received a master’s degree in education, and founded the math department at the University of the District of Columbia, which focused most of its work on educating black teachers.
