LONDON: Nobel prize-winning scientist Marie Curie was the most influential woman in history, Britain’s BBC found in a poll on Thursday, highlighting her role in curing cancer. Readers of BBC History magazine ranked Polish-born Curie at the top of a list of 100 women who changed the world, for becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes and for her research into radioactivity — a word that she coined.
The US civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a bus for a white person, came second in the poll, followed by Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the British suffragette movement, who helped women win the right to vote.
Female scientists featured prominently in the list, with the early computer programmer Ada Lovelace in fourth place, and British chemist Rosalind Franklin — who contributed to the understanding of DNA — coming fifth.
There are relatively few scientific role models for young girls to look up to, as only 13 per cent of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce in Britain is female, the Fawcett Society said. “This list is a testament to women in history who have struggled against the odds to achieve incredible feats,” a Fawcett official said. — Reuters
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