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Numbers in the News: Women in STEM
March is Women’s History Month. Check out some historic firsts made by women in science, technology, engineering, and math.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY VANESSA IRENA FOR SCHOLASTIC (LOVELACE COMPUTER); ALFRED EDWARD CHALON/SCIENCE MUSEUM GROUP VIA WIKIPEDIA (LOVELACE)
1843
The year a young British woman named Ada Lovelace wrote what’s now considered the first computer program.
EVERETT HISTORICAL/SHUTTERSTOCK
2
The number of Nobel Prizes awarded to Marie Curie (1867-1934) for her study of radiation. She was the first woman to win the prize and the only one to win it twice.
Today, women hold 47% of all jobs in the U.S. but only 24% of those in STEM fields.
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
150:1
The ratio of men to women in Elizabeth Blackwell’s medical school class. In 1849, she became the first woman to get a U.S. medical degree.
561
The number of stars discovered by Caroline Herschel (1750-1848). She was one of the first women to be paid for their scientific work.
THINK ABOUT IT: How has women’s position in STEM changed over the decades? How might it change in the future?
SOURCES: ROYAL SOCIETY; NOBEL FOUNDATION; COMPUTER HISTORY MUSEUM; NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MUSEUM; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
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