Discover the Women of the Hall

These are the Inductees of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Select any of the women to discover their stories and learn how they have influenced other women and this country.

Achievements Year Born Where Born Year Inducted Last Name
Year Born: to
Birth State or Country: or
Year Inducted: to
First Letter of Last Name: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Inductee Name Achievements Born Where Born Inducted More

Faye Glenn Abdellah Science 1919 New York 2000

Faye Glenn Abdellah

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1919 - 2017
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

First nurse to hold the rank of Rear Admiral and the title of Deputy Surgeon General for the United States. She developed the first tested coronary care unit. A national pioneer in nursing research, she has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications and helped change the focus of nursing from disease-centered to patient-centered.


Tenley Albright Athletics, Science 1935 Massachusetts 2015

Tenley Albright

Year Honored: 2015
Birth: 1935 -
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Athletics, Science

The first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating.  Named one of the “100 Greatest Female Athletes.”  A successful surgeon and leader in blood plasma research, she works in international efforts to eradicate polio.


Dorothy H. Andersen Science 1901 North Carolina 2001

Dorothy H. Andersen

Year Honored: 2001
Birth: 1901 - 1963
Born In: North Carolina
Achievements: Science

Pediatrician and pathologist who was the first to identify cystic fibrosis and developed a simple, definitive diagnostic test for the disease.


Anna Wessels Williams Science 1863 New Jersey 2024

Anna Wessels Williams

Year Honored: 2024
Birth: 1863 - 1954
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Science

Dr. Anna Wessels Williams was a pioneer in the field of immunology. She earned her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College in New York before joining the nation’s first municipal diagnostic laboratory at the New York City Department of Health.


Virginia Apgar Science 1909 New Jersey 1995

Virginia Apgar

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1909 - 1974
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Science

Physician best known for development of the Apgar Score in 1952. This system of simple tests is used to determine whether a newborn child requires special medical attention, and it has saved thousands of lives.


Ann Bancroft Education, Science 1955 Minnesota 1995

Ann Bancroft

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1955 -
Born In: Minnesota
Achievements: Education, Science

First woman to travel across the ice to the North and South Poles. She was the first woman to travel across Greenland on skis, and in 1993, was leader of the American Women’s Expedition, a group of four who skied more than 600 miles to the South Pole.


Clara Barton Science 1821 Massachusetts 1973

Clara Barton

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1821 - 1912
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

Founder of the American Red Cross, Barton ministered to injured soldiers during the Civil War and became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” Devoted to the organization, she later took to the field, providing relief in the Spanish American War at the age of 77.


Eleanor K. Baum Education, Science 1940 New York 2007

Eleanor K. Baum

Year Honored: 2007
Birth: 1940 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Education, Science

As the former Dean of Engineering at Cooper Union and the Executive Director of the Cooper Union Research Foundation, Dr. Eleanor Baum is the first female engineer to be named dean of a college of engineering in the United States. In 1995, she became the first female president of the American Society for Engineering Education. An electrical engineer who has worked in the aerospace industry, Dr. Baum is a respected leader in recruitment and retention of women in the engineering profession.


Ruth Fulton Benedict Science 1887 New York 2005

Ruth Fulton Benedict

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1887 - 1948
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

A student of Franz Boas and mentor to Margaret Mead, Ruth Fulton Benedict was a highly influential anthropologist whose theories tremendously influenced the field of cultural anthropology. Her 1934 Patterns of Culture became an American classic and is still a highly regarded publication today.


Elizabeth Blackwell Science 1821 England 1973

Elizabeth Blackwell

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1821 - 1910
Born In: England
Achievements: Science

First American woman awarded an M.D. Blackwell founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children and the Women’s Medical College, after having been banned from hospitals in New York. She paved the way for women in medicine.


Emily Blackwell Science 1826 England 1993

Emily Blackwell

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1826 - 1910
Born In: England
Achievements: Science

Sister of Elizabeth Blackwell, was also a physician. Emily ran the infirmary for women and the medical college for women founded by her sister, providing excellent training for women in medicine.


Mary Breckinridge Science 1881 Tennessee 1995

Mary Breckinridge

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1881 - 1965
Born In: Tennessee
Achievements: Science

The United States foremost pioneer in the development of midwifery and provision of care to rural areas. Breckinridge founded the Frontier Nursing Service.


Annie Jump Cannon Science 1863 Delaware 1994

Annie Jump Cannon

Year Honored: 1994
Birth: 1863 - 1941
Born In: Delaware
Achievements: Science

Astronomer who perfected the universal system of stellar classification. While working at Harvard Observatory, Cannon compiled the largest accumulation of astronomical information ever assembled by an individual.


Rachel Carson Science 1907 Pennsylvania 1973

Rachel Carson

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1907 - 1964
Born In: Pennsylvania
Achievements: Science

Zoologist whose concern over the damaging effects of pesticides and other poisons on the environment led to her groundbreaking work, Silent Spring. Carson’s book was a catalyst for the environmental movement of today.


Jacqueline Cochran Science 1906 1993

Jacqueline Cochran

Year Honored: 1993
Birth: 1906 - 1980
Achievements: Science

First woman aviator to break the sound barrier. A leader and pilot, Cochran held many speed, distance and altitude records. She led the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots during World War II, becoming the first woman to pilot a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.


Mildred Cohn Science 1913 New York 2009

Mildred Cohn

Year Honored: 2009
Birth: 1913 - 2009
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

A groundbreaking scientist in several important areas of biological research, Mildred Cohn pioneered research that helped form the scientific understanding of mechanisms of enzymatic reactions and the methods of studying them. In 1946, she introduced the use of isotopic oxygen 18 to study metabolic processes and enzyme mechanisms. She later applied nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to investigate metabolism and metabolic intermediates. Cohn has published more than 150 scientific papers and has received several awards for her work, including the National Medal of Science in 1982.


Bessie Coleman Science 1892 Texas 2001

Bessie Coleman

Year Honored: 2001
Birth: 1892 - 1926
Born In: Texas
Achievements: Science

The first licensed black female aviator. She earned her international pilot’s license in 1921 and gained fame during the next five years for her air acrobatics and highflying stunts. She dreamed of starting a school to train black aviators.


Eileen Collins Science 1956 New York 1995

Eileen Collins

Year Honored: 1995
Birth: 1956 -
Born In: New York
Achievements: Science

First American woman to pilot a spacecraft. A math teacher at the Air Force Academy and test pilot, Collins served as pilot of the space shuttle Discovery during a mission to rendezvous with space station Mir. In July, 1999 she became NASA’s first female commander in space.


Rita Rossi Colwell Science 1934 Massachusetts 2005

Rita Rossi Colwell

Year Honored: 2005
Birth: 1934 -
Born In: Massachusetts
Achievements: Science

Dr. Rita R. Colwell became the first woman and first biologist to head the National Science Foundation in 1998, spearheading the agency’s emphases in K-12 science and mathematics education, graduate science and engineering education/training and the increased participation of women and minorities in science and engineering.


Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori Science 1896 Czech Republic 1998

Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori

Year Honored: 1998
Birth: 1896 - 1957
Born In: Czech Republic
Achievements: Science

First American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in science. Cori, along with her husband and Bernardo Houssay of Argentina, received the award in 1947 “for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen.” Their work, the first bioengineering of a large biological molecule in a test tube, became the foundation for our understanding of how cells use food and convert it to energy.


Marjory Stoneman Douglas Science 1890 Minnesota 2000

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1890 - 1998
Born In: Minnesota
Achievements: Science

A journalist with the Miami News Record, she was an active leader in the Florida suffrage movement and an environmentalist credited with saving the Everglades as a national resource. Douglas authored over ten books and several plays, including The Everglades: River of Grass. After receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993 at the age of 103, she remained an active and influential environmentalist to her death.


Amelia Earhart Science 1897 Kansas 1973

Amelia Earhart

Year Honored: 1973
Birth: 1897 - 1937
Born In: Kansas
Achievements: Science

The first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and the first to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean. Earhart was a strong individual who inspired other women to take risks in non-traditional arenas.


Sylvia A. Earle Science 1935 New Jersey 2000

Sylvia A. Earle

Year Honored: 2000
Birth: 1935 -
Born In: New Jersey
Achievements: Science

An undersea explorer since age 13, Earle became an internationally recognized marine biologist, author, lecturer and scientific consultant. Denied the opportunity to participate in the U.S. Navy “Tektite Project” to study the ocean, she founded “Tektite II”, an all-female expedition that spent two weeks exploring the ocean floor. The founder of two companies to design and build undersea vehicles, she is chief scientist and consultant to oceanographic and marine research centers throughout the world.


Gertrude Belle Elion Science 1918 1991

Gertrude Belle Elion

Year Honored: 1991
Birth: 1918 - 1999
Achievements: Science

1988 Nobel Prize winner who spent a lifetime creating drugs to combat leukemia, gout, malaria, herpes and other auto-immune diseases. Elion’s work saved many lives, and led to the development of the first major AIDS drug AZT.

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