The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is marking Women's History Month with the launch of a new website to celebrate the history of women in radiation sciences.
In addition to acknowledging the accomplishments of Marie Curie, the Women in Radiation History website features profiles of the following scientists:
- Lise Meitner, PhD, who helped in the discovery of the element protactinium and played a key role in the discovery of nuclear fission.
- Chien-Shiung Wu, PhD, called the "first lady of physics," who helped contribute to a theory on subatomic particles that later won other researchers the Nobel Prize in Physics, while Wu's contribution was ignored.
- Rosalind Franklin, PhD, who applied x-ray crystallography to produce an image of the DNA double-helix structure.
The EPA's current Radiation Protection Division Director Lee Veal has also provided a video encouraging students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
