Nettie Stevens (1861 – 1912). Biologist. Scientist at Bryn Mawr College. Discovered that the X and Y chromosome were responsible for determining the sex of individuals.
Scientist Rosalind Franklin made the first clear X-ray images of DNA’s structure. Her work was described as the most beautiful X-ray photographs ever taken. Franklin’s ‘Photo 51’ informed Crick and Watson of DNA’s double helix structure for which they were awarded a Nobel Prize. Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958, aged 37, her contribution to DNA’s discovery story unacknowledged.
Virginia Apgar (7 June 1909–7 August 1974) was an American obstetrical anesthesiologist. She was a leader in the fields of anesthesiology and teratology, and introduced obstetrical considerations to the established field of neonatology. To the public, however, she is best known as the developer of the Apgar score, a method of assessing the health of newborn babies that has drastically reduced infant mortality over the world.