This article discusses women who have made an important contribution to the field of physics.
International physics awards Nobel laureates Five women have won the Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded annually since 1901 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. These are: 1903 Marie Curie: "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel" 1963 Maria Goeppert Mayer: "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure" 2018 Donna Strickland: "for their method high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses" 2020 Andrea Ghez: "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy." 2023 Anne L'Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."
Marie Curie was the first woman to be nominated in 1902 and to receive the prize in 1903 and shared 1/2 of the prize with her husband Pierre Curie for their joint work on radioactivity, discovered by Henri Becquerel who got the other half of the prize. Marie Curie was the first woman to also receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911, making her the first person to win two Nobel prizes and, as of 2023, the only person to be awarded two Nobel prizes in two different scientific categories.
Maria Goeppert Mayer became the second woman to win the prize in 1963, for the theoretical development of the nuclear shell model, a half of the prize shared with J. Hans D. Jensen (the other half given to Eugene Wigner). Donna Strickland shared half of the prize in 2018 with Gérard Mourou, for their work in chirped pulse amplification beginning in the 1980s (the other half given to Arthur Ashkin). Andrea Ghez was the fourth female Nobel laureate in 2020, she shared one half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel for the discovery of the supermassive compact object Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy (the other half given to Roger Penrose). In 2023, Anne L'Huillier shared the prize in equal parts with Pierre Agostini and Ferenc Krausz for their experimental contribution and development of attosecond physics. L'Huillier is the first female laureate to receive 1/3 of monetary award of the Nobel Prize in Physics (Curie, Goeppert–Mayer, Strickland and Ghez received 1/4).
Physicists and physicochemists that won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry include Marie Curie, Irène Joliot-Curie, daughter of Marie Curie, in 1935, and Dorothy Hodgkin in 1964. Nuclear physicist Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was the second female scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1977 for the development of radioimmunoassays. Human right activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, Narges Mohammadi, was trained in nuclear physics.
Nobel nominees and nominators According to the Nobel archives (updated up to 1974), other physicists that were nominated to the Nobel Prize in Physics but did not receive it, include:
Lise Meitner, nominated 26 times; Chien-Shiung Wu, nominated 9 times; Marietta Blau, nominated 4 times; and Hertha Wambacher, Margaret Burbidge, Janine Connes, Phyllis S. Freier and Isabella Karle, nominated once.
Irène Joliot-Curie and Dorothy Hodgkin were also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 and 1964, respectively. Lise Meitner is the female physicist the most nominated, 16 times for Physics and 14 times for Chemistry. About 1.7% of the Nobel nominations in Physics up to 1970 were women.
Aside from the named above, other physicists and physicochemists that were nominated to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry but dit not receive it, include Ida Noddack, Marguerite Perey, Alberte Pullman, and Erika Cremer.
Up to 1974, ten female scientists have participated as nominators for the Nobel Prize in Physics. These are Katharina Boll-Dornberger, Margaret Burbidge, Marie Curie, Inga Fischer-Hjalmars, Maria Goeppert Mayer, Dorothy Hodgkin, Berta Karlik, Hertha Sponer, Marie-Antoinette Tonnelat and Anne Barbara Underhill.
Clarivate Citation Several women have been selected as Clarivate Citation laureates in Physics, which makes an annual list of possible candidates for the Nobel Prize in Physics based on citation statistics, these include:
2008 Vera Rubin "for her pioneering research indicating the existence of dark matter in the universe." 2012 Lene Hau "for the experimental demonstration of electromagnetically induced transparency 'slow light' (with Stephen E. Harris)." 2015 Deborah S. Jin "for pioneering research on atomic gases at ultra-cold temperatures and the creation of the first fermionic condensate." 2018 Sandra Faber "for pioneering methods to determine the age, size and distance of galaxies and for other contributions to cosmology."Citation Laureates - Physics - 2018 2023 Sharon Glotzer "for demonstrating the role of entropy in the self-assembly of matter and for introducing strategies to control the assembly process to engineer new materials." 2025 Ewine van Dishoeck "for pioneering contributions to astrochemistry revealing interstellar molecular clouds and their role in star and planet formation" and Ingrid Daubechies "for advancing wavelet theory, a revolution in mathematics and physics with practical applications including image processing". 2026 Nicola Spaldin "for fundamental theoretical developments leading to the establishment of room-temperature magnetoelectric multiferroics, which are enabling new energy-efficient device paradigms."
: deceased, no longer eligible.
Wolf Prize Two women have been awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics, awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel since 1978. They are:
1978 Chien-Shiung Wu (inaugural), "for her explorations of the weak interaction, helping establish the precise form and the non-conservation of parity for this natural force." 2022 Anne L'Huillier, "for pioneering contributions to ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics".Laureates 2022
Breakthrough Prize Women who have been awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics since 2012, include:
2018 WMAP Probe team, 27 listed members, including Hiranya Peiris, Licia Verde, Janet L. Weiland and Joanna Dunkley for "For detailed maps of the early universe that greatly improved our knowledge of the evolution of the cosmos and the fluctuations that seeded the formation of galaxies." 2018 Special recognition to Jocelyn Bell Burnell for "For fundamental contributions to the discovery of pulsars, and a lifetime of inspiring leadership in the scientific community."
Prizes only for female physicists
L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards awarded bi-annually to one laureate per continent for outstanding contributions to the physical sciences. Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society awarded annually in recognition of an outstanding contribution to physics research. Jocelyn Bell Burnell Medal and Prize by the Institute of Physics in UK, for contributions to physics by a very early career physicist. Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy awarded annually for outstanding contributions to astronomy within five years of earning a doctorate degree.
Topics named after female scientists
Female scientists have sometimes not been recognized in the naming of topics they discovered due to what has been called the Matilda effect, a bias in which the accomplishments of women scientists are ascribed to their male colleagues.
Some physics phenomena that are named after female scientists include:
Physical models and theories
Birge–Sponer method, in molecular physics, partially named after Hertha Sponer. Coulson–Fischer theory, in molecular physics, partially named after Inga Fischer-Hjalmars Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou problem in chaos theory, partially named after Mary Tsingou. Frenkel–Kontorova model, in non-linear physics, partially named after . Hopfield model, in atmospheric physics, is named after Helen Hopfield. Kachru–Kalosh–Linde–Trivedi mechanism, in string theory, is partially named after Renata Kallosh. Kovalevskaya top in rotational dynamics, named after Sofya Kovalevskaya. Peccei–Quinn theory in particle physics, partially named after Helen Quinn. Pöschl–Teller potential in quantum mechanics, partially named after Gertrud Nordheim-Pöschl. Randall–Sundrum model in theoretical physics, partially named after Lisa Randall. Falkner–Skan boundary layer in fluid mechanics, partially named after Sylvia Skan Van Vleck–Pauli–Morette determinant in quantum mechanics, partially named after Cécile DeWitt-Morette.
Physical phenomena and empirical laws
Dubreil-Jacotin–Long equation, in fluid mechanics, partially named after Marie-Louise Dubreil-Jacotin. Faber–Jackson relation, in astronomomy, partially named after Sandra Faber. Goos–Hänchen effect in optics, partially named after Hilda Hänchen. Leavitt's law in astronomy, named after Henrietta Swan Leavitt. , in condensed matter, partially named after Avril Rhys. Pockels point in surface physics, named after Agnes Pockels. Rubin–Ford effect in cosmology, partially named after Vera Rubin. Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear physics, partially named after Melba Phillips. Way–Wigner formula in nuclear physics, partially named after Katherine Way
Physical theorems
Bohr–Van Leeuwen theorem in thermodynamics, partially named after Hendrika Johanna van Leeuwen Byers–Yang theorem, in condensed matter physics, partially named after Nina Byers Coffman–Kundu–Wootters inequality, in quantum information, partially named after Valerie Coffman Noether's theorem in modern physics, named after Emmy Noether
Experiments and equipment
Langmuir–Blodgett film, partially named after Katharine Burr Blodgett Curie (unit), Ci, partially named after Marie Curie Morton number (dimensionless number), Mo, used to characterize bubbles is named after Rose Morton Goeppert Mayer (unit), GM, unit of absorption cross section named after Maria Goeppert Mayer Wu experiment named after Chien-Shiung Wu
Timeline Antiquity
: Aglaonice becomes the first female astronomer to be recorded in Ancient Greece. c. 355–415 CE: Greek astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Hypatia becomes renowned as a respected academic teacher, editor of Ptolemy's Almagest astronomical data, and head of her own science academy.
16th century
1572: Astronomer Sophia Brahe assists her older brother Tycho Brahe finding a new bright object in the night sky, now known as called SN 1572 (a supernova). Sophia would help her brother in astronomy throughout his life.
17th century 1650: Astronomer Maria Cunitz publishes Urania Propitia. 1668: After separating from her husband, French polymath Marguerite de la Sablière establishes a popular salon in Paris. Scientists and scholars from different countries visit the salon regularly to discuss ideas and share knowledge, and Sablière studies physics, astronomy and natural history with her guests. 1680: Astronomer Jeanne Dumée publishes a summary of arguments supporting the Copernican theory of heliocentrism. She writes "between the brain of a woman and that of a man there is no difference". 1690: Astronomer Elisabeth Hevelius publishes Prodromus Astronomiae, compiling the star catalog of 1560 stars by her and her husband Johannes Hevelius. 1693–1698: German astronomer and illustrator Maria Clara Eimmart creates more than 350 detailed drawings of the moon phases.
18th century
1702: Maria Margaretha Kirch becomes the first woman to discover a comet. Her daughters Christine and Margaretha Kirch are also astronomers. 1710: Maria Margaretha Kirch asks to be admitted into the Royal Berlin Academy of Sciences. The request is denied. 1715: Eustachio Manfredi and his sisters Maddalena and Teresa Manfredi publish Ephemerides of Celestial Motion. The learning of the Manfredi sisters is acknowledged by Pope Benedict XIV.