This is a historical list dealing with women scientists in the 20th century. During this time period, women working in scientific fields were rare. Women at this time faced barriers in higher education and often denied access to scientific institutions; in the Western world, the first-wave feminist movement began to break down many of these barriers.
Anthropology
Heloísa Alberto Torres (1895–1977), Brazilian anthropologist and museum director Katharine Bartlett (1907–2001), American physical anthropologist, museum curator Ruth Benedict (1887–1948), American anthropologist Anna Bērzkalne (1891–1956), Latvian folklorist and ethnographer Alicia Dussán de Reichel (1920–2023), Colombian anthropologist Dina Dahbany-Miraglia (born 1938), American Yemini linguistic anthropologist, educator Bertha P. Dutton (1903–1994), anthropologist and ethnologist Phebe Fjellström (1924–2007), Swedish ethnologist Helen Groger-Wurm (1921–2005), Austrian-born Australian ethnologist Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), American folklorist and anthropologist Nadine Ivanitzky (1874–1919) Ukrainian (Soviet) sociologist and cultural anthropologist Marjorie F. Lambert (1908–2006), American archeologist and anthropologist who studied Southwestern Puebloan peoples Dorothea Leighton (1908–1989), American social psychiatrist, founded the field of medical anthropology Katharine Luomala (1907–1992), American anthropologist Margaret McArthur (1919–2002), Australian anthropologist, nutritionist and educator Margaret Mead (1901–1978), American anthropologist Grete Mostny (1914–1991), Austrian-born-Chilean anthropologist and archaeologist Miriam Tildesley (1883–1979), British anthropologist Mildred Trotter (1899–1991), American forensic anthropologist Camilla Wedgwood (1901–1955), British/Australian anthropologist Alba Zaluar (1942–2019), Brazilian anthropologist specializing in urban anthropology
Archaeology
Sonia Alconini (born 1965), Bolivian archaeologist of the Formative Period of the Lake Titicaca basin Birgit Arrhenius (1932–2023), Swedish archaeologist Dorothea Bate (1878–1951), British archaeologist and pioneer of archaeozoology Alex Bayliss British archaeologist Crystal Bennett (1918–1987), British archaeologist whose research focused on Jordan Zeineb Benzina Tunisian archeologist Jole Bovio Marconi (1897–1986), Italian archaeologist and prehistorian Juliet Clutton-Brock (1933–2015), British zooarchaeologist who specialized in domestic animals Dorothy Charlesworth (1927–1981), British archaeologist and expert on Roman glass Lily Chitty (1893–1979), British archaeologist who specialized in the prehistoric history of Wales and the west of England Mary Kitson Clark (1905–2005), British archaeologist best known for her work on the Roman-British in Northern England Bryony Coles (born 1946), British prehistoric archaeologist Alana Cordy-Collins (1944–2015), American archaeologist specializing in Peruvian prehistory Rosemary Cramp (1929–2023), British archaeologist whose research focuses on Anglo-Saxons in Britain Joan Breton Connelly American classical archaeologist Margaret Conkey (born 1943), American archaeologist Hester A. Davis (1930–2014), American archaeologist who was instrumental in establishing public policy and ethical standards Frederica de Laguna (1906–2004), American archaeologist best known for her work on the archaeology of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska Kelly Dixon, American archaeologist specializing in the American West Janette Deacon (born 1939), South African archaeologist specializing in rock art conservation Elizabeth Eames (1918–2008), British archaeologist who was an expert on medieval tiles Anabel Ford (born 1951), American archaeologist Aileen Fox (1907–2005), British archaeologist known excavating prehistoric and Roman sites throughout the United Kingdom Alison Frantz (1903–1995), American archaeological photographer and Byzantine scholar Honor Frost (1917–2010), Turkish archaeologist who specialized in underwater archaeology Perla Fuscaldo (born 1941), Argentine egyptologist Elizabeth Baldwin Garland (1930–2020), American archaeologist Kathleen K. Gilmore (1914–2010), American archaeologist known for her research in Spanish colonial archaeology Dorothy Garrod (1892–1968), British archaeologist who specialized in the Palaeolithic period Roberta Gilchrist (born 1965), Canadian archaeologist specializing in medieval Britain Marija Gimbutas (1921–1994), Lithuanian archaeologist (Kurgan hypothesis) Hetty Goldman (1881–1972), American archaeologist and one of the first female archaeologists to conduct excavations in the Middle East and Greece Niède Guidon (born 1933), Brazilian archaeologist Audrey Henshall (1927–2021), British archaeologist and prehistorian Corinne Hofman (born 1959), Dutch archaeologist Cynthia Irwin-Williams (1936–1990), American archaeologist of the prehistoric Southwest Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski (1910–2007), American archaeologist who specialized in the ancient site of Pompei Margaret Ursula Jones (1916–2001), British archaeologist best known for directing Britain's largest archaeological excavation at Mucking, Essex Rosemary Joyce (born 1956), American archaeologist who uncovered chocolate's archaeological record and studies Honduran pre-history Kathleen Kenyon (1906–1978), British archaeologist known for her research on the Neolothic culture in Egypt and Mesopotamia Alice Kober (1906–1950), American classical archaeologist best known for her research that led to the deciphering of Linear B Kristina Killgrove (born 1977), American bioarchaeologist Winifred Lamb (1894–1963), British archaeologist Mary Leakey (1913–1996), British archaeologist known for discovering Proconsul remains which are now believed to be human's ancestor Liu Li (born 1953), Chinese-American archaeologist specializing in Neolithic and Bronze Age China Anna Marguerite McCann (1933–2017), American archaeologist known for her work in underwater archaeology Isabel McBryde (born 1934), Australian archaeologist Betty Meehan (born 1933), Australian anthropologist and archaeologist Audrey Meaney (1931–2021), British archaeologist and expert on Anglo-Saxon England Margaret Murray (1863–1963), British-Indian Egyptologist and the first woman to be appointed a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom Bertha Parker Pallan (1907–1978), American archaeologist known for being the first female Native American archaeologist Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909–1985), Russian-American archaeologist who contributed significantly to deciphering the Maya hieroglyphs Charlotte Roberts (born 1957), British bioarchaeologist Margaret Rule (1928–2015), British archaeologist led the excavation of the Tudor Warship Mary Rose Elisabeth Ruttkay (1926–2009), Austrian Neolithic and Bronze Age specialist Hanna Rydh (1891–1964), Swedish archaeologist and prehistorian Elizabeth Slater (1946–2014), British archaeologist who specialized in archaeometallurgy Julie K. Stein, Researches prehistoric humans in the Pacific Northwest Hoang Thi Than (born 1944), Vietnamese geological engineer and archaeologist Birgitta Wallace (born 1944), Swedish–Canadian archaeologist whose research focuses on Norse migration to North America Zheng Zhenxiang (1929–2024), Chinese archaeologist and Bronze Age specialist
Astronomy Claudia Alexander (1959–2015), American planetary scientist Beatriz Barbuy (born 1950) Brazilian astrophysicist Mary Adela Blagg (1858–1944), British astronomer Bohumila Bednářová (1904–1985), Czech astronomer Mary Brück (1925–2008), Irish astronomer, astrophysicist, science historian Margaret Burbidge (1919–2020), British astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born 1943), Northern Irish-British astrophysicist Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), American astronomer Janine Connes (1926–2024), French astronomer"Janine Connes". . A. Grace Cook (1887–1958), British astronomer Heather Couper (1949–2020), British astronomer (astronomy popularisation, science education) Joy Crisp, American planetary scientist Nancy Crooker (born 1944), American space physicist Suzanne Débarbat (1928–2024), French astronomer and historian Sandra Faber (born 1944), American astronomer . Joan Feynman (1927–2020), American space physicist Pamela Gay (born 1973), American astronomer Vera Fedorovna Gaze (1899–1954), Russian astronomer (planet 2388 Gase and Gaze Crater on Venus are named for her) Julie Vinter Hansen (1890–1960), Danish astronomer Martha Haynes (born 1951), American astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger (born 1977), Austrian/American astronomer Dorothea Klumpke (1861–1942), American-born astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (1868–1921), American astronomer (periodicity of variable stars) Evelyn Leland (c.1870–c.1930), American astronomer working at the Harvard College Observatory Priyamvada Natarajan (born 1969), Indian/American astrophysicist Carolyn Porco (born 1953), American planetary scientist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–1978), British-American astronomer Ruby Payne-Scott (1912–1981), Australian radio astronomer Vera Rubin (1928–2016), American astronomer . Charlotte Moore Sitterly (1898–1990), American astronomer Jill Tarter (born 1944), American astronomer Beatrice Tinsley (1941–1981), New-Zealand astronomer and cosmologist Mirjana Vukićević-Karabin (1933–2020), Serbian astrophysicist Maria Wähnl (1908–1989), Austrian astronomer
Biology
Nora Lilian Alcock (1874–1972), British plant pathologist Alice Alldredge (born 1949), American oceanographer and researcher of marine snow, discover of Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP) and demersal hellon June Almeida (1930–2007), British virologist E. K. Janaki Ammal (1897–1984), Indian botanist Lena Clemmons Artz (1891–1976), American botanist Vandika Ervandovna Avetisyan (born 1928), Armenian botanist and mycologist Denise P. Barlow (1950–2017), British geneticist Yvonne Barr (1932–2016), British virologist (co-discovery of Epstein-Barr virus) Lela Viola Barton (1901–1967), American botanist Kathleen Basford (1916–1998), British botanist Gillian Bates (born 1956), British geneticist (Huntington's disease) Valerie Beral (1946–2022), British–Australian epidemiologist Grace Berlin (1897–1982), American ecologist, ornithologist and historian Agathe L. van Beverwijk (1907–1963), Dutch mycologist Gladys Black (1909–1998), American ornithologist Idelisa Bonnelly (1931–2022), Dominican Republic marine biologist Alice Middleton Boring (1883–1955), American biologist Annette Frances Braun (1911–1968), American entomologist, expert on microlepidoptera Victoria Braithwaite (1967–2019), British biologist and ichthyologist. Linda B. Buck (born 1947), American neuroscientist (Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 for olfactory receptors) Hildred Mary Butler (1906–1975), Australian microbiologist Esther Byrnes (1867–1946), American biologist and science teacher Bertha Cady (1873–1956), American entomologist and educator Audrey Cahn (1905–2008), Australian microbiologist and nutritionist Tarsy Carballas (born 1934), Spanish agrarian scientist Eleanor Carothers (1882–1957), American zoologist, geneticist and cytologist Rachel Carson (1907–1964), American marine biologist and conservationist Edith Katherine Cash (1890–1992), American mycologist and lichenologist Ann Chapman (1937–2009), New-Zealand biologist and limnologist Martha Chase (1927–2003), American molecular biologist Mary-Dell Chilton (born 1939), American molecular biologist Augusta Christie-Linde (1870–1953), Swedish zoologist Theresa Clay (1911–1995), English entomologist Edith Clements (1874–1971), American botanist and pioneer of botanical ecology Elzada Clover (1897–1980), American botanist Gerty Theresa Cori (1896–1957), American biochemist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947) Suzanne Cory (born 1942), Australian immunologist/cancer researcher