Inspiring women I've never heard of

Very interesting thread, it's been marvellous reading these posts.

GrandMattie. Could the SOE agent you're thinking of be Noor Inayat Khan?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noor_Inayat_Khan

Sarah Moore Grimké, very much ahead of her time. Certainly Mary Seacole and Elsie Locke.

And then there's Rosalind Franklin whose work led to the discovery of DNA.
It was suggested by Watson & Crick that she should be listed on the Nobel Prize they shared with Williams, but there was no provision for awarding it posthumously and Rosamund had died at 37 of ovarian cancer.

It seems odd to me that at my age I'm only just finding out about the achievements of so many women, like those listed below, who were intentionally left in the shadows of husbands, peers, etc.

~~WWII Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman who was her husband's equal, though he received almost all of the credit

~~NASA scientists Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson whose stories are told in Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race

~~The women who wanted to have access to reporter positions and sued Newsweek over gender discrimination

My grandmother gave me a book of women's biographies called Women of Courage when I was 10 and I remember reading about Margaret Mead, Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, etc. and feeling so impressed and inspired by all they'd done and, yet, I still went on to be a teacher.

I saw this story online this morning. Now this is a young woman of achievement www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-49485250

Google has made a point of commemorating women who have made incredible achievements - most laudable.

I was aware of Ada Lovelace and Mary Seacole, and would add Hedy Lamarr and Caroline Herschel to the list.

Here is an article showing that Hedy Lamarr was not just a pretty face.

M0nica - she certainly deserves to be commended. It's amazing how some people can have such determination and ability to work towards their future. I'm sure I would have been unable to cope with everything that life threw at her.

JackyB Yes, Hedy Lamarr! I started my post trying to remember the person whose surprising and inspiring life story outside of Hollywood I'd recently read about.

Eva Rutland, the aunt of one of my long-time friends wrote a wonderful book, based on her own life: 'No Crystal Stair' the title is from a poem by Langston Hughes.

She has has received almost no acclamation and yet two other women with books of the same title have become celebrities.

Eva's book is here:
www.fantasticfiction.com/r/eva-rutland/no-crystal-stair.htm

Eva also wrote: 'When we were colored - a Mother's Story.'

www.amazon.com/When-We-Were-Colored-Mothers/dp/1934178004?tag=gransnetforum-21

Maggie-Aderin Pocock

In her own words she is “black, female, dyslexic”

Following is introduction for a lecture she gave

“Physicist, engineer and TV presenter, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE, presents her remarkable story, journeying from a disadvantaged background and overcoming her dyslexia to gain a PhD in mechanical engineering, to becoming one of the most recognisable faces in space science.

As a leading British space scientist, Maggie makes frequent TV appearances, especially as presenter of The Sky At Night on BBC4. She has been BAFTA nominated for her space shows for children on CBeebies, and is a member of the World Economic Forum”

I ‘now how difficult it was for her, I did a Physics degree at London University in the early 70s. Very few women and so many male students and staff thought we should be “doing something else