Table Names Decoder
Want to know what's boring? Table numbers. We wanted to jazz up our wedding breakfast by giving each table an exciting name. And what's more exciting than women in STEM (especially because the bride is one)? Your table, and everyone else's table, is named after an under-appreciated woman who has made a major contribution to science, technology or math(s). Read on to learn more about these incredible people.
Emmy Noether has been described as the "most important woman in the history of mathematics". Her mathematical discoveries are at the heart of much of modern-day physics. In particular, "Noether's theorem" explains connection between symmetry and conservation laws. She made a vast number of contributions to mathematics across her entire career, including algebra, number fields, hypercomplex numbers, and algebraic topology. She was admired globally for her contributions, including notably by Einstein, Hilbert, and Klein.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the person who discovered that the sun (and in fact stars in general) are composed of hydrogen and helium. Originally from England, she moved to the United States to pursue a career in astronomy (which was not available to her in the UK), and became the first person to receive a PhD from Radcliffe College of Harvard University. She used spectral analysis to (correctly) theorise about the composition of the sun and other stars, but was advised against drawing this conclusion by Henry Russell, as it was against the scientific consensus of the time. Russell later revised his opinion and cited Payne-Gaposchkin's work in his public support of her theory, but is nonetheless often credited with her discovery. Payne-Gaposchkin spent her entire career at Harvard, becoming the first woman to be made a full professor of Harvard's school of Arts and Sciences, and later the first woman to lead a department.
Hedy Lamarr is most commonly remembered as an actress, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, arguably her more notable achievements were in developing technology for torpedo guidance systems during WWII that aimed to help them evade jamming systems from the Axis powers. The frequency hopping (spread-spectrum) techniques she developed formed the basis of mobile phone technology and are currently used in Bluetooth technology, and have been used in early WiFi protocols.
Gladys West contributed insight and computations vital to a practical GPS system. As a mathematician for the US Military, she used new satellite data to create an accurate mathematical model of the surface Earth, called a "geoid". This model is integral to being able to determine the precise location of something on the surface based on satellite information. While her role in developing GPS was unappreciated through most of her life, in 2018 her story was covered by the Associated Press, at which point she was formally recognised by the US Military in a press release and inducted into the Air Force Space and Missle Pioneers Hall of Fame. Next time you see that little blue dot on Google Maps, remember to thank Dr. West.
Jennifer Doudna is widely credited with discovering and developing CRISPR, the gene-editing technique that is already becoming the foundation of modern biotech. She and collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier discovered that Cas9, an enzyme that "snips" DNA during normal cell processes could be used to slice up DNA anywhere that a scientist wanted, leading to the ability to do essentially do bespoke gene editing. She is a professor at UC Berkeley in California and a strong advocate for the investigation into the bioethical implications of CRISPR technology.
Lise Meitner was a physicist who, through a combination of laboratory and theoretical work discovered the phenomenon of nuclear fission. Specifically, she realised that the nucleus of Uranium split into two smaller nuclei when it absorbed an extra neutron, and she and her collaborators correctly predicted that this would release a huge amount of energy. This discovery led both to the development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and although Meitner was an integral part, only her collaborator Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize. However, she was recognised for her contributions later in life, and is one of only two women to have an element (Meitnerium) named after her (the other is Marie Curie).
Vera Rubin was an astronomer who studied the rotation of galaxies. Her observed discrepancies in the theoretical and actual rotational rate was the first evidence for the existence of dark matter, one of the most significant developments in our understand of physics in the last century. She was an advocate for women in science throughout her life, and is the first woman to have an observatory named after her.
Mildred Dresselhaus was a physicist whose work on graphite and carbon nanostructures formed the foundation of much of modern electronics. In particular, her work with band theory of complex materials has allowed scientists and engineers to design the wide range of electronics we now use every day, as she was able to understand and model their characteristics. She was an Institute Professor at MIT, the Institute's highest honour for a professor, and won a wide array of scientific awards throughout her career.
Barbara McClintock was a geneticist who is responsible for many of the things we know today about how genes work and are passed on. She discovered that genes are linked to physical characteristics, and also uncovered genetic recombination during cell meiosis (the process that leads to the formation of gametes, e.g. egg cells). She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and also won the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on genetics (currently the only woman to win an unshared Nobel in that category).
Katherine Johnson worked for NASA as a mathematician, calculating the flight paths that took the first American into space, got the first American into orbit, and enabled humans to land on the moon. She was also integral to the Space Shuttle programme. She was one of the first African American women to work for NASA as a scientist, paving the way for other African Americans and other women. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barak Obama and portrayed recent in the movie Hidden Figures.
Dorothy Hodgkin was the inventor of protein crystallography, an advancement of the technique of X-ray crystallography. Through her techniques, she discovered the structures of many important molecules including penicillin, insulin, and Vitamin B12. Her work is considered crucial to the field of structural biology. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work.
Radia Perlman is a computer scientists whose work underpins much of modern network infrastructure. Without Radia's work, wiring together a bunch of routers would result in chaos instead of an orderly internet. Instead, the routers organise themselves into an efficient network which can recover from the loss of some links. Her protocols allow the modern-day internet to function the way that it does, and she is still very active in the computer science and networking world.
Emmy Noether has been described as the "most important woman in the history of mathematics". Her mathematical discoveries are at the heart of much of modern-day physics. In particular, "Noether's theorem" explains connection between symmetry and conservation laws. She made a vast number of contributions to mathematics across her entire career, including algebra, number fields, hypercomplex numbers, and algebraic topology. She was admired globally for her contributions, including notably by Einstein, Hilbert, and Klein.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was the person who discovered that the sun (and in fact stars in general) are composed of hydrogen and helium. Originally from England, she moved to the United States to pursue a career in astronomy (which was not available to her in the UK), and became the first person to receive a PhD from Radcliffe College of Harvard University. She used spectral analysis to (correctly) theorise about the composition of the sun and other stars, but was advised against drawing this conclusion by Henry Russell, as it was against the scientific consensus of the time. Russell later revised his opinion and cited Payne-Gaposchkin's work in his public support of her theory, but is nonetheless often credited with her discovery. Payne-Gaposchkin spent her entire career at Harvard, becoming the first woman to be made a full professor of Harvard's school of Arts and Sciences, and later the first woman to lead a department.
Hedy Lamarr is most commonly remembered as an actress, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. However, arguably her more notable achievements were in developing technology for torpedo guidance systems during WWII that aimed to help them evade jamming systems from the Axis powers. The frequency hopping (spread-spectrum) techniques she developed formed the basis of mobile phone technology and are currently used in Bluetooth technology, and have been used in early WiFi protocols.
Gladys West contributed insight and computations vital to a practical GPS system. As a mathematician for the US Military, she used new satellite data to create an accurate mathematical model of the surface Earth, called a "geoid". This model is integral to being able to determine the precise location of something on the surface based on satellite information. While her role in developing GPS was unappreciated through most of her life, in 2018 her story was covered by the Associated Press, at which point she was formally recognised by the US Military in a press release and inducted into the Air Force Space and Missle Pioneers Hall of Fame. Next time you see that little blue dot on Google Maps, remember to thank Dr. West.
Jennifer Doudna is widely credited with discovering and developing CRISPR, the gene-editing technique that is already becoming the foundation of modern biotech. She and collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier discovered that Cas9, an enzyme that "snips" DNA during normal cell processes could be used to slice up DNA anywhere that a scientist wanted, leading to the ability to do essentially do bespoke gene editing. She is a professor at UC Berkeley in California and a strong advocate for the investigation into the bioethical implications of CRISPR technology.
Lise Meitner was a physicist who, through a combination of laboratory and theoretical work discovered the phenomenon of nuclear fission. Specifically, she realised that the nucleus of Uranium split into two smaller nuclei when it absorbed an extra neutron, and she and her collaborators correctly predicted that this would release a huge amount of energy. This discovery led both to the development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and although Meitner was an integral part, only her collaborator Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize. However, she was recognised for her contributions later in life, and is one of only two women to have an element (Meitnerium) named after her (the other is Marie Curie).
Vera Rubin was an astronomer who studied the rotation of galaxies. Her observed discrepancies in the theoretical and actual rotational rate was the first evidence for the existence of dark matter, one of the most significant developments in our understand of physics in the last century. She was an advocate for women in science throughout her life, and is the first woman to have an observatory named after her.
Mildred Dresselhaus was a physicist whose work on graphite and carbon nanostructures formed the foundation of much of modern electronics. In particular, her work with band theory of complex materials has allowed scientists and engineers to design the wide range of electronics we now use every day, as she was able to understand and model their characteristics. She was an Institute Professor at MIT, the Institute's highest honour for a professor, and won a wide array of scientific awards throughout her career.
Barbara McClintock was a geneticist who is responsible for many of the things we know today about how genes work and are passed on. She discovered that genes are linked to physical characteristics, and also uncovered genetic recombination during cell meiosis (the process that leads to the formation of gametes, e.g. egg cells). She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and also won the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on genetics (currently the only woman to win an unshared Nobel in that category).
Katherine Johnson worked for NASA as a mathematician, calculating the flight paths that took the first American into space, got the first American into orbit, and enabled humans to land on the moon. She was also integral to the Space Shuttle programme. She was one of the first African American women to work for NASA as a scientist, paving the way for other African Americans and other women. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barak Obama and portrayed recent in the movie Hidden Figures.
Dorothy Hodgkin was the inventor of protein crystallography, an advancement of the technique of X-ray crystallography. Through her techniques, she discovered the structures of many important molecules including penicillin, insulin, and Vitamin B12. Her work is considered crucial to the field of structural biology. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work.
Radia Perlman is a computer scientists whose work underpins much of modern network infrastructure. Without Radia's work, wiring together a bunch of routers would result in chaos instead of an orderly internet. Instead, the routers organise themselves into an efficient network which can recover from the loss of some links. Her protocols allow the modern-day internet to function the way that it does, and she is still very active in the computer science and networking world.
