– Helped lead the research group that discovered the nuclear fission of uranium.
– This work formed the basis for nuclear weapons.
– Unjustly snubbed for a Nobel Prize on this work (her research partner, Otto Hahn, did receive the prize).

– World’s first female aircraft designer.
– Designed and built the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft during World War II.
– Commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, published in 1970.

– Established the field of industrial hygiene and occupational epidemiology.
– Work led to major legal, economic and social change.
– First woman faculty member at Harvard University.

– Performed pioneering research into globular clusters and variable stars.
– Wrote astronomy column in Toronto newspaper for 30 years.
– Travelled widely for her work (especially observing stars in the southern hemisphere).

Women are consistently underrepresented in science and engineering workplaces, especially in senior management positions, and face a high attrition rate.