Women’s History Month: Celebrating women’s contributions to medicine and science

What is Women’s History Month?

In the UK, Women’s History Month wasn’t officially adopted until March 2011, which marked 100 years since the first International Women’s Day. Nonetheless, women’s groups and campaigners have long used March to highlight women's achievements and contributions and to push for equal representation across society.

Each year, organisers announce a different theme for Women’s History Month. This year’s theme is ‘Leading the change: Women shaping a sustainable future’.

Women in science and technology: Influential developments and inventions

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) - Pioneering computer programming

Augusta Ada King - commonly referred to as Ada Lovelace - was an English mathematician who eventually came to work alongside Charles Babbage, often referred to as the “father of the computer”. While Babbage is famed for originating the concept of a digital programmable computer, Lovelace is credited with writing the first computer program.

Augusta certainly left her mark on history. She lends her name to the computer language Ada, and today, the Countess of Lovelace is celebrated on Ada Lovelace Day, an event aimed at highlighting pioneering women in science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM). 

Maria Beasley (1836-1913) - The new and improved life raft

Maria Beasley was an American inventor credited with developing over 15 inventions, from a foot warmer to an extremely lucrative barrel-making machine. But it was her improvements to the life raft that were arguably her most influential achievement. 

While emergency rafts were already widely used on ships, their design was relatively primitive, simply consisting of a row of hollow planks with no guard rails. So, Beasley set out to develop an improved life raft that was “fire-proof, compact, safe, and readily launched”. Her goal was realised in 1880: an improved raft that could fit 47 people and took up less space than a traditional lifeboat. Her invention was soon to be adopted by ship companies all over the world, and they were even used on the Titanic!

Grace Hopper (1906-1992) - Developing a universal computer language

Grace Hopper was a mathematician, a US Navy rear admiral, and a pioneering computer scientist. Having been one of the first women to earn a Ph.D in mathematics from Yale University, Hopper went on to join the US Naval Reserve during World War 2. Her mathematical background saw her appointed to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project at Harvard. 

Hopper went on to work with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, and later Remington Rand, where her team created the first compiler for computer languages. This invention was the precursor to the Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL), which would soon be used globally. In 1991, Grace Hopper was awarded the National Medal of Technology - the first woman to receive the honour.

Women in medicine: Contributing to life-saving research

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910)

Elizabeth Blackwell was born in Bristol in 1821 and moved to the United States with her family in 1832. It was here that Blackwell decided, with the encouragement of a friend, to pursue a career in medicine, a profession that was widely considered inappropriate for women at the time. But despite facing discrimination and obstacles because of her gender, Elizabeth graduated first in her class in 1849.

She went on to continue her training in Paris and London and returned to New York in 1851. In 1857, she opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with her sister, Emily, who had followed her into the medical profession. In 1875, Blackwell moved to London and became a professor of gynaecology at the new London School of Medicine for Women. As if all this wasn’t enough, Elizabeth Blackwell also helped to found the London School of Medicine for Women and was the first female doctor to be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) in 1859!

Marie Curie (1867-1934) - Discovering radium and polonium and pioneering radium therapy 

Marie Curie is perhaps the most well-known of the incredible women mentioned in this article. Alongside her husband, Pierre Curie, Marie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics (and later the first woman to win two prizes, following her work in chemistry!). Marie’s contributions to the discovery of radium and polonium laid the groundwork for many developments in nuclear science and cancer treatments. 

After isolating radium in 1910, Marie Curie discovered that radiation from radium could destroy cancer cells, leading her to pioneer radium therapy, a precursor to radiotherapy used in the treatment of cancer today. And her contributions to medicine didn’t end there. In World War 1, Curie developed mobile X-ray units used to diagnose soldiers on the front lines.

Ann Tsukamoto (1952-) - Isolating stem cells

Ann S. Tsukamoto Wiessman is an Asian American stem cell researcher and inventor who became a pioneer in stem cell treatments. Having completed her Pd.D. in immunology and microbiology, Tsukamoto went on to work with the WNT-1 gene and develop a transgenic model of breast cancer at the University of California San Francisco. Later, in 1990, she was part of the team that discovered hematopoietic cells (hHSCs).

This discovery led Tsukamoto and her team to develop a method for isolating human hematopoietic stem cells, paving the way for further clinical research into treatments for cancer and neurological disorders. 

Leading the change

Women have historically been underrepresented, and their contributions are often uncredited in many aspects of society, including in STEM industries. But this is changing. For example, in our recent article for International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we noted how, as of 2025, women make up more than half of the UK’s doctors for the first time. 

As you can see, women have contributed massively to the improvement of medicine throughout history, and they continue to do so. These contributions have helped to shape every area of medicine, including the development and prescription of medical cannabis products. 

At Releaf, we aim to provide support for women in every aspect of our clinical process, from championing inclusivity within our own operations to providing clinically guided treatments for women’s health problems and more. Our expert clinical staff is always on hand to provide ongoing support and advice to ensure you get the most out of your treatment.

If you are interested in medical cannabis treatment, our medical cannabis eligibility checker can help you understand if you could be a suitable candidate. It’s fast, free, and can tell you whether you could be eligible for a consultation with one of our expert clinicians. 

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