Although chemistry was dominated by men in retrospect, there have always been women who were not intimidated by this. Driven by a thirst for knowledge, perseverance and a dash of civil courage, they pursued their careers in science at a time when it was not yet customary for women to take their A levels, go to university and then also pursue a career. Unfortunately, their achievements were not recognised through honours such as the awarding of prizes or having institutions named after them.

To ensure that these pioneering women in chemistry are not forgotten, Prof. Dr. Eberhard Ehlers and Prof. Dr. Heribert Offermanns took the initiative in 2020 to honour them posthumously and highlight their fascinating and diverse career paths in short portraits. The GDCh presents these portraits of the first female chemists (born up to 1939) on these webpages. Be impressed and inspired by the achievements and enthusiasm of the early female chemists for their profession.

When we look at the prizes and awards in chemistry, we find that they have almost all gone to famous men. Is chemistry an exclusively male domain?

Certainly not today! But by 2026, the Nobel Prizes had been awarded to 833 men, 66 women (7.3%) and 28 organisations (including for literature and peace, but excluding the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; Source). In chemistry, as of 2026, there have been eight female Nobel laureates out of a total of 200 people honoured (4%). Five of these women scientists have been honoured since 2009. (Source)

Carolyn Bertozzi (2022)
Emmanuelle Charpentier (2020)
Jennifer Doudna (2020)
Frances H. Arnold (2018)
Ada Yonath (2009)
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1964)
Irène Joliot-Curie (1935)
Marie Curie (1911)

In the category of Physiology or medicine, 14 women have so far been awarded the Nobel Prize, including the German biologist and biochemist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard.

Today, we are seeing more and more women gain international recognition for their scientific achievements. However, it will take time before prizes are named after them, as this often happens only after their death. To promote equal opportunities and the visibility of women in science, in 2020 the GDCh established the biennial Hildegard Hamm Brücher Award for equal opportunities in chemistry — a clear commitment to greater equality of opportunity in chemistry.

But there have always been women who refused to let social circumstances stop them from studying chemistry. Despite many obstacles and some hostility, they often earned the respect of the men they worked with — including Nobel laureates. We introduce some of these women on these pages.

The GDCh would like to extend its sincere thanks to the two authors, Prof. Ehlers and Prof. Offermanns, and to Prof. Dr. Barbara Albert, TU Darmstadt, for their conceptual advice.

Note
The texts published in this series do not claim to be scholarly publications. The authors and other people involved are not experts in the history of science. The purpose of the series is to introduce chemists who are mostly unknown and to remember the well-known women chemists. We encourage readers who would like to find out more to study scientific literature about the women featured. In some cases, detailed historical studies of chemistry are available.

The Senior Expert Chemists (Senior Expert Chemists; SEC) of the GDCh have collected personal accounts, stories, anecdotes, photographs and historical documents relating to the study of chemistry and career choices in the 1950s to 1980s. You can find the brochure on these pages.