“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” – Michelle Obama
Women in Science have made a huge progress in the past few years. From being in minority to occupying the most important positions and leading the most important projects, women have marked their names in history!
On this International Women's Day, let us remember Indian female scientists who have broadened the horizons of science with their scientific endeavours.
Tessy Thomas
Meet India’s 'Missile Woman' Tessy Thomas, the Director General of Aeronautical Systems and the former Project Director for Agni-IV for missile in DRDO. She is the first ever woman to head a missile project in India.
Popularly known as ‘Agni Putri’, she was felicitated with the Agni Self-Reliance Award in 2001.
Ritu Karidhal
Referred to as the ‘Rocket Woman’ of India, Dr. Ritu Karidhal is a scientist working with ISRO. She was the Deputy Operations Director to India’s Mars Mission, Mangalyaan. She was also honoured with the ISRO Young Scientist Award by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.
Shubha Tole
Shubha Tole is a neuroscientist, known for discovering the master regulator gene, Lhx2, which develops the brain’s cortex hippocampus and amygdala. This discovery helped her win the Infosys Prize in the Life Sciences category in 2014.
She’s currently working as a Professor and Principal Investigator at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.
Muthayya Vanitha
Muthayya Vanitha is an electronics engineer system at ISRO and is currently the Project Director of Chandrayaan-2. She has also been the Deputy Project Director for numerous satellites including Cartosat-1, Oceansat-2, and Megha Tropiques.
Vanitha is the first woman to lead an interplanetary mission and the first woman Project Director at ISRO. In 2006, she received the Best Woman Scientist Award.
Sujatha Ramdorai
Sujatha Ramdorai is an algebraic number theorist currently working at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Previously she was a Mathematics Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.
Ramdorai is the first Indian applauded with the ICTP Ramanujan Prize in 2006. She also won the Keiger-Nelson Prize 2020, presented by the Canadian Mathematical Society for her exceptional contributions in the field of mathematics.
Swati Mohan
Swati Mohan is an Indian-American aerospace engineer working at NASA. She was the Guidance and Controls Operations Lead on the NASA Mars Mission 2020. Prior to this she has also worked on Cassini Mission to Saturn, and GRAIL, spacecraft that mapped the gravitational field of the Moon.
Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan
Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan is the Founder and CEO of Drawbridge, a leading technology company based in US. Her technology is onboard NASA’s New Horizon probe, which is orbiting Pluto. She is responsible for building the communication chip that brings information from Pluto. The chip on board the spacecraft collects data from the planet and sends it back to the space station.
Indira Hinduja
Dr. Indira Hinduja is a renowned gynecologist, obstetrician, and infertility specialist. She introduced the Gamete Intrafallopian Transfer (GIFT) technique and delivered India’s first test tube baby.
She won the Padma Shri Award in 2011 among many other awards.
Paramjit Khurana
Paramjit Khurana is known for inventing ‘All Weather Seeds’. She developed drought resistant hybrid seeds of wheat, mulberry, and rice which can withstand heat and have a higher UV radiation capacity.
Here's to celebrating all the inspirational women and wishing Happy International Women's Day to all the women out there!
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