List of female scientists before the 20th century
This is a historical list, intended to deal with the time period where it is believed that women working in science were rare. For this reason, this list ends with the 20th century.
Antiquity
- Aemilia, Gallo-Roman physician
- Aglaonike, woman astronomer in Ancient Greece
- Agnodike, first woman physician to practice legally in Athens
- Andromache, Egyptian physician
- Arete of Cyrene, Greek natural and moral philosopher
- Artemisia of Caria, botanist
- Aspasia the Physician, Greek physician
- Aurelia Alexandria Zosime, Ancient Roman physician
- Chun Yuyan, Chinese obstetrician and gynecologist
- Cleopatra the Alchemist, wrote the alchemical book, Chrysopoeia, or "gold-making"
- Damo, Greek natural philosopher
- Diotima of Mantinea, philosopher and scientist, ancient Greece
- Echecratia the Philiasian, Greek/Italian mathematician and natural philosopher
- Elephantis, Greek physician
- Enheduanna, Sumerian/Akkadian astronomer and poet
- Fabiola, Roman physician
- Fang, Chinese chemist
- Favilla, Roman physician
- Gargi Vachaknavi, Indian philosopher
- Gu Bao, Chinese physician
- Hypatia, mathematician and astronomer, Egypt
- Laïs, midwife
- Leoparda, gynecologist
- Macrina, Greek physician and nun
- Marcella, Roman healer
- Mary the Jewess, alchemist
- Melissa, Greek philosopher
- Metrodora, Greek physician and author
- Minucia Asste, Ancient Roman physician
- Myia, Greek philosopher
- Nicerata, physician and healer
- Olympias of Thebes, Greek midwife
- Origenia, Greek healer
- Pao Ku Ko, Chinese chemist
- Paphnutia the Virgin, Egyptian alchemist
- Paula of Rome, Roman healer
- Perictione, Greek philosopher, mother of Plato
- Panthea, Ancient Greek physician, wife and colleague of Glycon
- Philinna of Thessaly, Ancient Greek physician
- Peseshet, Egyptian physician
- Pythias of Assos, marine zoologist
- Restituta, Ancient Roman physician
- Salpe, Greek midwife
- Sotira, Greek physician
- Tapputi-Belatekallim, Babylonian perfumer, the first person in history recorded as using a chemical process
- Terentia Prima, Ancient Roman physician
- Theano, philosopher, mathematician and physician
- Thelka, Iranian
- Theosebeia, correspondent of the alchemist Zosimus of Panopolis
- Yi Jia, Chinese physician
Middle Ages
- Abella, Italian physician
- Adelle of the Saracens, Italian physician
- Adelmota of Carrara, Italian physician
- Rufaida Al-Aslamia, Muslim nurse
- Maesta Antonia, Florentine physician
- Ameline la Miresse, French physician
- Jeanne d'Ausshure, French surgeon
- Brunetta de Siena, Italian-Jewish physician
- Hildegard of Bingen, German natural philosopher
- Sibyl of Benevento, Napolitan physician specializing in the plague buboes
- Gentile Budrioli, Italian astrologer and herbalist
- Constanza, Italian surgeon, mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.
- Denice, French barber-surgeon
- Demud, German physician
- Dobrodeia of Kiev , Byzantine physician
- Dorotea Bucca, Italian professor of medicine
- Constance Calenda, Italian surgeon specializing in diseases of the eye
- Virdimura of Catania, Jewish-Sicilian physician
- Caterina of Florence, Florentine physician
- Jeanne de Cusey, French barber-surgeon
- Antonia Daniello, Florentine-Jewish physician
- Clarice di Durisio, Italian physician
- Fava of Manosque, French-Jewish physician
- Jacobina Félicie, Italian physician
- Francesca, muller de Berenguer Satorra, Catalan physician
- Katherine Briçonnet French architect
- Maria Gallicia, licensed surgeon
- Bellayne Gallipapa, Zaragoza, Spanish-Jewish physician
- Dolcich Gallipapa, Leyda, Spanish-Jewish physician
- Na Pla Gallipapa, Zaragoza, Spanish-Jewish physician
- Sarah de St Giles, French-Jewish physician and medical teacher
- Alessandra Giliani, Italian anatomist
- Rebecca de Guarna, Italian physician
- Magistra Hersend, French surgeon
- Maria Incarnata, Italian surgeon, mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.
- Isabiau la Mergesse, French-Jewish physician
- Floreta La-Noga, Aragonese physician
- Helvidis, French physician
- Keng Hsien-Seng, Chinese chemist
- Li Shao Yun, Chinese chemist
- Stephanie de Lyon, French physician
- Guillemette du Luys , French royal surgeon
- Thomasia de Mattio, Italian physician, mentioned in Pope Sixtus IV edict regarding physicians and surgeons.
- Margherita di Napoli, Napolitan oculist active in Frankfurt-am-Main
- Mercuriade, Italian physician and surgeon
- Gilette de Narbonne, French physician
- Isabella da Ocre, Napolitan surgeon
- Francisca da Romana, Napolitan physician
- Dame Péronelle, French herbalist
- Peretta Peronne, also called Perretta Petone, French surgeon
- Lauretta Ponte da Saracena Calabria, Napolitan physician
- Trota of Salerno, Italian physician
- Marguerite Saluzzi, Napolitan licensed herbalist physician
- Sara de Sancto Aegidio, French physician
- Juana Sarrovia, Barcelona, Spanish physician
- Shen Yu Hsiu, Chinese chemist
- Sun Pu-Eh, Chinese chemist
- Raymunda da Taberna, licensed Napolitan surgeon
- Théophanie, French barber surgeon
- Trotta da Toya, Napolitan physician
- Polisena da Troya, licensed Napolitan surgeon
- Margarita da Venosa, licensed Napolitan surgeon, who studied at the University of Salerno She was considered a noteworthy practitioner and counted Ladislaus, king of Naples, as a patient.
- Francisca di Vestis, Napolian physician
- Zhang Xiaoniang, Chinese physician
16th century
- Maria Andreae, German pharmacist
- Marie de Brimeu, Flemish botanist
- Sophia Brahe, Danish astronomer and chemist
- Plautilla Bricci Italian architect
- Isabella Cortese, Italian alchemist
- Helena Magenbuch, German pharmacist
- Loredana Marcello, Venetian botanist
- Elizabeth Moulthorne, English barber-surgeon
- Tarquinia Molza, Italian natural philosopher
- Catherine de Parthenay, French mathematician
- Elinor Sneshell, English surgeon
- Agatha Streicher, German physician
- Caterina Vitale, Maltese pharmacist and chemist
- Tan Yunxian, Chinese physician
17th century
- Anna Åkerhjelm, Swedish traveler and archaeologist
- Ann Baynard, British Natural philosopher
- Aphra Behn, British translator of an astronomical work
- Martine Bertereau, French mineralogist
- Agnes Block, Dutch horticulturalist
- Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine, German natural philosopher
- Louise Bourgeois Boursier, French obstetrician
- Titia Brongersma, Frisian archaeologist, poet
- Margaret Cavendish, natural philosopher
- Marie Crous, French mathematician
- Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer
- Jeanne Dumée, French astronomer
- Maria Clara Eimmart, German astronomer
- Marie Fouquet, French medical writer
- Eleanor Glanville, English entomologist
- Elisabeth Hevelius, Polish astronomer
- Maria Sibylla Merian, naturalist
- Marie Meurdrac, French chemist and alchemist
- Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and the first female PhD
- Marguerite de la Sablière, French natural philosopher
- Jane Sharp, British obstetrician
- Justine Siegemund, German obstetrician
- Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, English botanist
- Elizabeth Walker, British pharmacist
- Lady Elizabeth Wilbraham British architect
18th century
- Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician
- Geneviève Charlotte d'Arconville, French anatomist
- Madeleine-Françoise Calais French dentist
- Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, German astronomer
- Maria Angela Ardinghelli, Italian mathematician and physicist
- Sarah Sophia Banks, British natural history collector
- Giuseppa Barbapiccola, natural philosopher, translator
- Jeanne Baret, French circumnavigator and botanist
- Laura Bassi, Italian physicist
- Marie Marguerite Bihéron, French anatomist
- Celia Grillo Borromeo, Italian natural philosopher
- Jacoba van den Brande, Dutch founder of first all-female science academy
- Maria Christina Bruhn, Swedish inventor
- Margaret Bryan, British natural philosopher
- Elsa Beata Bunge, Swedish botanist
- Lydia Byam, naturalist
- Madeleine-Françoise Calais was a French dentist
- María Andrea Casamayor, Spanish mathematician
- Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist
- Maria Medina Coeli, Italian physician
- Jane Colden, American biologist
- , Swiss naturalist
- Angélique du Coudray, French midwife
- Maria Dalle Donne, Italian physician
- Catharina Helena Dörrien, German botanist
- Eva Ekeblad, Swedish agronomist
- Hannah English Williams, collector of natural history in the American British Colonies
- Dorothea Erxleben, German physician
- Charlotta Frölich, Swedish agronomist and historian
- Elizabeth Fulhame, British chemist
- Lucia Galeazzi Galvani, Italian physician
- Sophie Germain, elasticity theory, number theory
- Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi, Italian botanist
- Catherine Littlefield Greene, American inventor
- Salomée Halpir, Lithuanian oculist
- Caroline Herschel, German-British astronomer
- Catherine Jérémie, French-Canadian botanist
- Christine Kirch, German astronomer
- Margaretha Kirch, German astronomer
- Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer
- Marie Lachapelle, French midwife
- Marie-Jeanne de Lalande, French astronomer
- Marie Paulze Lavoisier, French chemist and illustrator
- Nicole-Reine Lepaute, French astronomer
- Elisabeth Christina von Linné, Swedish botanist
- Martha Daniell Logan, American horticulturalist
- Eliza Lucas, American agronomist and indigo dye pioneer
- Maria Lullin, Swiss entomologist
- Catharine Macaulay, British social scientist
- Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian physician and anatomist
- Marie Le Masson Le Golft, French naturalist
- Sybilla Masters, patent for a corn mill
- Lady Anne Monson, English botanist
- Maria Petraccini, Italian anatomist and physician
- Zaffira Peretti, Italian anatomist and physician
- Claudine Picardet French chemist, mineralogist and meteorologist
- Louise du Pierry, French astronomer
- Marie Anne Victoire Pigeon, French mathematician
- Faustina Pignatelli, Italian physicist
- Anna Barbara Reinhart, Swiss mathematician
- Cristina Roccati, Italian physics teacher
- Jane Squire, English mathematician
- Clotilde Tambroni, Italian philologist and linguistic
- Petronella Johanna de Timmerman, Dutch scientist
- Wang Zhenyi, Chinese astronomer