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

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

17th century

18th century

19th century

Anthropology

Archeology

Astronomy

Biology or natural history

Chemistry

Engineers

Geology

Inventors

Mathematics

Microbiology

Medicine

Nuclear physics

Physics

Psychology

Science education

Sociology