What drives a woman or man to greatness is a question best left to philosophers, but recognising that achievement has long been the remit of the Nobel Prize. Since its inception in 1901, 44 women have been the recipient of the world’s most esteemed awards. Afforded to an exalted few, in recognition of academic, cultural or scientific advances, the achievements of these 44 women have been as diverse as they are impressive.
Sixteen women have won the Nobel Peace Prize, two of these are Irish. Awarded in 1976, two Northern Irish women, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Betty Williams, were recognised for creating the Community For Peace People, an organisation that strove to encourage a peaceful resolution during the Northern Irish conflict. Thirteen women have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, ten have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, four have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, two have won the Nobel Prize in Physics and one has won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates.
No discussion of female Nobel prize winners can ignore the Curie family. From Marie Curie, one of the rare few who have been awarded not one but two Nobel prizes, to Irene Joliot-Curie who followed in her mother’s footsteps
Warsaw-born Marie Curie’s contribution to science has been immeasurable. Not only did Curie coin the phrase ‘radioactivity’, she also discovered two new elements: polonium and radium. She died in 1934 due to aplastic anaemia, reportedly brought on by exposure to radiation. Inspired by her mother Marie’s significant work on radioactivity, Irene Joliot-Curie became the second woman to win the Nobel Prize when she discovered that radioactivity could be artificially produced. Her win ensured that the Curies have been the family most decorated with Nobel Prizes to date.
Since Curie, many women have rose to prominence in Chemistry, among them another winner of the nobel prize, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin. Crowfoot Hodgkin spent much of her professional life defining the structure of various biochemical compounds, and was bestowed with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 – the third woman to win the award - when she pinpointed the chemical structure of Vitamin B12. The biochemist was also hailed as one of the pioneers in the field of X-ray crystallography studies.
A woman was also behind one of the most momentous medical milestones in recent memory, the discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine in 2008 for her pioneering work.
What drives these women to greatness? Their motivations are as much a mystery as the forces that impel any person to excel in their field. It is as difficult to define as genius, as hard to pin down as inspiration. However, their stories can inspire drive and ambition in other women. They are the role models that can illuminate the road ahead.
Tanya Sweeney
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Disclaimer: Audi Ireland is proud to champion these remarkable Irish women and hero their achievements in order to support all other ‘women drivers'. The people mentioned in this article are not affiliated with Audi Ireland and do not work with the brand in any way.