Which scientists do we remember?

by PlanMySchoolTrip
published 23 October 2026

2 mins read

Did you know that the GCSE physics exam specification covers astronomy without mentioning Caroline Herschel. The Biology exam discusses pests, pathogens and sustainability of the oceans without reference to Rachel Carson. And the Chemistry exam covers the topic of radioactivity without talking about Marie Curie (who, incidentally, actually invented the term!). These absences raise an interesting question: when students learn the story of science, who gets remembered, and who gets left out?

The list of women who have advanced our understanding of the scientific world is extensive. Since 1901 the Nobel prize has been awarded to women scientists 27 times.  Yet research published in the British Educational Research Journal, cited in a recent BBC article found that only one woman scientist appears alongside the 85 men mentioned in the GCSE exam specification. At A level, the number rises to three women and 178 men. Specifically, this is the knowledge students are expected to have gained by the end of their course. Did men have more opportunities to work in science fifty, a hundred, two hundred years ago?  Absolutely, but many women have made ground breaking contributions to science.  The gender bias found in the study is staggering and raises questions.

A syllabus is more than a list of facts to learn for an exam. The people named in it help tell students who has shaped science and whose work is worth knowing. When women are largely missing, science can seem to have been made almost entirely by men, even when that is far from the true story.

This is not an argument for adding women's names as a token gesture, or for turning every lesson into a biography. It is about recognising contributions where they belong - in the scientific ideas and discoveries students are already studying. Caroline Herschel and Marie Curie are not side notes to science; their work is part of its history.  And thankfully, plenty of schools will teach their students these names and the names of many others, like Dorothy Hodgkin, Vera Rubin, Maria Mayer or Barbara McClintock.

A 2021 paper by The Institute of Physics found 24% of Physics undergraduates were female.  Are the two linked?  Who knows, but it is fair to ask what students take away from a curriculum in which so few women are visible.  If the syllabus shapes our notion of who does science, do we need to question whether we are telling the story accurately.  Who decides who gets remembered?

We have taken a look through our content and can point you to several women whose work in STEM has helped shape our understanding of the world. From astronomy and physics to chemistry and biology, their discoveries and ideas have contributed to the knowledge your students encounter in the classroom today.  Their contributions aren't an afterthought or a footnote, they are part of the story of science, and deserve to be recognised as such.  People like Mary Anning, whose discoveries changed scientific thinking about Earth's history.  Ada Lovelace, a computer science pioneer.  And Dr Mae Jemison, the first black female astronaut.