In Pics | Women who have led the way in sciences

Against all the barriers that society has thrown and continues to throw at them, women for the most part have contributed immensely to the world's progress. Science is an all-encompassing field that has driven the progress of humankind like none other. Despite there being lesser women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine) than men, their contribution to the field is nothing short of earth-moving. For a long period of time, however, their contributions and mammoth-scale achievements have been underscored or at times ignored. This International Women's Day we take a look at women have led and some who continue to lead in the vast field of science.

Ada Lovelace | World's first programmer, who wrote the first ever computer program for Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Credit: Getty Images

Marie Curie | Contributed immensely to radioactivity and was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Curie is also the only woman to have won the coveted Prize twice, in 1903 for physics, and 1911 for chemistry. Credit: Getty Images

Donna Strickland | Renowned for her groundbreaking work with lasers which earned her a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018. Credit: AFP File Photo

Emmanuelle Charpentier (L) and Jennifer A Doudna | The two biochemists developed a gene editing tool, CRISPR or gene scissors used widely in genetics today, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. Credit: Reuters File Photo

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi | The scientist who discovered Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the microorganism responsible for AIDS. Won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008 for this discovery. Credit: Getty Images

Tu Youyou | The Chinese scientist who discovered a novel cure for malaria and Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2015. Credit: Getty Images

Rosalind Franklin | First scientist to discover the very existence of DNA. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Stephanie Kwolek | Created Kevlar, the material used by army and police personnel all over the world as bullet-proof vests and battle gear. Credit: Wikimedia Commons