Trailblazers

A new exhibition exploring the achievements of women who have made a significant contribution to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries, both historically and today.

The exhibition includes 24 portraits, drawn mainly from the National Portrait Gallery’s collection, of women who have made their mark in science and technology during the past 250 years.

From the pioneering naval architect Rachel Parsons (who was also the daughter of Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine) to the contemporary scientist and inventor Lydia Arnold, the stories of these women will be set against a backdrop of changing attitudes to women in society generally, and in particular to their role in STEM.

Trailblazers will include women such as Marie Stopes(1880 – 1958), a palaeobotanist, pioneer and advocate of birth control and Dorothy Hodgkin (1910 – 1994) who won a Nobel prize in 1964 for her work in mapping the structure of penicillin and deciphering the structure of insulin.