A Nobel science first: More than one woman winner, no man

Wednesday’s Nobel Prize in chemistry was a historic first for women.

It was the first time a Nobel science prize was given to more than one woman, but no men, in a specific category. This has happened 169 times for multiple men and no women in a specific category since the prizes were awarded starting in 1901.

In the 120 years of Nobel prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry, prizes were awarded 599 times to men and 23 times to women. The prize can be split as many as three ways or given to two or just one person. Some people, like chemistry prize for developing the CRISPR method of genome editing.

In 1911, Marie Curie won the chemistry by herself for the discovery of radium and polonium.

In 1964, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was the sole chemistry winner for using x-rays to understand important biochemical substances. In 1983, Barbara McClintock won the Nobel for medicine by herself for the discovery of mobile genetic elements.

Women have won the most prizes in medicine with 12, seven in chemistry and four in physics.

“For too long, many many discoveries made by women have been underplayed and they have simply not been recognized,” American Chemistry Society President Luis Echegoyen, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas El Paso. “The under representation of women in science has been too clear.”

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