### 10 WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

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Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace (1815 -1852)
She was the only legitimate child of the brilliant poet Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke. Her mother promoted her interest for mathematics and logic. In 1833 Ada met Charles Babbage, a mathematician and inventor. He invented the difference engine, which was meant to perform mathematical calculations. Ada was fascinated by it.
Babbage also created plans for another device known as the analytical engine, designed to make more complex calculations but he never built a working model. Later Ada translated an article written in French on the analytical engine and added some notes on how that machine could create graphics or compose music. Ada is considered the world's first computer programmer.

Concepción Arenal (1820 -1893)
She was born on 30 January 1820 in Ferrol. As a child, she lost her father imprisoned by the absolutist regime of Ferdinand VII. In 1834 she moved to Madrid to study in a women's school. In 1841 she entered the Faculty of Law, becoming the first woman in Spain to attend University but she did it dressed as a man. Concepcion Arenal not only opened the doors for women to social and working life, but also became an expert in penitentiary law and hospital medicine, creating several humanitarian aid organizations.
She also wrote some books. For example, "La mujer del porvenir" where she criticizes the theories defending the inferiority of women based on biological reasons. What is today referred to as "women's rights" and "feminism" first appeared in Spain in her writings.

Florence Nightingale (1820 -1910):
Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820. Florence was educated at home but she wished to be a nurse and she finally got it. In 1853, the Crimean War started. This was a violent conflict that was responsible for many casualties on both sides. The injured people had no even the most basic first-aid care. Many soldiers were dying needlessly. In 1855, Florence Nightingale was asked to travel to Crimea and organize a group of nurses. Once there, she found that there were not enough beds for men and the conditions were terrible. Their effort was much appreciated by the wounded soldiers and little by little positive news was leaked to her country. By the time she returned home, she had become a national heroine. She had founded the modern nursing profession.

Harriet Tubman (1820 - 1914)
Harriet Tubman is an icon of freedom. She was born around 1820 as a slave on a plantation in Maryland. Her birth name was Araminta Ross, but she later took her mother's name, Harriet.
During this time there were states in the northern United States where slavery was banned. Slaves tried to escape north using the Underground Railroad. This was not a real railroad but several safe houses that hid them. The people that helped the slaves were called "conductors".
In 1849 Harriet decided to escape by using the Underground Railroad. After a long and frightening journey she arrived in Pennsylvania and was finally free. Harriet joined the Underground Railroad as a conductor. She ran 19 different escapes and helped about 300 slaves escape. She was known as "Moses" for leading her people to freedom.

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858 -1928):
She was born in Manchester in 1858 to politically active parents. In 1903, she founded the Women's Social and Political Union to campaign for women's parliamentary voting in Britain under the slogan 'Deeds, not words'.
She was a charismatic leader and powerful speaker, and encouraged thousands of women to demand their democratic right in a mass movement which was unprecedented in British history. In 1918, the Representation of the People Act granted votes to all men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30. She died on 14 June 1928, only weeks before the Conservative government's Representation of the People Act (1928) extended the vote to all women over 21 years of age. She was commemorated two years later with a statue in Victoria Tower Gardens.

Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867 – 1934)
Marya Sklodowska, the youngest of five children, was born on 7 November 1867, Warsaw Poland. She was interested in Chemistry and Physics and as opportunities for further study were limited in Poland, she went to Paris and studied at the Sorbonne. After finishing her studies she met Pierre Curie, who was then head of the laboratory at the School of Physics and Chemistry, and they soon got married.
Marie discovered radioactivity (she even "coined" the word) and her discoveries formed the foundations of Cancer cures we still use nowadays.
She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, first female professor at the University of Paris, and the first person to win a second Nobel Prize.
She died in 1934.

Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997).
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje, now the capital of Macedonia but at that moment part of the Kosovo Vilayet, an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. She was commonly known as Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to the service of the poor and indigent throughout the world.
She spent many years in Calcutta, India where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation committed to helping those in great need.
She was admired by many for her charitable work and criticised for her opposition to abortion, and for the poor conditions in her houses for the dying. In 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Prize. She was canonised (recognised by the church as a saint) on 4 September 2016.

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (1913 - 2005):
She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913. She soon became aware of the segregation of black people.
She is best known for her role in the Montgomery bus boycott: After a day at work , Rosa Parks boarded the Cleveland Avenue bus at around 6 p.m., Thursday, 1 December 1955, in downtown Montgomery. She paid her fare and sat in an empty seat in the first row of back seats reserved for blacks in the “coloured” section, just behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. Eventually, more white people boarded but Rosa refused to give up her seat. She was arrested but er protest was supported by many other African Americans and sparked the civil rights movement. She has been called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".

Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958)
Elsie Franklin was born into a rich and well-connected Jewish family in London, England. She showed an outstanding intellect since she was a child, being aware from the age of 15 that she wished to be a scientist. She studied Chemistry and went on to work to British Coal Research Association. After WWII, she travelled to Paris to work with Marcel Mathieu and learn the X-Ray diffraction techniques.
Back in England. she used the X-Ray technique toproduce high resolution images of DNA, which led to the discovery of the structure of DNA, the information that our body uses to build cells.
Rosalind died before the structure was finally discovered. Her colleagues Maurice Williams, James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize but she could not be rewarded for her work.

Malala Yousafzai (1997)
Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997 in Mingora, Swat Valley, Pakistan. At a very early age, Malala began to develop a desire for learning. For many years, his father directed an educational institution in the city, and the school had always been a significant part of Malala's family.
In 2007 the Taliban began to dominate the northwestern part of Pakistan. Girls were forbidden to attend school but Malala stood up and spoke out publicly against that rule. She made her first TV interview, "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” She said.
Malala's voice grew louder and louder. On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot in the head by a taliban gunman while she was heading home from school. She survived and she was taken to Birminghan, England . She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014.