Hatshepsut: Egyptian woman who ruled as pharaoh and sent a great trading expedition to Punt Cleopatra VII: Last active queen of Egypt, who ruled with great political skill Boudica: Queen of the Iceni who led a revolt against Roman rule in Britain around 60 CE Wu Zetian: Only woman to rule China as emperor, in the 600s-700s Hypatia: Mathematician, astronomer and teacher in Alexandria around 400 CE Murasaki Shikibu: Japanese author of The Tale of Genji, often called the first novel Eleanor of Aquitaine: Powerful medieval queen of France and England Joan of Arc: French teenager who helped lead the army to victories in 1429 Isabella I of Castile: Spanish queen who funded Columbus's voyage Elizabeth I: Queen of England, 1558-1603, during a time of great arts and exploration Queen Nzinga: African queen who defended her lands in Angola against the Portuguese Pocahontas: Powhatan woman connected to Jamestown in the early 1600s Sacagawea: Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition Catherine the Great: Russian empress, 1762-1796, who expanded Russia Maria Theresa: Austrian ruler in the 1700s Marie Curie: Won Nobel Prizes in both physics and chemistry; discovered polonium and radium Florence Nightingale: Founder of modern nursing, who improved hospital care Clara Barton: Civil War nurse and founder of the American Red Cross Harriet Tubman: Led many people to freedom on the Underground Railroad Sojourner Truth: Former slave and powerful speaker for abolition and women's rights Susan B. Anthony: Leader of the US women's suffrage movement Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Organized the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin Dorothea Dix: Reformer who improved care for people with mental illness Emily Dickinson: American poet of nearly 1,800 poems Jane Austen: English novelist of Pride and Prejudice Mary Shelley: Author of Frankenstein, written when she was 18-19 Ada Lovelace: Wrote the first computer program idea for Babbage's engine in the 1840s Queen Victoria: British queen from 1837 to 1901, giving her name to an era Queen Liliuokalani: Last queen of Hawaii Emmeline Pankhurst: British leader of the movement for women's right to vote Jane Addams: Founded Hull House; won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 Ida B. Wells: Journalist and activist who exposed lynching and fought for justice Helen Keller: Deaf and blind author and activist who graduated from college Anne Sullivan: Helen Keller's teacher Maria Montessori: Italian educator who developed a child-centered teaching method Amelia Earhart: First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, in 1932 Bessie Coleman: First Black woman to earn a pilot's license, in 1921 Eleanor Roosevelt: First lady who worked for human rights Frances Perkins: First woman in a US cabinet; helped create Social Security Mary McLeod Bethune: Educator who founded a school that became Bethune-Cookman University Zora Neale Hurston: Harlem Renaissance author of Their Eyes Were Watching God Frida Kahlo: Mexican painter known for vivid self-portraits Georgia O'Keeffe: American painter of flowers, desert scenes and skyscrapers Marian Anderson: Opera singer who performed at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 Rosa Parks: Her 1955 bus protest helped spark the Montgomery Bus Boycott Anne Frank: Wrote a diary while hiding from the Nazis Mother Teresa: Nun who cared for the poor in Kolkata, India Indira Gandhi: First woman prime minister of India Golda Meir: Israel's first woman prime minister Margaret Thatcher: Britain's first woman prime minister Wangari Maathai: Kenyan environmentalist who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Rachel Carson: Author of Silent Spring (1962), which helped start the environmental movement Jane Goodall: Studied chimpanzees in Tanzania for decades Dian Fossey: Studied mountain gorillas in Rwanda Rosalind Franklin: Her X-ray images helped reveal the structure of DNA Barbara McClintock: Won a Nobel Prize for discovering jumping genes in corn Katherine Johnson: NASA mathematician whose calculations helped astronauts reach orbit Dorothy Vaughan: NASA mathematician and early computer programming leader Mary Jackson: First Black woman engineer at NASA Grace Hopper: Computer scientist who helped create early programming languages Sally Ride: First American woman in space Valentina Tereshkova: First woman to travel in space, in 1963 Mae Jemison: First Black woman in space Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Supreme Court justice who fought for equal treatment of women Sandra Day O'Connor: First woman on the US Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor: First Latina on the Supreme Court Shirley Chisholm: First Black woman elected to the US Congress, in 1968 Billie Jean King: Tennis champion who fought for equal pay for women athletes Wilma Rudolph: Overcame polio to win three Olympic gold medals in 1960 Malala Yousafzai: Pakistani education activist, youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner Greta Thunberg: Swedish climate activist who began protesting in 2018 Maya Angelou: Poet and author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Toni Morrison: Novelist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 Dolores Huerta: Co-founded the United Farm Workers Fannie Lou Hamer: Voting rights activist from Mississippi Temple Grandin: Scientist who speaks about autism and designs humane animal facilities Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/famous-women-in-history