Lost Women of Science

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1. Ruth Itzhaki: Could anti-virals prevent Alzheimer’s?

   29 oktober 2026 · 39 min

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   For decades, Ruth Itzhaki has pursued an idea that many in the Alzheimer’s research community were reluctant to take seriously: that herpes simplex virus type 1, the virus best known for causing cold sores, is also a major cause of Alzheimer’s disease in genetically vulnerable people. Lees meer

   But as a different hypothesis became dominant in her field, Itzhaki found herself struggling to secure funding and recognition for her work.

   In this episode: What happens when a scientist spends a lifetime pursuing an idea that most of her field doesn’t find convincing? And where does Ruth Itzhaki’s idea stand today?

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2. Svetlana Mojsov: The Woman Behind GLP-1

   15 oktober 2026 · 45 min

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   In 1983, working with pencil and paper at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital, Svetlana Mojsov spotted what everyone else had missed: the active form of a newly discovered hormone called GLP-1. After three years of testing, she proved she was right. That molecule is the basis of blockbuster drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Despite her valuable contributions to endocrinology and peptide research, Dr. Mojsov’s name was reduced to a footnote in most of the stories about GLP-1’s discovery. Instead, the credit was given to the men around her. In this episode, we’ll explore how she fought back. Lees meer

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3. A pioneer behind x-ray crystallography, Isabella Karle

   6 augustus 2026 · 37 min

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   In high school, Isabella Karle had to take a science class to fulfill a prerequisite. She chose chemistry at random. Karle would go on to become one of the most important chemists of her time, doing groundbreaking research in the field of X-ray crystallography. Her discoveries in the mid 1950s are a key reason many modern-day pharmaceuticals are available on pharmacy shelves. But Karle’s collaborator–her husband, Jerome–would eventually receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work Isabella also achieved. Lees meer

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4. Conversations: The Rediscovery of I Who Have Never Known Men

   16 juli 2026 · 29 min

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   In this episode of Lost Women of Science Conversations, host Elah Feder explores the remarkable resurgence of I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman’s 1995 novel that went largely unnoticed for decades before becoming an international sensation. Harpman was a psychoanalyst and her training informed the book’s speculative fiction, dystopian, and science fiction genres. Lees meer

   Elah first speaks with award-winning translator Ros Schwartz, who translated the novel into English twice –once in 1997 and again in 2022, when a new edition helped introduce Harpman’s work to a new generation of readers.

   Later, Elah is joined by Susan Watkins, Professor of Women’s Writing at Leeds Beckett University, to discuss the novel’s themes of resilience, isolation, and survival, and why this once-overlooked book is resonating so strongly with readers today.

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5. La mujer que demostró el efecto invernadero

   25 juni 2026 · 36 min

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   En 1856, décadas antes de que se acuñara el término “gas de efecto invernadero”, Eunice Newton Foote demostró el efecto invernadero en su laboratorio casero. Colocó un cilindro de vidrio lleno de dióxido de carbono al sol y observó que se calentaba mucho más rápido que un cilindro con aire común. Su conclusión: más dióxido de carbono en la atmósfera da lugar a un planeta más cálido. Años más tarde, un científico británico llamado John Tyndall realizó un experimento mucho más complejo que demostró el mismo efecto y explicó su funcionamiento. Hoy en día, Tyndall es ampliamente reconocido como el hombre que descubrió el efecto invernadero. ¡Incluso hay un cráter en la luna que lleva su nombre! Mientras que Eunice Newton Foote fue olvidada por la historia… hasta que un historiador aficionado redescubrió su legado. Lees meer

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6. Best Of: The Woman Who Demonstrated the Greenhouse Effect

   25 juni 2026 · 32 min

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   In 1856, decades before the term “greenhouse gas” was coined, Eunice Newton Foote demonstrated the greenhouse effect in her home laboratory. She placed a glass cylinder full of carbon dioxide in the sun, and found that it heated up much faster than a cylinder of ordinary air. Her conclusion: more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere results in a warmer planet. Several years later, a British scientist named John Tyndall conducted a far more complicated experiment that demonstrated the same effect and revealed how it worked. Today, he’s widely known as the man who discovered the greenhouse gas effect. There’s even a crater on the moon named for him! Eunice Newton Foote, meanwhile, was lost to history—until an amateur historian stumbled on her story. Lees meer

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7. Tilly Edinger: The Paleoneurologist Saved By Her Science

   11 juni 2026 · 31 min

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   How much can you understand about a brain when that brain is long gone? Tilly Edinger, a Jewish paleontologist, used fossilized skulls to study the evolution of brains. That research allowed her to escape Nazi Germany in 1939, and create a new subdivision of paleontology, paleoneurology. Lees meer

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8. Kamala Sohonie: The Chemist who Wanted to Feed a Nation

   28 mei 2026 · 42 min

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   In 1930s India, Kamala Baghvat dreamed of working alongside the world's greatest scientific minds. But she was repeatedly told “no” when she tried to work in the then male dominated field. Inspired by Gandhi, she used nonviolent protest to pry her way into some of India’s top laboratories. She became the first Indian woman to earn a PhD in biochemistry, and eventually, the first woman to lead India's Royal Institute of Science. Baghvat’s career centered around a topic she was passionate about: solving India’s malnutrition crisis. Lees meer

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9. Sharla Boehm: The Programmer Whose Code Underpins the Internet

   14 mei 2026 · 27 min

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   Sharla Boehm earned a teaching degree from UCLA before channeling her talent for math into computer programming. While working at the Rand Corporation, she built a ground-breaking simulation, originally conceived to strengthen military communications during the Cold War. The simulation –and her work– would ultimately lay the foundation for the modern internet. Lees meer

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10. Profesora de química y caza criminales: La extraordinaria vida de Mary Louisa Willard

    30 april 2026 · 31 min

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    “La única vez que vi algo que me pareció anormal… había un brazo humano en el refrigerador”, dijo J. Peter Willard sobre su tía, Mary Louisa Willard. Por lo demás, insistió, era “muy normal.” Pero Mary Louisa Willard, profesora de química en la Universidad Estatal de Pensilvania a finales de la década de 1920, dejó una fuerte impresión en la mayoría de las personas. Su ciudad natal, State College (Pensilvania), la conocía por detener el tráfico en su Cadillac rosa para saludar a sus amistades, y por organizar fiestas de cumpleaños para sus queridos perritos cocker spaniels. La policía la conocía por su oficio secundario: usar la química para resolver crímenes. Lees meer

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