100 years of scientific breakthroughs - by women

Dorothy Hodgkin worked out the structure of penicillin, insulin and vitamin B12. But when, after 31 years of work, she won the Nobel Prize for science in 1964 the Daily Mail chose to run the story under the headline "Oxford housewife wins Nobel"
Photograph: Nobel

Virologist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi studied natural sciences at the University of Paris and then went to work at the Institut Pasteur. After a short time in the US, she returned to the Pasteur Institute to study the role of retroviruses in cancer. In 1982 she identified HIV as the cause of AIDS, for which she was awarded a Nobel Prize. In 2009 she took on Pope Benedict XVI, angered by his assertion that condoms are ineffective in tackling AIDS. She is hotly tipped to assume the role as the next president of the International AIDS Society
Photograph: Nobel

Cytogenetecist Barbara McClintock studied at Cornell’s College of Agriculture. Graduate research on maize cytogenetics led to a PhD which she completed in 1927. McClintock demonstrated numerous fundamental concepts, such as genetic recombination by meiosis, and roles of centromere and telomeres. In the 1940s and 50s she demonstrated transposition as a mechanism of turning genes on or off, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize
Photograph: National Institute of Health/American Philosophical Society

Molecular Biologist Carol Greider studied biology at Santa Barbara’s College for Creative Studies, University of California. She completed a PhD at UC Berkeley supervised by Elizabeth Blackburn. Together they discovered telomerase, a key enzyme that protects against progressive shortening of telomeres – the ends of chromosomes – which can lead to anaemia and some cancers. She was awarded the Nobel prize in 2009 with Jack W Szostak. She showed that telomerase is not indispensable to life in mice; but that its absence causes premature ageing
Photograph: Carol Greider

As part of her work at University of California, San Francisco, in 1981 developmental biologist Gail Martin isolated embryonic stem cells, a term she coined (concurrently with Martin Evans and Matthew Kaufman who reached the same conclusion at Cambridge University at the same time). She demonstrated their potential to become any type of cell in the body. Now she focuses on the control of embryonic development, with particular interest in signalling. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (Cellular and Developmental biology) and President of the Society for Developmental Biology
Photograph: National Institute of Health

Developmental Psychologist, Uta Frith studied History of Art at degree level before switching tracks. She went on to complete a PhD on autism at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, in 1968. She focused on autism spectrum disorders, pioneering the hypothesis that incomplete Theory of Mind leads to poorly developed empathy. She published a seminal paper with Simon Baron-Cohen, her former PhD student. And her book Autism: Explaining the Enigma, 1989, is used a handbook worldwide. Her work on Asperger’s and dyslexia is also very well regarded
Photograph: Robert Taylor

Anthropologist Helen Fisher is a lurve doctor! She studies the science of love, and how neural mechanisms are affected during romantic moments
Photograph: Helen Fisher.com

Cell biologist Amanda Fisher is director of the Medical Research Council's Clinical Sciences Centre at Imperial College London
Photograph: Medical Research Council