1 . Four Places Named After Scientists in Antarctica

There are many scientific breakthroughs made by women in Antarctic. Here are four landmarks in Antarctica and the female pioneers they’re named for.

Jones Terrace (梯田)

The ice-free terrace in eastern Antarctica’s Victoria Land bears Jones’ name. In 1969, geochemist Lois M. Jones led the first all-female research team from the U.S. to work in Antarctica. Jones and her team studied chemical weathering in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, an ice-free area of Antarctica. Through chemical analyses of rocks they had collected, Jones and her team discovered many geochemical characteristics of the valley’s ice-covered lakes.

Mount Fiennes

8,202-foot-high Mount Fiennes, located on Antarctica’s largest island — Alexander Island — is named for Ginny Fiennes. She established and maintained 80-foot-tall radio towers in the Antarctic. In 1985, Fiennes became the first female who was invited to join the Antarctic Club, a British supper club open to individuals who have spent extended time in the Antarctic region.

Francis Peak

The 3,727-foot-tall peak on Antarctica’s Adelaide Island is named after Dame Jane Francis, who is the first female director of the British Antarctic Survey, the national polar research institute of the UK. Her collection of fossils on Seymour Island helped conclude in a 2021 paper that Antarctica’s abundant plant fossils indicate the continent once had a much warmer climate than it currently does.

Peden Cliffs

Peden Cliffs near Antarctica’s Marie Byrd Land are proof of the labor of Irene Peden. She was the first American female scientist to both live and work in the Antarctic, where she used radio waves to study ice sheets. Peden and her team determined how very low frequency radio waves spread over long polar distances by measuring pathways in the ice. They also used varying radio wave frequencies to measure the thickness of Antarctica’s ice sheets.

2 . Four Books about Super Scientists

You’ll find the lives of these top minds to be as inspiring as they are exciting in the following books.

The Extraordinary Life of Alan Turing

Second World War code-breaker Alan Turing features on the Bank of England’s new £50 note as a computer pioneer. This biography follows him from his childhood as a quiet boy who loved maths to becoming one of the most important scientists in history.

100 Scientists Who Made History

Bringing together mini-biographies of 100 scientists and innovators, this book will give you an overview of the history of science. Including astronauts, biologists, chemists, coders, doctors and physicists, it features fun facts about everyone from Hippocrates and Leonardo da Vinci through to Marie Curie and Stephen Hawking.

Rosalind Franklin: A Life Story

Rosalind Franklin was the scientist whose contribution to a crucial discovery in DNA — the chemical that tells your body how to grow and develop — was not recognized until after her death. This book shines a light on the extraordinary story of her life and achievements, using timelines, illustrations and fascinating facts.

40 Inspiring Icons: Super Scientists

Each part of this colourful illustrated book introduces you to a different “super scientist” and their discoveries. This is a fun and easy way to learn about all sorts of ideas, including Louis Pasteur’s vaccinations and Ada Lovelace’s invention of mysterious codes.

4 . Amazing Scientists Who Happen to Be Teenagers

We’ve got a list of teen scientists from a variety of fields.

Jack Andraka

Jack Andraka created a biological sensor for testing cancer at an early stage. He says that the paper sensor is 168 times faster, 26,667 times less expensive and 400 times more sensitive than technology nowadays.

He’s the youngest person to have spoken in front of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Taylor Wilson

Taylor Wilson was the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion (核聚变). He was inspired by The Radioactive Boy Scout, a novel in which a kid tries and fails to build a nuclear reactor.

Taylor thought he could do better. Long story short, he wanted to build a small nuclear reactor. And he did it at the age of fourteen. He received a Thiel Fellowship, which gave him $100,000 to work on his own research.

Sara Volz

Sara Volz performed experiments in which she grew algae (藻类) based on their oil output for the purpose of growing them as biofuel. This research is especially important as the world continues to search for a way to reduce our dependence on non-renewable energy. She won the top prize of $100,000 in the Intel Science Talent Search.

Daniel Burd

Plastic usually takes thousands of years to decompose (分解), but this high school student Daniel Burd managed to do it in three months. In an experiment, he mixed plastic bags and a special kind of dirt together, and found that they did decompose faster. He then performed tests to find the bacteria (细菌) responsible for decomposing the plastics.

His solution only produces water and small amounts of carbon dioxide. He says it could easily be used elsewhere.