Sharon Farmer was the first Black woman hired as a White House photographer (1993).
She was promoted to Director of the White House Photography Office in 1999, making her both the first woman & the first African American to lead the dept. She was born #OTD in 1951.
#photography #photojournalism
Marie Tharp mapped the floor of the N. Atlantic in 1957 & the entire global ocean floor by 1977.
A geologist & oceanographic cartographer whose work revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, proving continental drift & fundamentally changing modern earth science.
#WorldOceansDay #WomenInSTEM #cartography
Tidbit: On the exact same day, Sister Keller (U. of Wisconsin-Madison) & Irving C. Tang (Washington U. in St. Louis) became the first two people in the US to earn doctoral degrees in computer science. Tang received his just a few hours earlier in the day. #WomenInSTEM
Tharp’s partner Bruce Heezen collected the sonar data at sea (Columbia U barred women on research vessels). Tharp noted the Mid-Atlantic rift valley. Heezen initially dismissed it as “girl talk,” but later her data was accepted; it proved seafloor spreading & gave birth to modern plate tectonics.
Bertha von Suttner, the "Generalissimo of the Peace Movement," was the first woman awarded the #Nobel Peace Prize, 1905.
She established the Austrian Peace Society (1891) & wrote one of the 19th century's most influential books, the anti-war novel "Lay Down Your Arms." Born #OTD in 1843. #booksky