Amanda Golby 'Woman of Recognition'

Born in Bavaria in March 1882, Emmy Noether was the oldest of four children. Emmy was known as a clever child who was able to get along well with her peers. Like every other girl in this time period, Emmy was taught how to cook and clean at home, she also took piano lessons and liked to dance. At school, Emmy showed early proficiency in English and French and eventually excelled enough to be allowed to teach these subjects at a girl’s school, instead Emmy decided to continue her studies at the University of Erlangen. Emmy was one of two women who were accepted as students. She was allowed to audit the classes rather than fully enroll in them.

Despite the challenges she faced, Emmy passed the graduate exams in 1903. Emmy continued her studies, learning from several different astronomers and mathematicians. She submitted her dissertation in 1907 and worked occasionally as a teacher in this field.

Many people did not think that women belonged in the field of teaching at the university level, but Emmy was able to persevere through this chatter and continued to teach. Emmy eventually proved something that would eventually become known as Noether's Theorem. This theorem was called one of the most significant discoveries in modern physics, going as far as to relate it to the importance of the Pythagorean theorem. During all this time, Emmy was teaching but was not being paid for her work.

Noether's work was in abstract algebra. It was in this field that Emmy taught and supervised doctoral candidates before their thesis defense. Emmy was eventually driven out of Germany in the 1930's due to her being Jewish. She found safety in the United States, and continued teaching at Bryn Mawr College.

In April 1935, Emmy's doctors found a large tumor in her pelvis, she had an operation to remove the cysts that were growing there. Her recovery began normally, until she fell unconscious and her temperature reached 109 degrees. She passed April 14th at the age of 53. Her colleagues held a small memorial service for her, and other respected mathematicians wrote to pay their respects, including Albert Einstein, who was one of the people who titled her the most important women in the history of mathematics.

-May 2025

If there was anyone who was most equipped with life as a circus performer, it was Katie Sandwina.

Born in 1884 as Katharina Brumbach, this Austrian American strongwoman was one of fourteen children born to circus performer parents, Phillipe and Johanna Brumbach. Growing up, Katie would perform with her family, and her father would extend the challenge to men in the audience: 100 marks to anyone who could defeat Katie in a wrestling match. No one was ever able to claim the prize money. It was during one of these wrestling matches that Katie met her husband, Max Heymann.

In 1902, Katie managed to beat the famed strongman, Eugen Sandow in a weightlifting competition in New York. Katie won by being able to lift 300 pounds over her head, Sandow was only able to lift the same amount of weight to his chest. It was after this victory that Katie adopted the stage name of Sandwina, as a feminine version of the name Sandow. 

It was with this name that Katie and her husband traveled and worked with the Barnum and Bailey troupe. Katie would entertain audiences with feats of strength such as lifting her 165-pound husband over her head, being able to resist the pull of four horses, and bending steel bars. 

Katie traveled with the circus for 60 years before she and Max decided to settle down and open a bar and grill restaurant in New York. The two advertised the establishment as being owned by the world's strongest woman. Katie would continually entertain patrons with her strength.

Together, Katie and Max had two sons, and Katie passed due to cancer in January 1952.

-April 2025

Born as Elizabeth Jane Cochran in 1864, Nellie Bly was the thirteenth child of her father. She was born in his second marriage. Her father was the owner of one of the mills surrounding the land that Nellie grew up on. As a child, she would often wear the color pink, giving her a childhood nickname. After growing up some, Nellie wanted to be seen as more sophisticated and decided to start going by her own name.

In 1879, Nellie enrolled in what became Indiana University of Pennsylvania but only stayed there for one term due to a lack of funds. 

Nellie began her career as a journalist in 1885. The Pittsburgh Dispatch ran an article titled "What Girls are Good For" which stated that women were most adept at becoming wives, mothers, and homemakers. Nellie strongly disagreed with this idea of womanhood, and wrote her own response to it titled under the pseudonym The Lonely Orphan. The editors of the newspaper were so impressed by Nellie that they urged the author to come forward. Nellie stepped forward and was offered to draft an additional article for the newspaper, this one titled "The Girl Puzzle" in which she writes that not all women feel the need to marry and instead there should be better jobs offered to women.

Nellie continued to write for the newspaper, continued to write for the newspaper, adopting the pen name of Nellie Bly after the title character of a Stephen Foster song. Nellie wrote about how the lives of working women could be improved, writing a series of investigative pieces on women in factory work. After a few articles had been published in this line, women in the factories became upset at Nellie's writing, and she was given a new assignment in the women's pages covering fashion, society, and gardening. 

By this time, Nellie was only 21 years old was had grown bored of writing puff pieces, so she began to serve as a foreign correspondent in Mexico. She spent six months there writing about the lives and cultures of the Mexican people. When Nellie drafted an article about the unjust arrest of a Mexican citizen for speaking out against the Mexican dictatorship, the country threatened to arrest her, causing her to flee the country.

After returning to the United States, Nellie once again grew bored with writing in the women's column. She moved to New York and approached New York World for an undercover investigation series. Nellie faked insanity to be admitted to an insane asylum to learn firsthand what women in these institutions faced. Nellie was kept at the Blackwell Island asylum for ten days before the newspaper had her released under their orders. 

Nellie wrote a report of her time in the asylum that was published on October 9, 1887. Her report was also later turned into a book titled "Ten Days in a Mad House". Nellie's report caused such a sensation in the public eye that reforms were made and put in place that changed the treatment that women faced in asylums.

Nellie did not stop there. She continued to write as a journalist, going as far as to be allowed to interview the notorious serial killer, Lizzie Halliday. Nellie also continued her travels, in 1888 she wanted to prove whether it actually took eighty days to cross the globe as author Jules Verne had predicted in his book, "Around the World in Eighty Days". Nellie set out in New York and returned a mere 72 days later. This feat caused her to set a record for the fastest time to go around the world.

Nellie continued writing until she got married to a wealthy man named Robert Seaman, who was several years older than Nellie was. When Robert's health started to decline, Nellie left writing to succeed him in taking over and running his business, the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co. Nellie became one of the leading female industrialists in the United States. The company eventually went bankrupt and Nellie returned to writing and worked as a journalist until her death in 1922.

-March 2025

Lucy was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 by paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson. At the time, Lucy was not only the earliest human ancestor, but the most complete human ancestor. She was dated to have lived roughly 3.2 million years ago, standing at 3 1/2 feet tall.

Lucy's discovery was significant in the world of anthropology, showing evidence that human life evolved out of Africa. Lucy was also significant because she showed that early hominins walked on two feet. 

The remains of Lucy were initially brought to the United States, housed at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where Dr. Johanson worked. She has since been returned home to Ethiopia where she currently resides at the National Museum in Addis Ababa.

Dr. Johanson's anthropological team named her after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", which they were listening to in their celebration after discovery. But this is not her only name. In Ethiopia, she is called Dinknesh, which translates to "you are marvelous."

Lucy goes to show that women have been changing the game of history not only currently, but for millions of years.

-February 2025

Photo credits: Cleveland Museum of Natural History