Great women then and now

Oct. 31, 2007

The accomplished women of today had to start somewhere - and a good place to begin would, of course, be their counterparts of times past (or, in Jane Goodall’s remarkable case, of times still happening!). There always has to be a groundbreaker, whether those achievements are exploratory, scientific, or creative; so we’ve chosen just a few of the many remarkable women throughout history to spotlight in special recognition of our Women Today issue.

The Explorers
THEN: Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was born in July 1897, and was the first woman to fly solo across the North American continent and back. On May 20, 1932, she then went on to be the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, a 14-hour flight in which she contended with strong northern winds, mechanical difficulties, and icy conditions, eventually landing in Ireland. As if that wasn’t enough of a feat, she was also the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for that effort, and went on to set many other records, eventually even forming The Ninety-Nines, an organization for women pilots.

NOW: Pamela Melroy
With a bachelor’s degree in physics and astronomy and a master’s degree in Earth and planetary sciences, Pamela Melroy became only the second woman to command a space shuttle flight (the first being Eileen Collins
in 1999) on October 23 of this year. As part of that mission, she met up
with international space station commander Peggy Whitson in a coincidental but nonetheless giant leap for womankind - it was the first (and long-overdue) time in the entire 50-year history of spaceflight that two women were in charge of two spacecraft at the same time. That’s quite the accomplishment, especially considering that NASA wouldn’t even accept women as astronauts until 1978.


The Animal Advocates
THEN: Jane Goodall
English-born Goodall, now 73, is perhaps one of the world’s best known female animal advocates, and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimps and their habitats. Famed for her 30 years of work with the wild chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania, Africa, she was the first to discover the use of tools among animals, and additionally discovered that the chimps were capable of cooperative hunting. She also founded the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues research efforts and helps protect both wild and captive chimpanzees worldwide. Remarkably, Goodall is still active today, traveling much of the year to speak about chimpanzee protection, the environment, and the importance of individual activism. She was named a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2004, was dubbed a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and appeared at 2007’s Live Earth event.

NOW: Carol Buckley
Buckley is the co-founder and director of The Elephant Sanctuary, the United States’ largest natural habitat refuge for endangered African and Asian elephants. Located on 2,700 acres in Tennessee, Buckley founded the sanctuary in 1995, and provides permanent homes for
old, sick, cast-off elephants from
zoos and circuses. The animals are placed
in a natural environment, and the
sanctuary itself has over 60,000 (human) members who support its efforts. Buckley also works to educate the
public about the problems facing
elephants in today’s world, and was recently named A Hero For the Planet by TIME Magazine.

The Designers
THEN: Coco Chanel
Born in 1883, Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel’s modernist philosophy and sleek, menswear-inspired fashions made her one of the most important 20th-century designers, especially in haute couture. Named on TIME Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century, Chanel launched several looks that are still fashion standbys today, among them the Chanel suit with its knee-length skirt and boxy jacket, and the classic “little black dress” that is considered a staple of every woman’s wardrobe. Chanel’s point regarding fashion, which again still holds true today, was that “simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” A new film titled Coco Avant Chanel starring Audrey Tautou will hit theaters in 2008; the House of Chanel in Paris remains one of the largest design houses today.

NOW: Vera Wang
A graduate of Paris’ Sorbonne school, Wang trained as a figure skater, but entered the fashion industry when she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team. That failure turned into great success. Wang began her fashion life as a senior fashion editor for Vogue magazine; in 1985, she left Vogue and joined Ralph Lauren as a design director; by 1990, she had her own design salon. Since then, she has expanded her brand name through fragrance, jewelry, eyeware, shoe, and houseware collections; she’s appeared as a judge on the third season of Project Runway; and her gowns (especially her wedding gowns) have graced everyone from Sharon Stone and Uma Thurman to Nancy Kerrigan, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Garner. In 2006, Wang was awarded the Andre Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design.


The Researchers
THEN: Marie Curie
Warsaw, Poland was the homeland for Marie Curie, who was born Maria Sklodowska and married physics professor Pierre Curie late in the 1800s. Marie Curie went to Paris, France to study mathematics, chemistry, and physics; with her husband, she found that uranium ore contained much more radioactivity than could be explained solely by the uranium content. This led to Curie’s long-time research into radioactive elements, which hit a pinnacle in 1911, when she won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for isolating radium. In 1914, Curie founded the Parisian Radium Institute, and invented X-ray vans to assist the wounded during World War I.
NOW: Elizabeth Blackburn
Australian scientist Blackburn was a front-runner for this year’s Nobel Prize. She didn’t win that particular accolade this time around, but that doesn’t make her research any less important. Blackburn, who has been inspired to pursue a life in science since childhood, has discovered a protein called telomerase that determines the life span of cells, making it a crucial element to aging, stress, cancer, and many other diseases. It might not make us live forever, but her discovery does have enormous potential for helping us to live out our lives in a much more healthy way. For her extensive work, Blackburn received the Lasker Award (the highest recognition in American science) in 2006, and she was also listed among TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2007.


The First Ladies
THEN: Eleanor Roosevelt
President Harry S. Truman called her the “First Lady of the World” in tribute to her many human rights achievements, and she was named one of the most admired persons of the 20th century according to a Gallup list. Wife to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor did indeed take a prominent role as an advocate for civil rights, and was a suffragist who worked to enhance the status of working women. During World War II, she was active on the homefront, co-chairing a national committee on civil defense and frequently visiting civilian and military centers to boost morale. Later, She founded the UN Association of the United States in 1943 to advance support for the formation of the U.N., and she was a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, chairing the committee that drafted and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She received 35 honorary degrees during her life, and was also awarded one of the United Nations Human Rights Prizes.

NOW: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Whether you’re a Hillary supporter or not, you can’t deny that she’s made great strides for women in politics. Currently the junior United States Senator from New York and a candidate for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, Clinton began her career as a lawyer after graduating from Yale. After her husband, Bill Clinton, took office as U.S. President, she helped establish several notable health programs and was the first First Lady to take up an office in the West Wing of the White House (First Ladies usually stayed in the East Wing). She played a much more active role in her husband’s Presidency than was usual - taking a more prominent position in policy matters than the majority of prior First Ladies. Now ranked among the world’s most powerful people by both Forbes and TIME magazines as she campaigns for the Democratic nomination, she has received over a dozen awards throughout her career for her work concerning women, children, and health projects.