Smithsonian Institution
Collections spanning science, technology, medicine, invention and American history.
Explore Smithsonian →Research & Learning
Resources
A starting point for exploring the lives, work and scientific worlds of women in STEM.
Beyond the Exhibits
Continue exploring the history of science.
The museum is one doorway into a much larger historical record. These selected resources point toward archives, educational collections, organisations and reference material for readers who want to investigate further.
Archives & Collections
Go closer to the historical record.
Major museums, libraries and scientific institutions preserve manuscripts, photographs, instruments and biographies that add depth to the stories in this collection.
Science Museum Group
Objects, stories and collection records covering the history of science, engineering and medicine.
Explore the collection →Wellcome Collection
Historical material exploring medicine, health, scientific practice and their relationship with society.
Visit Wellcome Collection →Learning
Science history for classrooms and curious minds.
Accessible educational material can help connect individual biographies with the larger scientific ideas and historical periods around them.
Royal Society
Resources on scientific history, researchers and the development of modern science.
Explore the Royal Society →American Institute of Physics
Historical programmes and collections documenting physicists, institutions and scientific communities.
Explore history programmes →MacTutor History of Mathematics
A long-running collection of biographies and historical material about mathematicians and mathematical ideas.
Explore MacTutor →Women in STEM
Organisations supporting participation and visibility.
These organisations work across education, professional development, representation and the recognition of women in scientific and technical fields.
Women's Engineering Society
A UK professional network supporting women in engineering and promoting greater representation across the profession.
Visit WES →Association for Women in Science
An organisation advocating for women across science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Visit AWIS →AnitaB.org
A global organisation focused on advancing women and non-binary people in technology.
Visit AnitaB.org →Books & Further Reading
Build a deeper reading list.
Rather than prescribing a fixed bibliography, use these library catalogues and museum collections to find biographies, histories of disciplines and primary-source material connected to individual scientists.
British Library
Search books, manuscripts, newspapers and archival material related to scientists and the history of research.
Search the British Library →WorldCat
Find books and research material held by libraries around the world.
Search WorldCat →She Invented That Journal
Long-form essays connecting individual women to the wider history of computing, medicine, physics, genetics and invention.
Read the Journal →Keep Exploring
Start with a scientist. Follow the evidence outward.
Biographies are most useful when they lead back to the science itself: the papers, institutions, collaborators, instruments and historical circumstances that made discovery possible.
Explore scientists