Introductions Necessary

Donna J. Nelson is an advocate for scientific accuracy in the media and was one of the science advisors for the television show Breaking Bad. Image: David McNeese (CC BY-SA 3.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009, Dr. Susan Solomon’s work in atmospheric science helped us to understand the depletion of the ozone layer and the creation of the ozone hole in the Antarctic. Image: NOAA. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

September 15 is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month in the United State and today we would like to introduce you to Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in the world to travel to space and the first Hispanic woman to be the director of the Johnson Space Center. Image: NASA/Bill Stafford. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: ht...

In 2010 Dr. Marla Spivak was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship grant which she used to help found the Bee Squad – a group that helps beekeepers and the community in the Twin Cities are of Minnesota to foster healthy bee populations and pollinator landscapes through education and hands-on mentorships including at the state’s largest prison. Image Courtesy of the University of Minnesota. Sou...

Astronomy is often considered a visible field of study, even though much of what is observed is outside the visible spectrum. By helping to develop the use of sonification as part of the study of astronomical objects Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced not only carved out her own place in the field but is also an advocate for others with disabilities being part of the scientific community as well. Image: Intern...

Dr. Jan Davis is a Registered Professional Engineer, holds one patent, and oh yeah – she is also an astronaut. Image: NASA. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Mary Vaux Walcott was known as the Audubon of botany for her illustrations of North American wildflowers. Image: Wikimedia Commons. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Not only did Dr. Dorothy Hill do her own meticulous research in many of the fields within the discipline of geology but she also led the charge in standardizing the research and field work done by her colleagues in the Australian scientific community. Image: University of Queensland (CC BY 3.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon:...

Following her father’s passion for mathematics and with his encouragement Dr. Marjorie Lee Browne would become one of the first African American women to earn a doctorate in mathematics. Image Courtesy of the University of Michigan. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Fifty years ago, audiences met the crew of the Starship Enterprise when Star Trek premiered. The cast inspired a generation, including physician, dancer, and astronaut Mae Jemison. Image: NASA. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

The first woman member of the Atomic Energy Control Board of Canada, Sylvia Fedoruk also worked as a professor of oncology and associate member in physics at the University of Saskatchewan before being appointed chancellor of the school in 1986. Image Courtesy of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.co...

Joining the United States Department of Energy in 2003 Dr. Sunita Satyapal worked in the Fuel Cells Technology Program and was promoted to Director of the Fuel Cell Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Image: US Dept. of Energy. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nine...

When Christy Edwards was in the fifth grade, she watched an IMAX movie on the space shuttle. Sitting in the theater, she decided that she wanted to be a space explorer. Image Via Christine Edwards on LinkedIn. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Before being appointed the Chief Technology Officer of the United States, Megan Smith was trying to make the world a better place through science and invention. Image: Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Dr. Dawn Wright, known among her peers as Deep Sea Dawn, has traveled to 38 countries and has completed oceanographic fieldwork in geologically active regions including the East Pacific Rise, The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Tonga Trench. Oh, and this Chief Scientist at the Environmental Systems Research Institute is a self-professed Lego Maniac. Image Courtesy of ESRI. Sources and additional readin...

The first African American to earn a degree in marine science from Texas A&M, Dr. Ashanti Johnson has loved the ocean since and early age. Continuing her studies at Texas A&M University she became the first and only to date African American to earn a doctorate in chemical oceanography. Image: Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.c...

As a professor of Biomedical Materials and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Molly Stevens is also the Research Director for Biomedical Material Sciences in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College. Image: James Duncan Davidson (CC BY-NC 2.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

The first woman to earn a degree from the New York College of Pharmacy, Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi would go on to change the lives of women both as a doctor and educator. Image: Wikimedia. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Sylvia Earle, dubbed, “Her Deepness” by The New Yorker, has experience as a field research scientist, government official, and director for corporate and nonprofit organizations. But all her work has led her to focus on preserving the world’s oceans. Image: NOAA. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourf...

To continue her efforts in making the world a safer place Dr. Rita Colwell founded CosmosID, a genomic big data company that is focused on the rapid identification of microorganisms for infectious disease diagnostics, food safety inspections, pharmaceutical discovery, public health surveillance, and microbiome analysis for health and wellness. Image: The National Science Foundation. Sources and ad...

Dr. Alyson McGregor examines how sex and gender differences impact emergency medical care and the overall health of women and she works on communicating these differences to medical professionals and the public. Image Via LinkedIn. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal was the first scientist to clone HIV, helping lead to blood tests and better treatments for the virus. She says that her main motivation “is simply the satisfaction of making discoveries, finding things out that no one knew before.” Image: National Cancer Institute. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https:/...

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha was one of the key individuals to expose lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan and bring attention to the contamination in the water supply. Image: Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

In 1843, photographer and botanist Anna Atkins became the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographs. Image: Wikipedia. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms

Dr. Chung-Pei Ma has helped discover two of the largest black holes found to date and is also a classical violinist that played with the Youth Symphony in Taiwan at age 8 and still enjoys playing as a hobby. Image Courtesy of UC Berkeley. Sources and additional reading are available at https://introductionsnecessary.com Join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ninehourfilms