Women Warriors
Honoring Women Who Fought Their Way to Greatness

Maria Goeppert-Won a Nobel Prize in Physics
Maria Goeppert had a pretty easy childhood but soon found out as an adult that she would have to fight for the right to be accepted as a real scientist by others. She lived during a time when women were considered to be inadequate for anything apart from housekeeping and raising children. Her first challenge came when she applied for college. It was extremely difficult for women to go to college during this time and every college turned her down. Finally, she was accepted to the University of Gottingen in 1924.
Maria Goeppert
Later on, after Maria got her doctorate in theoretical physics, she faced another big setback. The country was in the middle of a depression, so no university would hire her as a physics professor. Eventually she moved to the city of Columbia where she was hired to teach physics at Sarah Lawrence College. During her time in Columbia she worked at S.A.M. Laboratory where the director of her project refused to let her do the main research because she was a woman. He made her work on the side issues instead.
Maria Goeppert
Maria Goeppert
When Maria moved to Chicago she was finally accepted as a real physicist by the other physicist there. She was also finally rewarded for all her hard work in 1963. This was when she and her partner, Jensen, won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Maria became the 2nd woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics.
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