The month of March is National Women’s Month, a time to recognize the powerful women who have shaped the world we live in today. We celebrate the women who have faced adversity and discrimination. We acknowledge the women who’ve broken barriers and proven themselves just as worthy as any other man. Let’s take the time to honor these four women who’ve built a strong base for our future female leaders.

Marie Curie
When it comes to record-breaking Nobel Prize recipients, there’s Marie Curie and then there’s everyone else. She and her husband receive a shared nobel prize for their studies in radioactivity; however, she was given her own –unshared– Nobel prize for her discovery in the elements Radium and Polonium. This makes her the only person –not just women– to win Nobel prizes in two different sciences. Not to mention, four of her family members are also nobel laureates.

Mae Jemison
“I always knew i was going to space,” says Mae Jemison, America’s first African American women in space. GSG woman of the year in 1990, Mae Jemison became the first black women to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program.
Her career “skyrocketed” from there and in 1992, she earned her spot for flying into space on the Endeavor on mission STS 47. Since then, she’s received many rewards in recognition of her accomplishments, including the American medical association, the american chemical society, and even the Ebony Black Achievement award.

Joycelyn Elders
Elders hold the “first” in many categories for African American women. Even though she grew up in poverty, she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and was the first member of her family to attend college. She was the first person to become board certified in pediatric endocrinology in the state of Arkansas. In addition, she was the first African American public health administrator. In 1993, she became the first Black woman to hold the position for the united states’ surgeon general.

Anne Lee Fisher
Fisher was one of the 6 women selected as NASA’s first women astronauts in 1976. However, Anne Fisher’s case was quite different. Fisher was training for her flight, while also raising her new baby girl. She was a mission specialist on STS-51A, which launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 8, 1984. Her daughter was 9 months old at the time.
“I wanted to make a statement that, yes, i have a child, but i’m committed to this and i’m going to be here.,” she says.