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The queen who challenged the kings
The greatest female chess player in history has retired. Godspeed, Mrs Polgar.
Judit Polgar:
(what's a "Modern Worthy"? click here to find out!)
Yusra Mardini
Olympic Swimmer Who Swam Three Hours Pushing a Boat of Other Syrian Refugees to Safety
A dinghy, built for six but holding twenty refugees, broke down in the Aegean Sea. Mardini, her sister Sarah, and two others jumped out and swam for three hours, pushing the boat all the way to Lesbos.Angelina Fanny Hesse
The Woman Who Made Microbiology Possible
In the 1880s, scientists were trying to isolate and culture tuberculosis bacteria. Hesse's husband Walther was running into problems until she offered a solution.Virginia Raggi
Rome's First Female Mayor
Raggi is the first woman to lead Rome in a history that spans almost three millennia.Rita Levi-Montalcini
Lady of the Cells
Rita Levi-Montalcini had to deal with patriarchal disapproval, Fascist anti-Semitism, misogyny and war before earning a Nobel Prize for discovering nerve growth factor. Says she, "If I had not been discriminated against or had not suffered persecution, I would never have received the Nobel Prize."Jeannie Rousseau
The Spy Who Foiled Germany's Rockets
Using her photographic memory, this WW2 spy stole some of the most vital German rocket plans, and suffered a year in concentration camps for it. She died this year.Yevdokiya Zavaliy
Frau Black Death
Yevdokiya Zavaliy joined World War II while underage, and eventually rose to commander of her own platoon. She and her platoon terrified the Nazis so much that they gave her the nickname Frau Black Death.Ingeborg Rapoport
Oldest person to earn a doctoral degree
After being refused the opportunity to defend her doctoral thesis due to Nazi anti-Semitism, she returned to it 77 years later.Cecile DeWitt-Morette
The Academic Who Overcame it All
Cecile DeWitt-Morette was a pioneering mathematical physicist who worked with Albert Einstein, Irene Joliot-Curie, and Richard Feynman, and advocated for more women in the sciences.Oksana Chusovitina
The Oldest Female Olympic Gymnast
Chusovitina will be competing in the 2016 summer Olympics--her seventh Olympics to date--at age 41, making her the oldest female Olympic gymnast ever.Judit Polgar
The queen who challenged the kings
The greatest female chess player in history has retired. Godspeed, Mrs Polgar.
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