in London and was influential in the passing of an Act permitting women to enter the medical profession in 1876." The ten most influential British women in science Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923) "Working with her husband, Professor William Ayrton, Ayrton published several papers on the electric arc. In 1902 she became the first woman to be nominated as a fellow of the Royal Society, although as a married woman she could not accept." Image credit: Girton College The ten most influential British women in science Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) "A pioneer of X-ray crystallography – the study of molecule shapes – in 1945 she and Marjory Stephenson were the first women to be admitted as fellows to the Royal Society. She was the first female professor at University College London,and the first woman to be president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science." The ten most influential British women in science Elsie Widdowson (1908-2000) "Her work with Professor R A McCance revolutionised the way the world assessed nutritional values and how mammalian development was perceived. She worked on nutritional problems during the Second World War, and on treating the effects of starvation suffered by concentration camp victims." The ten most influential British women in science Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994) "Hodgkin discovered the structure of penicillin and of vitamin B12. She was awarded the Nobel prize for her work, and was made a member of the Order of Merit. She devoted much of her later life to championing scientists in developing countries." The ten most influential British