Rose Eudora Collom was born in Georgia in 1870. She attended Lindenwood College and trained as a teacher, and a few years after she got married and the couple moved to Gila County in Arizona, where her husband worked in a mine. Collom, then 44 years old, found herself in an isolated area, spending her days cooking and mending clothes. She said that there was nothing for her to do except sit and gaze out the window. To relieve her boredom, she began taking long walks around the area and study the local plants, started collecting seeds, cuttings and specimens, and wrote her observations. To deepen her knowledge, Collom ordered botany books and wrote to notable botanists. She became an expert on Arizona flora and was acknowledged by renowned botanists. She also discovered several unknown plants and had new observations on the environmental conditions and their effects on the native Arizona plants. Collom had a belief that some high altitude plants can adapt themselves to lower altitudes, and by proving this theory, she encouraged the use of native species in landscaping private gardens and beside highways. At 68, she started a correspondence with the co-founder of the Grand Canyon National History Association, who offered her a research grant to collect specimens in the Grand Canyon area. By accepting the grant, she became the first paid botanist of the Grand Canyon National Park, as well as serving as the Horticultural Chairman of the Arizona Federation of Garden Clubs, and a member of the Arizona Cactus and Native Flora Society. Due to her contribution in this field, several plant species are named after her. Read more...

Born as Marguerite Ray in Tacoma, Washington, and when turning 16, changed her name to “Dixy Lee” in homage to Robert E. Lee. Ray was always fascinated by nature and eventually followed her passion and studied Biology and Zoology. She was the valedictorian of her class and continued to study for her Master’s Degree and afterward for a Doctorate. After graduation, Ray taught science in public schools and at 31, started teaching at the Zoology Department of the University of Washington. Dixy Lee Ray had a colorful personality, unconventional lifestyle and she was known as a person who could “make science interesting,” so she was offered to host a weekly television program on marine biology. Her popularity led her to become the manager of the Pacific Science Center, where she used a police whistle to run off hippies. She saved the center from bankruptcy since under her guidance, it became an interactive learning museum. Ray supported nuclear power, and at age 59, she was appointed to chair the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. In 1977, when she was 63 years old, Ray entered politics as a Democrat and became the first woman to be elected Governor of Washington State. She served as the 17th Governor, and during her tenure, she balanced the State budget and oversaw its first full funding program for basic education. Nevertheless, she alienated fellow Democrats due to her support in atomic power as well as controversial political decisions such as allowing supertankers to dock in Puget Sound. Ray lost the following elections and retired from political life, but she continued to give lectures, publish articles, and she co-authored two books about the Environmentalist Movement. Read more...

Born and raised in Atchison, Kansas, in 1897. From a young age she broke gender conventions: climbing trees which was seen as boyish behavior and collecting articles about female pioneers in male-dominated fields. She left college to work as a nurse in a military hospital during World War I and later worked as a social worker. After a $10 ride in an airplane at the age of 23, she found her calling within aviation. Earhart took classes with a female instructor, and six months later bought her first plane, painted yellow and nicknamed “The Canary.” She was active in the movement for equal rights for women and was determined to use aviation to make a point that women can do anything they want. Her breakthrough was initiated by publicist George Putnam, whom she later married. He presented her with the opportunity to be the first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, which won her worldwide recognition, a New York parade, and a reception at the White House. Fond of “first” achievements and aware of their publicity value, Earhart set and broke several records of destination, speed, and altitude. She wanted to be the first woman to fly around the world, and in her attempt, she vanished with her navigator in 1937. Despite a $4 Million search, the most extensive one in naval history, no clear trace of her was ever found. Amelia Earhart was around the age of 40 at the time of the accident, and in 1939, the pioneering pilot declared dead. This turned her into a mystery that occupies generations, with a wide range of theories and speculations as to her fate. Read more...