In the history of ocean research, women have contributed fundamental knowledge. Their skills and insights were often only recognized much later:

1766

French botanist Jeanne Baret becomes the first woman known to have circumnavigated the world. Disguised as a man, she was part of an expedition led by French Navy officer Louis Antoine de Bougainville from 1766 to 1769, during which she and Philibert Commerson collected samples of thousands of plant species, including numerous marine species. Above all, she is noted for discovering the flower genus Bougainvillea in Brazil – though the credit went to Bougainville.

1832

Jeanne Villepreux-Power develops the first scientific aquarium, allowing marine organisms to be observed under controlled conditions.

1856

Eunice Newton Foote is the first to experimentally prove that an atmosphere with a high carbon dioxide concentration is warmer than normal air. Drawing on theories advanced by Joseph Fourier, the US-based researcher concluded that higher CO₂ concentrations produce global warming. Her findings were presented at a conference – though not by her personally, since women were not allowed to give talks. Her contributions would remain unrecognized until the 21st century.

1949

Austrian diving pioneer Lotte Hass becomes one of the first women to take part in underwater expeditions. She worked as a model and actress in her husband’s films, zoologist Hans Hass, and made films of her own. The media described her as a “pin-up girl”. In 2000, she became the first European inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame.

1952

While analyzing echosounder data, Marie Tharp discovers the central rift valley in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The US-based geologist, together with Bruce Heezen, would go on to produce the first detailed map of the Ridge, while also providing proof in support of the plate tectonics theory. Her discovery was initially dismissed as “Girl Talk.”

1955

Japanese geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi develops a method for measuring carbon dioxide levels in seawater. She would subsequently investigate radioactive pollution of the Pacific following US tests of the atomic bomb at Bikini Atoll. In 1980, she became the first woman to serve on the Science Council of Japan. Her research contributed to the international ban on above-ground nuclear testing.

1956

Russian marine geologist Maria Wassiljewna Klenova becomes one of the first women to join a soviet Antarctic expedition and participate in essential research work.

1963

Simone Melchior is indirectly involved in developing the first autonomous diving equipment. During the project Conshelf II, led by her husband Jacques-Yves Cousteau, she was the only woman to live and work in an underwater habitat as one of the “aquanauts.” Melchior was also considered the unofficial captain of the Calypso, the research ship used by the famous documentary filmmaker.

1969

Lois M. Jones heads the first women’s research team deployed in the Antarctic as part of the US Antarctic Research Program. She and her three colleagues explored the McMurdo Dry Valleys.

1970

Sylvia Earle, who would later be dubbed “Her Deepness,” heads a team of women living in the underwater habitat Tektite II, off the coast of the Virgin Islands. Referred to in the press as the “Aqua Babes,” Earle and her colleagues spent two weeks at a depth of roughly 15 meters. She would go on to become the first female chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and found the ocean protection initiative Mission Blue.

1974 

Eugenie Lisitzin publishes Sea-Level Changes, which would become a standard work on sea-level fluctuations.

1990

Marine biologist Cindy Lee Van Dover becomes the first (and, to date, only) female pilot of the US submersible Alvin, capable of diving to depths of more than 4,000 meters.

1995

Angelika Brandt becomes a professor at the age of 33, is the first woman to lead German deep-sea expeditions, and investigates biodiversity in the Southern Ocean. In 2024, she became the first female researcher in Germany to receive the International Prize for Biology.

2005

Lisa Levin co-organizes international projects exploring deep-sea ecosystems. She would go on to investigate the effects of deep-sea mining, laying the groundwork for international safeguards.

2008

Asha de Vos launches the Sri Lankan Blue Whale Project, the first long-term study on blue whales in the northern Indian Ocean. She is the first Sri Lankan woman to hold a doctorate in marine biology.

2009

As Chief Scientist, Miriam Goldstein heads the Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (Seaplex). Her team investigated the distribution and impacts of plastic litter in the North Pacific, especially in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

2016 

The EU project Baltic Gender is launched; chiefly coordinated by Katja Matthes from Geomar in Kiel, its goal was to promote gender fairness in the marine sciences. Eight institutes from five Baltic Sea states jointly developed equality plans, mentoring programs, and measures to combat unconscious biases.

2017

Antje Boetius succeeds Karin Lochte as Director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research. With Boetius at the helm, the AWI would later coordinate Mosaic, the greatest Arctic expedition in history. In 2025 she became President of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.

2019

Jeanette Davis and her team discover a marine bacterium that produces a substance that could potentially combat cancer. Beyond her research, the US-based marine microbiologist is an active advocate for diversity and equal opportunities.

2025

Tatiana Ilyina from the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology becomes the sixth woman to receive the Fridtjof Nansen Medal, one of the highest honors in marine research. Since being introduced in 1996, it has been awarded to 19 men.

← Back to the exhibition