#3 Joanne Simpson

Scientist, United States

1923-2010

Joanne Simpson was the first women to ever receive a PhD in Meteorology. She was one of the leading weather scientists in NASA for 30 long years. In 1986, NASA gave her the responsibility to develop the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, a satellite that accurately measures rainfall across all regions.

#2 Radia Perlman

Computer Scientist, United States

1951- Present

Radia Perlman is a software designer and network engineer referred to as the "Mother of the Internet.” She invented what is called the Spanning Tree Protocol, which is fundamental to the modern day Ethernet. She also made large contributions to many other areas of network design and standardization.

#1 Chieko Asakawa

Computer Scientist, Japan

1960- Present

Chieko Asakawa has devoted her life to improving the blind people’s access to computers. She is the first ever person to create the groundbreaking voice browser, a technology that opened up the windows of computers to the blind. She created this IBM ‘Home Page Reader’ in 1997.