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Rosalind Franklin is a controversial figure in the history of science. Her photograph of the DNA molecule was the scientific evidence that James Watson needed to prove that DNA's structure was a double helix. But he was given the photograph without her permission, and he downplayed her role in his own account of the discovery. Rosalind Franklin did not share in the Nobel Prize for this effort (the prize is never awarded posthumously), and her life illustrates the difficulty women have had, making a career in the sciences. Read more: Rosalind Franklin

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• Who was the first woman nominated for vice president by a major party?
• Women Who Ran for President

Carlotta was a young royal, married to an up-and-coming fellow royal (and rumored relative of Napoleon), Maximilian, when she took on moving to Mexico as the new French-installed Empress of Mexico. Her husband's rule was not, however, welcomed, and when Carlotta returned to Europe she had what her secretary termed "a grave attack of mental aberration." It lasted for over sixty years. Read more about the sad outcome of this imperial power play for her husband and for herself: Empress Carlota of Mexico

From a pioneer in the field of women's history, Gerda Lerner:

"Women have always made history as much as men have, not 'contributed' to it, only they did not know what they had made and had no tools to interpret their own experience. What's new at this time is that women are fully claiming their past and shaping the tools by means of which they can interpret it."

• More Gerda Lerner Quotes