Pursuit & Persistence: 300 Years of Women in Science explored how women scientists have overcome obstacles to achieve breakthroughs, make places for themselves in science, and help others along the way.
The exhibition invited visitors to meet women whose boundless curiosity impelled them to investigate the mysteries of the universe, from the stars glittering in the night sky down to the inner workings of cells in our bodies and the structures of the atoms that make up all matter.
Dozens of documents, publications, and artifacts from the APS’s extensive collections and private lenders—most never exhibited before—illuminate the groundbreaking scientific research and sometimes bumpy career trajectories of these remarkable women. Throughout the exhibition, contemporary artworks by Rebecca Kamen interpret the scientists’ discoveries in visual form and celebrate their achievements.
Women have been doing science for centuries.
Despite obstacles, they have achieved breakthroughs, made places for themselves in science, and helped others along the way. The collections of the American Philosophical Society hold many stories of women in science. Find out how they contributed to our understanding of the world.
For this exhibition, the American Philosophical Society commissioned local artist Rebecca Kamen to create visual responses to scientific concepts on view. Throughout this exhibition you will see these responses.
Rebecca Kamen, sculptor and lecturer on the intersections of art and science, seeks ‘the truth’ through observation. Her artwork is informed by wide-ranging research into cosmology, history, philosophy, and by connecting common threads that flow across various scientific fields to capture and re-imagine what the scientists see.
Currently, Kamen is serving as artist in residence in The Computational Neuroscience Initiative and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.
During the 1930s, Dr. Florence Rena Sabin compiled lists of women working in science and medicine. There was no Internet then, so Sabin wrote letters to colleagues asking them about women they knew. She most likely collected additional names from scientific publications.
Meet Dr. Sabin in the exhibition!
The American Philosophical Society is using Sabin’s lists and other documents in new ways. Scholars at the APS Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship have created data visualizations of networks among women scientists.
Support for this exhibition was provided by The Mellon Foundation, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, APS Members and Friends, and donations by visitors to the APS Museum.
This exhibition was curated by Dr. Jane Boyd in collaboration with the APS Museum team, and with the assistance of the APS Library staff. The exhibition was open to the public in the APS Museum Gallery in Philosophical Hall from March 31 - December 30, 2023. It was archived as a digital exhibition on the APS website by Magdalena Hoot on January 11, 2024.
