ThinkHer

I had heard of Bertha Lutz before—as a women’s rights activist, a leader in Brazil’s suffragist movement, and one of the four women who signed the UN Charter in 1945, the document that officially established the United Nations. That’s how she’s usually remembered: a fierce feminist, a diplomat, someone who stood her ground at the world’s most important political tables. But what surprised me was where else her name shows up—not in laws, monuments or even street names, but in frogs and lizards!! It turns out Bertha Lutz was not only a political force, but also a trained biologist and naturalist. Before her name became tied to international diplomacy, she was studying amphibians at the Sorbonne and working as a researcher at Brazil’s National Museum. Her background in biology wasn’t a footnote—it shaped the way she thought, worked, and fought. She approached activism with the same discipline and curiosity she applied to science. I’m often struck, in conversations with fellow researchers,...

Science often serves the pursuit of curiosity, of the natural world, but for some, it also becomes a tool for driving societal change. Dr. E. K. Janaki Ammal was one such scientist whose contributions came at a time when India desperately needed them. India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, recognized her extraordinary vision and invited her to lead the Central Botanical Laboratory. Under her leadership, she safeguarded India’s indigenous biodiversity, documented plant varieties, and developed new genetic strains of crops to combat famine and starvation. The story of this woman has to be reshared multiple times for her perseverance and the way she used her voice. Janaki Ammal, Photo Credits to Geeta Doctor Born in 1897 in Tellicherry (now Thalassery), Kerala, Janaki Ammal grew up in a large family of 19 children. Her father, a judge and naturalist, fostered her love for the natural world. She grew up in privilege in a large family that lived in a house called Edam, which served...