# 150 women in 150 words

The "150 women in 150 words" project was undertaken by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and published during their 150th anniversary celebrations in 2017. The aim of the project was "celebrating women's contributions to expanding knowledge in New Zealand", and involved short online biographies of a range of women from early Polynesian settlers to present-day scientists.
The biographies are arranged on the Royal Society Te Apārangi's website in four categories: pre-1866 (of which there are two, Whakaotirangi and Kahupeka), 1867–1917, 1918–1967, and 1968–to the present time. The full list of biographies below is arranged alphabetically by (most commonly used) surname.
| Name | Description | Date of birth | Date of death |
| Nancy Adams | Botanist and botanical artist, and museum curator. | 19 May 1926 | 27 May 2007 |
| Mary Aldis | Scientific author and social reform campaigner | 1840 | 11 August 1897 |
| Catherine Alexander | Botanist, and the first known woman to publish a paper in the Royal Society Te Apārangi's Transactions in 1886. | 8 December 1862 | 17 March 1928 |
| Elizabeth Alexander | Geologist, academic, and physicist, whose wartime work with radar and radio led to early developments in radio astronomy. | 13 December 1908 | 15 October 1958 |
| Jan Anderson | Organic chemist who worked on photosynthesis. | 12 May 1932 | 28 August 2015 |
| Innes Asher | Professor of paediatrics | 20th Century | |
| Rosemary Askin | Geologist specialising in Antarctic palynology and the first New Zealand woman to undertake her own research programme in Antarctica, in 1970. | 1949 | |
| Paddy Bassett | Agricultural scientist, the first woman graduate from Massey Agricultural College, and also one of the first two women students accepted into Canterbury Agricultural College (now Lincoln University). | 15 July 1918 | 20 July 2019 |
| Betty Batham | Marine biologist and university lecturer, who directed the Portobello Marine Biological Station at the University of Otago for more than 23 years. | 2 December 1917 | 8 July 1974 |
| Muriel Bell | Nutritionist and medical researcher | 4 January 1898 | 2 May 1974 |
| Gertrude Helen Benson | Professor of home science. | 25 January 1886 | 20 February 1964 |
| Patricia Bergquist | Zoologist specialising in sponges, anatomist and biologist | 10 March 1933 | 9 September 2009 |
| Betty Bernardelli | Physiological psychologist who was the commanding officer at the WAAF training school for psychology instructors. | 7 November 1919 | 1998 |
| Winifred Betts | Botanist and the first female lecturer at the University of Otago | 1894 | 29 April 1971 |
| Judith Binney | Writer, academic, historian and educator | 1 July 1940 | 15 February 2011 |
| Philippa Black | Geologist specialising in mineralogy and metamorphic petrology. | 26 November 1941 | |
| Agnes Blackie | New Zealand's first female physics lecturer and probably the Southern Hemisphere's only female physics academic at the time of her appointment. | 1897 | 1975 |
| Ellen Wright Blackwell | Writer, botanist, and photographer. | 7 October 1864 | 24 February 1952 |
| Winifred Lily Boys-Smith | Science artist and lecturer, university professor, and school principal | 7 November 1865 | 1 January 1939 |
| Janet M. Bradford-Grieve | Carcinologist and biological oceanographer. | 1940 | |
| Margaret Bradshaw | Geologist and Antarctic researcher. | 1941 | |
| Beryl Brewin | Marine zoologist, specialising in ascidians (sea squirts). | 10 September 1910 | 1999 |
| Margaret Brimble | Chemist who has made investigations of shellfish toxins and means to treat brain injuries. | 20 August 1961 | |
| Sally Brooker | Inorganic chemist | 20th Century | |
| Katherine Browning | Teacher, who published one of the only four papers by women in the Royal Society of New Zealand's Transactions before 1900. | 1864 | 1946 |
| Carolyn Burns | Ecologist specialising in lakes. | 3 February 1942 | |
| Ella Campbell | Botanist and expert on bryophytes, she published 130 scientific papers on liverworts, hornworts, orchids, and wetlands. She became the first woman faculty member of the Massey Agricultural College. | 28 October 1910 | 24 July 2003 |
| Kathleen Campbell | Geologist, paleoecologist and astrobiologist | 20th Century | |
| Vivienne Cassie Cooper | Planktologist and botanist. | 29 September 1926 | 5 July 2021 |
| Amy Castle | Entomologist and museum curator | 9 May 1880 | 23 February 1971 |
| Gwyneth Alva Challis | Geologist who discovered the mineral Wairauite, and pioneered the use of x-rays for mineral investigation in New Zealand. | 25 January 1930 | 21 November 2010 |
| M. Ann Chapman | Limnologist, one of the first New Zealand women scientists to visit Antarctica, and the first woman to lead a scientific expedition to Antarctica. | 14 January 1937 | 23 May 2009 |
| Emma Cheeseman | Scientific painter and taxidermist, whose work is in the Auckland Museum | 4 November 1846 | 2 October 1928 |
| Marie Clay | Academic, clinical psychologist, researcher distinguished researcher known for her work in global educational literacy. | 3 January 1926 | 13 April 2007 |
| Helen Connon | First woman in the British Empire to win any university degree with honours. | 1860 | 22 February 1903 |
| Lucy May Cranwell | Botanist responsible for groundbreaking work in palynology, and curator of botany at Auckland Museum. | 7 August 1907 | 8 June 2000 |
| Marguerite Crookes | Botanical enthusiast, pteridologist and conservationist, author, and founder of the Auckland Natural History Club. | 1898 | 24 January 1991 |
| Margaret Cruickshank | New Zealand's first registered female doctor | 1 January 1873 | 28 November 1918 |
| Kathleen Maisey Curtis | Mycologist and a founder of plant pathology in New Zealand. | 15 August 1892 | 5 September 1994 |
| Helen Kirkland Dalrymple | Botanist, author and school teacher who wrote two books on Otago flora. | 1883 | 1943 |
| Janet Davidson | Archaeologist who has carried out extensive field work in the Pacific Islands. | 1941 | |
| Michelle Dickinson | Nanotechnologist and science educator. | 20th Century | |
| Joan Dingley | Mycologist who was the head of mycology at the DSIR Plant Disease Division. | 14 May 1916 | 1 January 2008 |
| Alison Downard | Chemist focusing on surface chemistry, electrochemistry and nanoscale grafted layers | 20th Century | |
| Audrey Eagle | Writer, botanist and botanical illustrator, who was author and illustrator of the two volume Eagle's Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand. | 1925 | |
| Elizabeth Edgar | Botanist, author and editor of three of the five volumes of the series Flora of New Zealand. | 27 December 1929 | 1 January 2019 |
| Kate Edger | University graduate, educationalist, community worker. The first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree, and possibly the second in the British Empire to do so. | 6 January 1857 | 6 May 1935 |
| Kate Violet Edgerley | Botanist and teacher | 21 February 1887 | 26 February 1939 |
| Edith Farkas | Antarctic researcher known for being the first Hungarian woman and also the first New Zealand MetService female staff member to set foot in Antarctica. She conducted world-leading ozone monitoring research for over 30 years. | 13 October 1921 | 3 February 1993 |
| Sarah Featon | Botanical artist and author, who with her husband published The Art Album of New Zealand Flora. | 1848 | 28 April 1927 |
| Ruth Fitzgerald | Anthropology academic | 1956 | |
| Elizabeth Alice Flint | Botanist who specialised in freshwater algae, and co-authored the three-volume series Flora of New Zealand Desmids in the 1980s and 1990s. | 26 May 1909 | 7 December 2011 |
| Caroline Freeman | Teacher, school principal and owner, and the first female graduate of the University of Otago, New Zealand. | c.1856 | 16 August 1914 |
| Constance Frost | Medical doctor, bacteriologist and pathologist. | 23 June 1862 | 29 January 1920 |
| Marion Fyfe | Academic, specialising in taxonomy of planarians and other flatworms, the first woman zoology lecturer at the University of Otago, and the first woman to be elected to the Council of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. | 1897 | 1986 |
| Juliet Gerrard | Chemist and New Zealand Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor. | 20th Century | |
| Bessie Te Wenerau Grace | First Māori woman university graduate, nun, and educator. | 1889 | 1944 |
| Jane Harding | Academic new-born intensive case specialist (neonatologist) | 1955 | |
| Aroha Harris | Historian and writer, specialising in Māori histories of policy and community development | 20th Century | |
| Emily Cumming Harris | Teacher and artist, and one of New Zealand's first professional women painters. | 28 March 1837 | 5 August 1925 |
| Jennifer Hay | Linguist who specialises in sociolinguistics, laboratory phonology, and the history of New Zealand English | 1968 | |
| Harlene Hayne | Psychology professor and first female vice-chancellor of the University of Otago. | 1961 | |
| Elizabeth Herriott | Scientist and the first woman appointed to the permanent teaching staff at Canterbury College. | 1882 | 13 March 1936 |
| Barbara Farnsworth Heslop | Immunologist specialising in transplantation immunology and immunogenetics. | 26 January 1925 | 20 December 2013 |
| Rangimārie Hetet | Tohunga raranga (master weaver) of Ngāti Maniapoto | 24 May 1892 | 14 June 1995 |
| Georgina Burne Hetley | Artist and author, her book The Native Flora of New Zealand was published in English and French. | 27 May 1832 | 29 August 1898 |
| Avice Hill | Entomologist and herb grower. | 1906 | 2001 |
| Miss Hirst | Astronomical observer who published significant observations of Jupiter | 19th Century | Unknown |
| Eliza Amy Hodgson | Botanist who specialised in liverworts. | 10 October 1888 | 7 January 1983 |
| Janet Holmes | Sociolinguist working on language and gender, language in the workplace, and New Zealand English. | 17 May 1947 | |
| Ngapare Hopa | Māori academic of Waikato Tainui descent | 20th Century | 30 April 2024 |
| Alice Woodward Horsley | First registered woman doctor in Auckland. | 3 February 1871 | 7 November 1957 |
| Philippa Lynne Howden-Chapman | Clinical psychologist and public health researcher | 20th Century | |
| Margaret M. Hyland | Chemist, engineer and professor. | 1960 | |
| Alison Jones | Academic working on sociology of education. | 1955 | |
| Kahupeka | Māori healer and pioneer of herbal medicine | 15th Century | Unknown |
| Thelma Rene Kent | Photographer | 21 October 1899 | 23 June 1946 |
| Elsa Beatrice Kidson | Soil scientist and sculptor | 18 March 1905 | 25 July 1979 |
| Martha King | New Zealand's first resident botanical illustrator. She was a founder of schools in Whanganui and New Plymouth, and a talented gardener and schoolteacher. | 1803 | 31 May 1897 |
| Judith Kinnear | Academic, geneticist, and the first woman to head a New Zealand university | 12 May 1939 | |
| Pat Langhorne | Antarctic sea ice researcher | 1955 | |
| Wendy Larner | Geographer and social scientist who has focussed on the interdisciplinary areas of globalisation, governance and gender. | 2 March 1963 | |
| Diana Lennon | Academic and pediatrician, specialising in infectious diseases. | 3 October 1949 | 15 May 2018 |
| Janice M. Lord | Botanist and plant evolutionary biologist | 20th Century | |
| Elsie Low | Botanist, teacher and temperance campaigner. | 25 July 1875 | 14 February 1909 |
| Averil Margaret Lysaght | Biologist, science historian and artist, best known for her scholarly work on Joseph Banks | 14 April 1905 | 21 August 1981 |
| Bella MacCallum | Botanist and mycologist, and New Zealand's first female doctor of science | 1886 | 17 March 1927 |
| Tracey McIntosh | Sociology and criminology academic | 20th Century | |
| Ruth Mason | Botanist specialising in the taxonomy and ecology of freshwater plants. | 7 November 1913 | 14 May 1990 |
| Kāterina Mataira | Māori language advocate, artist and writer | 13 November 1932 | 16 July 2011 |
| Lisa Matisoo-Smith | Molecular anthropologist | 1963 | |
| Joan Mattingley | Clinical chemist and author | 1926 | 27 July 2015 |
| Marjorie Mestayer | Conchologist, and conchology curator for the Dominion Museum in Wellington. | 1880 | 7 July 1955 |
| Joan Metge | Social anthropologist, educator, lecturer and writer. | 21 February 1930 | |
| Pérrine Moncrieff | Ornithologist, conservationist, and author | 8 February 1893 | 16 December 1979 |
| Lucy Beatrice Moore | Botanist and ecologist | 14 July 1906 | 9 June 1987 |
| Rina Winifred Moore | First female Māori medical doctor. | 6 April 1923 | 1975 |
| Flora Murray | Botanist, and second woman appointed as permanent staff at Canterbury University College. | 1 August 1896 | 1968 |
| Margaret Mutu | Ngāti Kahu leader, author and academic | 20th Century | |
| Phoebe Myers | Teacher and educational reformer. She was one of the first women to teach science at college level in New Zealand, and the first woman to represent her country at the League of Nations. | 13 June 1866 | 2 June 1947 |
| Sheila Natusch | Writer and freelance illustrator. | 14 February 1926 | 10 August 2017 |
| Wendy Nelson | Botanist and phycologist, New Zealand's leading authority on seaweeds. | 1954 | |
| Hinke Maria Osinga | Mathematician and an expert in dynamical systems, also a creator of mathematical art. | 25 December 1969 | |
| Roka Paora | Māori language expert, translator, author and educator. | 15 February 1925 | 15 January 2011 |
| Mākereti Papakura | Tuhourangi woman of mana, guide, entertainer, and ethnographer. | 20 October 1873 | 16 April 1930 |
| Kim Pickering | Composite materials engineer | 20th Century | |
| Suzanne G Pitama | Psychologist and indigenous health researcher | 20th Century | |
| Josephine Gordon Rich | Zoologist and one of only four women who published results of her scientific work in New Zealand before 1901 | 1866 | 6 September 1940 |
| Jane Ritchie | Psychology academic and expert of child-raising, she was the first woman to graduate with a PhD in psychology from a New Zealand university. | 20th Century | |
| Joan Robb | Zoologist, professor and curator | 1921 | 19 October 2017 |
| Marion Robinson | Nutritionist and physiologist, particularly noted for her investigation of the importance of selenium in the human diet. | 1923 | 2003 |
| Viviane Robinson | Educational psychologist | 20th Century | |
| Jacinta Ruru | Law professor and the first Māori Professor of Law. | 1974 | |
| Anne Salmond | Anthropologist and historian | 16 November 1945 | |
| Hope Sanderson | Geologist, and the first New Zealand woman to graduate with MSc with Honours in Geology at a New Zealand university. | 1925 | 2016 |
| Rosa Olga Sansom | Teacher, museum director, botanist, broadcaster, and writer. | 3 June 1900 | 1 July 1989 |
| Caroline Saunders | Economist and researcher, specialising in environmental economics | 20th Century | |
| Martha K. Savage | Geology academic. | 20th Century | |
| Brenda Shore | Botanist, one of only 20 female Associate Professors in New Zealand when she retired in 1983. | 1922 | 1993 |
| Emily Hancock Siedeberg-McKinnon | Medical practitioner, hospital superintendent, and the country's first female medical graduate. | 17 February 1873 | 13 June 1968 |
| Cather Simpson | Physicist/chemist and entrepreneur | 20th Century | |
| Liz Slooten | Marine biologist | 20th Century | |
| Anne Briar Smith | Children's rights researcher and academic | 13 August 1940 | 22 May 2016 |
| Linda Tuhiwai Smith | Academic who has made a major contribution to research methods in social justice research. | 1950 | |
| Jane Soons | Geomorphologist and the first woman professor at the University of Canterbury, and possibly the first in New Zealand. | 1931 | 8 September 2020 |
| Greta Stevenson | Botanist and mycologist, who described many new species of Agaricales (gilled mushrooms). | 10 June 1911 | 18 December 1990 |
| Evelyn Stokes | Historical geographer who worked in the Waitangi Tribunal. | 5 December 1936 | 15 August 2005 |
| Vida Stout | Limnographer and academic administrator, first woman to be Dean of Science at a New Zealand university. | 20 February 1930 | 21 July 2012 |
| Jean Struthers | Botany student in New Zealand and an inspirational chemistry teacher in England and New Zealand | 1899 | 2002 |
| Lydia Suckling | Botanist and school teacher. | 1890 | 1979 |
| Mary Sutherland | Forester and botanist. | 4 May 1893 | 11 March 1955 |
| Miraka Szászy | Māori leader and academic, making significant contributions in education, broadcasting, social welfare and small business development. | 7 August 1921 | 20 December 2001 |
| Merryn Tawhai | Physics professor, she is known for the development of mathematical models of the lungs that will help scientists understand differences between physiologically normal lungs and the pathological changes that might occur in a disease. | 20th Century | |
| Grace Marie Taylor | Botanist, mycologist and scientific illustrator | 28 April 1930 | 24 April 1999 |
| Ngahuia Te Awekotuku | Academic, short story writer and essayist | 1949 | |
| Margaret Tennant | Historian | 1952 | |
| C. Jean Thompson | Statistician and author, who served as president of the New Zealand Statistical Association. | 1940 | |
| Beatrice Tinsley | Astronomer and cosmologist, whose research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve, grow and die. | 27 January 1941 | 23 March 1981 |
| Colleen Ward | Cross-cultural psychologist | 19 August 1952 | |
| Joyce Watson | Chemist specialising in fruit disorders and trace elements. | 5 July 1918 | 28 September 2004 |
| Lydia Wevers | Literary historian and critic, editor and book reviewer. | 19 March 1950 | 4 September 2021 |
| Whakaotirangi | Māori experimental gardener and early New Zealand scientist | 14th Century | Unknown |
| Joan Wiffen | Paleontologist | 4 February 1922 | 30 June 2009 |
| Philippa Wiggins | Biochemist and physical chemist, who made significant contributions to the understanding of the structure of water in living cells. | 16 July 1925 | 16 March 2017 |
| Siouxsie Wiles | Microbiologist and science communicator | 20th Century | |
| Christine Coe Winterbourn | Pathologist and researcher of the biological chemistry of free radicals. | 20th Century | |
| Mimie Wood | Secretary, accountant and librarian | 1888 | 1979 |
| Ann Wylie | Botanist | 1922 | |
| Aroha Yates-Smith | Performer and social scientist, researching forgotten Māori female deities | 20th Century | |
| Pamela Young | First New Zealand woman to live and work in Antarctica | 1930s | |