Women in Science

Helen Brooke Taussig

Cardiologist

Having struggled with severe dyslexia to complete college, Helen Brooke Taussig (1898-1986) regarded the fact that women were rarely admitted to medical school as just another hurdle to get past. She completed her studies at John Hopkins Medical School—but was then confronted with the loss of her hearing. Determined to practice anyway, and choosing pediatric cardiology as her specialty, she learned to read lips and to "listen with her fingers" to her patients' hearts. This fine-tuned sensitivity, combined with her acute powers of observation, led Taussig to one of the most important discoveries in cardiac care in the twentieth century—and to the beginning of open-heart surgery. Taussig determined that a lack of oxygen was the cause of cyanosis, a congenital disorder that caused babies to die very young. She developed a successful surgical technique to correct the problem, and soon cyanosis was virtually wiped out.

Be sure to read about how other female, African-American and other scientists helped shape our history and make our world what it is today.