Part 1

1. Part 1 Participation of Women in Mathematics, Science, Engineering & Technology from Antiquity to Present time

2. 1-1Early Women Scientists and Engineers • The earliest evidence of women engaged in activities relating to science dates back to about 6000 years. • Most of these women lived in the Middle East region. • The earliest woman active in the medical sciences field was Merit Ptah, who lived in Egypt around 2700 B.C. • Throughout early antiquity up until about 500 B.C., at most one or two women scientists have been identified during each century. • The earliest woman active in physical sciences and engineering is Tapputi Belatekallim, a Babylonian chemist (or perhaps we should refer to her as a chemical engineer), who lived around 1200 B.C..

3. 1-2Women and Science in the Ancient World • The written history of science begins in Egypt during the old kingdom, the age of the Pyramid (2778 – 2263 B.C.). • Medicine was an established profession in Egypt prior to 3000 B.C. and educated women worked as doctors and surgeons. • The people of Mesopotamia - the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians- made the greatest advances in science, particularly in observation astronomy.