As a young Missouri prairie girl, Rachel Ignotofsky was torn between being an artist and a scientist. Today Rachel has blended her passions in guurl-friendly, message-driven drawings celebrating women in science. Her designs highlight each woman’s accomplishments and discoveries. Rachel says there are a total of 50 brainiac heroines mapped out in her head, with seven now brought to life. They include Jane Goodall, Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, Valentina Tereshkova, Mary Anning, Grace Hopper and Patricia Bath.

Ignotofsky’s Etsy shop features her prints and drawings on a variety of products including tees, pillows and more. 

Coincidentally, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous conservationist and voice of chaimpanzees is featured in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine in Jane Goodall Is Still Wild At Heart. 

The Magazine also explored the issue of why there are no few women in science in October 2013. The reasons are many and strikingly NOT exclusively the result of women’s lack of confidence or an inability to juggle work and family. 

Last summer, researchers at Yale published a study proving that physicists, chemists and biologists are likely to view a young male scientist more favorably than a woman with the same qualifications. Presented with identical summaries of the accomplishments of two imaginary applicants, professors at six major research institutions were significantly more willing to offer the man a job. If they did hire the woman, they set her salary, on average, nearly $4,000 lower than the man’s. Surprisingly, female scientists were as biased as their male counterparts.