Katherine Johnson, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her lifetime of work as a pioneering physicist, mathematician and space scientist. She and her colleagues, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson did the calculations that guided NASA’s 1962 Friendship 7 Mission.

Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim receives the L’OréalUNESCO for Women in Science Awards for her remarkable contribution to the prevention and treatment of HIV and associated infections, greatly improving the quality of life of women in Africa.

Maria Teresa Ruiz is appointed Professor Astrophysics / Universidad de Chile, Chile Recognized for her contributions to the study of a variety of faint celestial objects hidden in the darkness of the universe. Her observations on brown dwarfs could answer the universal question of whether there is life on other planets.

Catherine Ngila, Acting Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences Recognized for introducing, developing and applying nanotechnology-based analytical methods to monitor water pollutants

Karen Uhlenbeck receives the Abel Prize for Mathematics for her fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory, which has dramatically changed the mathematical landscape.

Susana Arrechea, Ellawalla Kankanamge, Chao Mbogo, Samia Subrina, and Fathiah Zakham win the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World. The winning scholars are being recognized for their diverse accomplishments in engineering, innovation & technology. The prize also acknowledges the scientists’ commitment to leading and mentoring young scientists, and to improving lives and livelihoods in their communities and regions

Kyoko Nozaki receives the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards Recognized for her pioneering creative contributions within the field of synthetic chemistry and the importance to industrial innovation.