Ireland’s Greatest Woman Inventor is immortalised in print

16 Apr 2014

Dorothy Stopford Price was voted Ireland’s Greatest Woman Inventor in a Siliconrepublic.com poll and now the ‘rebel doctor’ is to be honoured with the publication of a biography from Anne Mac Lennan.

As our competition to find Ireland’s Greatest Woman Inventor last year proved, Ireland has no shortage of women who have contributed a great deal to science, technology, engineering and maths. And our list of the top 100 women working in STEM in Ireland today shows this is a legacy that carries on.

Stopford Price was selected as the top choice among 10 finalists for the title of Ireland’s Greatest Woman Inventor and, now, Mac Lennan’s biography offers a closer look at this remarkable woman’s political, professional and personal life.

From an upper-class Anglo-Irish upbringing, Stopford Price became a radical revolutionary nationalist following the events of the Easter Rising but, ultimately, she was a champion in the fight to rid Ireland of tuberculosis.

We largely have Stopford Price to thank for the introduction of the BCG vaccination to Ireland and her rigorous campaigning to improve public health and social development led to a conflict with Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, arguably the most powerful figure of the time.

Mac Lellan’s extensive study is suitably titled Dorothy Stopford Price: Rebel Doctor and is available now from Irish Academic Press.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths. It has been running since March 2013, and is kindly supported by Accenture Ireland, Intel, the Irish Research Council, ESB, CoderDojo and Science Foundation Ireland. You can nominate inspiring women in the fields of STEM via email to womeninvent@siliconrepublic.com or on Twitter to @siliconrepublic.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com