Astronomers, journalists, artists, lawyers, filmmakers, civil servants: Wellesley alumnae have broken barriers in countless fields. Here are just a few of our graduates who were notable firsts—and who held the doors open for the nexts.
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Annie Jump Cannon, class of 1884, was the first astronomer to methodically classify stars. She was also the first woman to receive the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences and be an officer in the American Astronomical Society. (Sarah Frances Whiting, center, and students in her physics class, including Annie Jump Cannon, class of 1884, pictured third from the left. Courtesy of Wellesley College Archives.)
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Sophonisba Breckinridge, class of 1888, was the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Chicago and to represent the U.S. at an international conference. At the university, she helped found the field of social work and co-established what is now the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. (Image Courtesy of Wellesley College Archives.)
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Aviator Ruth Nichols, class of 1923, daringly co-piloted the first nonstop flight from New York to Miami and was the first female commercial airline pilot. (Image Courtesy of Wellesley College Archives.)
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Amalya Kearse ’59 was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the second Black person, after Thurgood Marshall. She is also a world champion bridge player and was the 1959 Hooprolling winner. (Image Courtesy of Wellesley College Archives.)
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While at Bell Labs, Erna Schneider Hoover ’48 developed a computerized telephone switching system, and in 1971, she earned one of the first software patents ever granted. (Photo of Hoover at reunion in 2023 by Lisa Abitbol.)
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Vivian Pinn ’62 was the first full-time director of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health and the first Black woman in the U.S. to chair a pathology department, at Howard. (Photo by Richard Howard.)
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Suzanne Ciani ’68 is a five-time Grammy-nominated composer and electronic music pioneer dubbed “diva of the diode.” She is featured in Suzanne Ciani: Sound Lounge, an immersive installation at the Davis Museum this year. (Photo by Catherine Yang ’29.)
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In “Bernice Gera, First Lady Umpire,” a 1973 profile for Esquire, Nora Ephron ’62 wrote, “I cannot understand any woman’s wanting to be the first woman to do anything. … It is a devastating burden and I could not take it, could not be a pioneer, a Symbol of Something Greater.” Ironically, Ephron was already a pioneering journalist and became a pioneering screenwriter and filmmaker. (Image Courtesy of Wellesley College Archives.)
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In 1976, Nancy Kornblith Kopp ’65 was the first woman in any state legislature to give birth while in office. She served in the Maryland House of Delegates for nearly 30 years before becoming the state’s treasurer. (Photo of Kopp and her painted portrait, which was hung in Maryland's Treasury Building in 2025 to honor Kopp's years of service.)
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In-ho Lee ’60, a public intellectual in her native Korea and a renowned Russian historian, became Korea’s first female ambassador, to Finland, in 1996. Two years later she was appointed ambassador to Russia. (Photo by Richard Howard.)
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Nergis Mavalvala ’90, the first woman to lead MIT’s School of Science, was part of the team that in 2016 first detected gravitational waves. (Photo by Richard Howard.)
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Callie Crossley ’73 was the first African American woman nominated for an Academy Award in the documentary feature category, for Bridge to Freedom, part of the Eyes on the Prize series. A national Emmy and duPont-Columbia Gold Baton winner, and a current Wellesley trustee, she was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame this year. (Photo by Richard Howard.)
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U.S. Rep. Emily Randall ’08 is the first woman and first person of color to represent Washington’s 6th District, the first LGBTQ person in Washington’s Congressional delegation, and the first queer Latina to serve in the U.S. Congress. (Image Courtesy of Emily Randall.)
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In September, Jennifer Saunders ’96 became the first woman to lead the New York State Museum in its nearly 200-year existence. (Image Courtesy of Jennifer Saunders.)
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In 1990, Paula A. Johnson became the first Black person in the history of Brigham and Women’s Hospital to be chosen as chief medical resident. After holding leadership roles in medicine, public health, and academia, she became Wellesley College’s first Black president in 2016. (Photo by Lisa Abitbol.)
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