**Four women whose pioneering contributions to science have been largely overlooked**

Ethel Browne Harvey and Hilde Pröscholdt Mangold did pioneering research in embryology, Ida Henrietta Hyde helped develop the first microelectrodes for the stimulation of single cells, and Marthe Gautier had a vital role in discovering that Down syndrome is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. So why are their names so little known by the scientific community at large?