Five trailblazing Canadian women in science

In the annals of science, the contributions of women have often been denied, ignored, or forgotten. Yet, throughout history, women have persisted, breaking barriers and reshaping the world with brilliance and determination. To celebrate International Women’s Day, these are the stories of five extraordinary Canadian women who defied the odds, challenged stereotypes, and left an indelible mark on their fields.

Frances Wagner – Earth Sciences

Frances Joan Estelle Wagner (1927–2016) was a geologist and a trailblazer in micropaleontology. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, she developed an early love for the outdoors, a passion that would propel her to become one of the first women to conduct extensive fieldwork in geology.

Wagner began her journey into the male-dominated field of geology at the University of Toronto, where she earned her Master in Invertebrate Paleontology in 1950. Her mentor, Dr. Alice Wilson—the first female geologist at the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)—encouraged Wagner to pursue fieldwork, despite the prevailing belief that women were unsuited for such physically demanding and ‘unfeminine’ activities. In 1950, Wagner joined Wilson at the GSC as a full-time employee. She was one of only three women hired by the organization at the time.

Wagner’s first field expedition took her to Moose Factory in northern Ontario, traveling by canoe and camping with a team of skeptical male colleagues. It was thought that a woman would be intolerant of harsh conditions and incapable of carrying heavy bags of rock samples, slowing down the team. Wagner not only persevered but excelled, proving that gender was no barrier to scientific exploration.

When the GSC needed an expert in Pleistocene paleontology, they sent Wagner to Stanford University for training, where she was supervised and mentored by one of the few other women in geology at the time, Dr. Myra Keen. Wagner completed a PhD specializing in the emerging field of micropaleontology—the study of microscopic fossils.

Frances Wagner (left) aboard a vessel bringing up a device used to drag the sea floor for sediments containing microscopic fossils. Used with permission from science.ca.

Wagner returned to Canada with her newly acquired expertise and rose to the forefront of micropaleontology. She used microfossils to date geological layers, reconstruct ancient ecosystems, and aid in mineral exploration. Her research for the GSC took her across Canada, travelling by boat, truck, airplane, helicopter, and canoe from the Ottawa Valley to the Arctic. She became a leading expert on the Champlain Sea, an ancient body of water that once covered parts of Ontario and Quebec. She studied cores from the floor of the Arctic and Atlantic continental shelves, and the ancient seas around Hudson’s Bay. Wagner’s expertise was recognized and earned her a spot on the CSS Hudson, one of the first Canadian government research ships to include a female researcher. The Hudson was the first research ship to travel the Northwest Passage. Wagner was aboard for half the journey, including the voyage’s most northerly point. It was a voyage of fog, snow, gale-force winds, waves crashing over the deck, a generator explosion, and detours to avoid icebergs. The Hudson was even called to rescue of two other ships. Amid these hazardous conditions, Wagner collected geological samples she needed to produce a groundbreaking ecological history of the Beaufort Sea.

Wagner’s work in micropaleontology helped map much of Canada’s land and oceans, contributing to the understanding of geological layers from coast to coast. When Wagner began her career with the GSC, only a quarter of Canada’s geology had been mapped. By the time Wagner retired, she and other geologists had charted two-thirds. For her contributions, she was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 1973.

Wagner was an adventurous soul not deterred by harsh weather or stereotypes. She was part of a close-knit group of women geologists who mentored each other in a field that didn’t believe they could succeed. By the 1970s, her efforts, along with those of her colleagues, had opened doors for nearly 30 female scientists at the GSC.

Frances Wagner receiving a certificate celebrating 25 years with the CGS in 1975. From left to right: Dr. Dale Buckley (Head of Marine Geology), Dr. Frances Wagner,  and Dr. Bosko Loncarevic (Director of the Atlantic Geosciences Centre). Source: Canadian Geological Society.

Leone Norwood Farrell – Medical Sciences

Leone Norwood Farrell (1904–1986) was a trailblazing biochemist and microbiologist whose innovative work transformed vaccine production and saved millions of lives. Born in Monkland, Ontario, Farrell grew up in Toronto and excelled academically, earning a scholarship to the University of Toronto. She graduated with a master’s degree in zymology (the study of fermentation) in 1929 and a PhD in biochemistry in 1933. She then joined the University of Toronto’s prestigious Connaught Laboratories, which had been instrumental in the development and production of insulin a decade before.

Farrell’s early research focused on toxoid vaccines, which prevented bacterial diseases like diphtheria and dysentery. But it was her development of the “Toronto Method,” that set her apart. This novel technique, which involved cultivating bacteria and viruses in large, rocking bottles using a nutrient-rich liquid, revolutionized vaccine production. It allowed for the mass production of a whooping cough vaccine at a tenth of the usual price, making it affordable enough for large-scale childhood immunization programs. By the 1950s, whooping cough deaths had dropped to almost zero.

In the early 1950s, the American Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first human polio vaccine, but could only produce it in very small quantities. The United States did not have the method or facilities to attempt mass production, but Canada did—at the Connaught Labs.

Farrell was given the “herculean task” of preparing 3,000 litres of poliovirus fluids to produce enough vaccine for the largest international vaccine field trial to date, involving 1.6 million children in Canada, the USA, and Finland. At the time, working with such enormous quantities of virus was dangerous, requiring meticulous precision to prevent exposure. Under Farrell’s leadership, there were no staff infections. Her method succeeded, all trials were a success, and her method was used to produce enough vaccine to protect an entire generation. The vaccine was administered internationally, and between 1955 and 1961—within Farrell’s lifetime—annual cases dropped 99.7% (from 58,000 cases per year to 161).

Farrell requested that the lab not patent the Toronto Method, and while there’s no record of her reasoning, we can assume that she wished the process to be freely available for the international production of other vaccines. Variations of the Toronto Method were used until the 1970s.

Dr. Farrell loading poliovirus bottle cultures onto rocking machine racks, 1954. Source: Sanofi Pasteur Canada Archives, Connaught Campus.

When Salk visited Toronto to thank ‘team Farrell’ for their work on the vaccine, Farrell herself was not invited, as the ceremony was held at a men’s-only dining hall. Dr. Salk offered to meet Farrell and her few female colleagues outside the hall, an indignity that Farrell declined. Dr. Salk became an international hero for his invention of the vaccine, but Farrell and her team were never recognized for bringing that vaccine to the world.

Never deterred, Farrell set her mind to improving antibiotic production. She developed Penicillium chrysogenum, a new strain of penicillin that yielded 20 to 30 times more antibiotic than the original strain. She eventually retired from Connaught Laboratories in 1969, after 35 years of service.

As one of the few women with a PhD in sciences at the time, Farrell navigated an almost entirely male-dominated field with quiet determination. While little is known about her personal life, there are some clues about how she felt working as a woman in STEM. In 1941, she wrote in a letter, “My intention has always been ‘to be a lady chemist — and not look like it.’… I have been charged with being a chameleon.” Despite her success, Farrell was made to feel that her femininity was a liability.

Leone Farrell’s talent for process and efficiency saved the lives of tens of millions. The near eradication of polio is considered one of the greatest medical achievements in history. Since the first polio vaccine, 2.5 billion children have been immunized. Quietly determined, expertly efficient, Leone Farrell is proof that one woman can certainly change the world.

Anne Innis Dagg – Biology

Anne Innis Dagg. Source: Livefornature, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Anne Innis Dagg (1933–2024) was a pioneering biologist, feminist activist, and author whose groundbreaking work in animal behaviour, particularly her research on giraffes, revolutionized zoology.

From the moment she first saw a giraffe at a zoo as a child, Anne knew she wanted to study them. Her passion led her to obtain a BA in Honours Biology in 1955 and an MA in genetics in 1956, both at the University of Toronto.

Later that year, at just 23 years old, Dagg embarked on an unprecedented solo journey to South Africa to study giraffes in the wild, becoming the first Western researcher to do so. Women were discouraged from pursuing fieldwork and she was forced to overcome numerous obstacles. After initially being denied permission to study, she began to sign her correspondence as “A. Innis,” leading a South African farmer to assume she was a man and offer his land to her as a study site. Upon arrival, she was again denied. After weeks of persistence, she finally secured access to study giraffes on the farmer’s land. Anne spent over ten hours per day in the field making meticulous observations, including the first recorded instance of homosexual behaviour in male giraffes. Her findings laid the foundation for modern giraffe research and were later published in The Giraffe: Its Biology, Behavior, and Ecology (1976), co-authored with J. Bristol Foster, which remains a seminal text in the field.

Dagg returned to Canada to complete her PhD in animal behaviour at the University of Waterloo. After graduating in 1967, she struggled to secure a permanent position. In 1972, after publishing 20 research papers as an assistant professor at the University of Guelph, she was denied tenure, with the dean citing her family commitments as a reason. Similarly, the University of Waterloo’s dean told her outright that he would never grant tenure to a married woman. In 1974, Dagg filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission after Wilfrid Laurier University refused to hire her in favour of a male applicant with less experience and fewer qualifications. These rejections, which Dagg described as “demoralizing,” highlight the systemic sexism women continued to face in academia throughout the 1970s.

Dagg channelled her experiences into activism, becoming a vocal advocate for gender equality in academia. She challenged sexual and gender bias in scientific research, including the omission of homosexual behaviour in nature and the use of inaccurate, gender-discriminatory language to describe mating behaviour, such as describing females as “coy” or “flirtatious.”

She published extensively on gender bias in academia, co-authoring MisEducation: Women & Canadian Universities (1988). Her work shed light on the challenges faced by women in STEM and beyond, inspiring future generations to challenge institutional discrimination.

Dagg’s contributions were finally recognized later in her life. In 2018, her story gained global attention with the release of the award-winning documentary The Woman Who Loves Giraffes. Following the film’s success, the University of Guelph issued a formal apology for denying her tenure and established the Dr. Anne Innis Dagg Summer Research Scholarship to support women in zoology. In 2019, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the nation’s highest honours, for her contributions to science and advocacy.

Throughout her life, Dagg refused to be silenced. When she was excluded from the academic system, she found an outlet for her voice as a prolific author, publishing more than 60 articles and 20 books.

Margaret Newton – Agricultural Sciences

Margaret Newton (1887–1971) was a plant pathologist and mycologist whose research on wheat rusts revolutionized agriculture worldwide. Raised on a tenant farm near Plaisance, Quebec, Newton spent her childhood immersed in farm life, each day walking three miles among the fields to school.

Newton’s academic journey began at McGill University’s Macdonald College, where she faced immediate resistance. Initially denied admission to the agriculture program because no woman had ever completed it, she persisted and was eventually accepted in 1914. Once she arrived on campus, she realized that despite being a student, as a woman she was barred from using laboratories in the evening. This was unacceptable to Newton, who neither had patience for sexist rules nor research curfews; experiments waited for no one. She successfully challenged the curfew, setting the tone for a career defined by defiance and drive.

In 1918, Newton became the first woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. By 1919, she’d already earned her Master of Science for her groundbreaking work on wheat rust, a devastating fungal disease that threatened Canada’s wheat crops.

In the early 20^th century, the development of new wheat varieties that could thrive in Canada’s colder climate had rapidly turned the Canadian prairies into the world’s breadbasket. But in less than a decade, this triumph was put in jeopardy. Wheat rust, a disease caused by the fungus Puccinia graminis, began sweeping Canadian fields. With tiny airborne spores, wheat rust could travel rapidly, decimating entire harvests. In 1916 alone, 3.6 million tonnes of grain were lost. Newton’s work focused on understanding the complex life cycle of wheat stem rust. Her research was not just academic; it had real-world implications for the Candian economy and for farmers struggling to protect their livelihoods—something Newton would have no doubt witnessed in her childhood.

Margaret Newton (bottom left) and her graduating class. Image credit: University of Minnesota Department of Plant Pathology.

Margaret Newton seeding rust plots with Dominion Rust Research Laboratory staff. Source: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Her research took her to the University of Minnesota, where she earned her PhD in 1922, becoming the first Canadian woman to hold a doctorate in agricultural science. In 1925, Newton joined the newly established Dominion Rust Research Laboratory in Winnipeg as a senior plant pathologist. There, she conducted pioneering research on the diversity of rust strains, providing critical data that helped breeders create hardier crops. Her annual stem rust surveys across western Canada became the foundation for agricultural innovation, earning her international recognition. In 1933, she was invited to the Soviet Union to share her expertise, a testament to her global impact.

Newton was never someone to do anything by halves. She worked tirelessly, often to the point of exhaustion, and “relaxed” by embarking on demanding canoe trips. Tragically, her career was cut short by poor respiratory health, likely caused by long-term exposure to fungal spores. In 1945 she retired—a choice that would have no doubt been excruciating for her. However, ever defiant, she continued to contribute as advisor and mentor.

Despite her early retirement, her contributions to agriculture were so profound that the grain industry successfully petitioned the government to grant her a full pension in recognition of her impact.

Thanks to the work of Newton and her team, wheat breeders developed new rust-resistant cultivars, reducing the wheat lost from rust to almost zero in Canada. Her story is a reminder that the seeds of change are often planted by those who refuse to take no for an answer.

Clara Cynthia Benson – Chemistry

Clara Benson. Source: University of Toronto, Public Domain.

Clara Cynthia Benson (1875–1964) was a trailblazing chemist who defied societal expectations and broke barriers for women in STEM at a time when opportunities were limited. Born in Port Hope, Ontario, Benson entered the University of Toronto (U of T) in 1895, just one year after the institution began admitting women. However, while women could now attend the university, they still weren’t permitted to use the university’s reading rooms or library catalogues. Despite these constraints, Benson became the first woman to earn a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from U of T in 1899. She continued her studies, earning her PhD in 1903, making her one of the first two women to achieve this distinction at U of T, alongside philosophy student Emma Baker.

Benson’s career path was shaped by the gender biases of her time. Despite her expertise in physical chemistry, she struggled to find employment. Instead, she took a position in food chemistry at U of T’s Lillian Massey School of Domestic Science, a program designed to train women for domestic roles. Benson vehemently opposed the program’s goal of preparing women solely for housewifery and signed a petition against the program’s mission. However, she stayed in the program as it was one of the only areas of chemistry with professional opportunities for women, and she used the role strategically to advance her career.

By 1905, she became the first woman at U of T to be promoted to lecturer in physiological chemistry. A year later, she was named one of the university’s first female associate professors, eventually becoming a full professor and head of the Department of Food Chemistry.

Benson’s contributions extended beyond academia. During World War I, she adapted food chemistry techniques to analyze explosives, standardizing methodologies for munitions laboratories. She was also a founding member of the American Society for Biological Chemistry (now the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), and the only woman among its founders.

A passionate advocate for women’s rights and athletics, Benson co-chaired a committee to develop women’s sports at U of T and served as the first president of the Women’s Athletic Association. Her efforts culminated in the opening of U of T’s first women’s gymnasium in 1959, named the Benson Building in her honour. The building is now home to U of T’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

Clara Benson’s legacy is one of resilience and determination. She fought for opportunities and created her own, defying societal expectations and paving the way for future generations of women in science and athletics.

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