Written by: on January 12, 2024
We’ve collated an InnovateHer 2024 calendar for our community and ambassadors to utilise all the key dates and birthdays of all the women who inspire us.
January 17th – Michelle Obama Birthday – Michelle Obama is an American Lawyer, university administrator and writer who served as the First Lady from 2009 – 2017. She has been a long-term advocate for girls’ education and women’s and minorities’ rights. Discover our top 10 Michelle Obama quotes here.
January 22 – Anniversary of the Women’s March – the 2023 Women’s March marks 50 years since landmark decision to revoke Roe vs Wade, which protected abortion rights across the US. The goal of the annual marches is themed and advocates for human rights, women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion, workers rights and tolerance. Two InnovateHer team members share their experiences of the 2017 March here.
February 4th – Rosa Parks’ Birthday – On This Day African-American civil rights activist Rosa Parks was born. Parks is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and has been called “the first lady of civil rights” by the US Congress.
Feb 6 – 12th – National Apprenticeship Week – This week-long celebration of Apprenticeships aims to bring the apprenticeship community together to celebrate the impact apprenticeships have on individuals. Join us on February 6th at 2pm, as we host a free virtual 45-minute session, in which students in Year 10 and 11, will discover the world of apprenticeships and explore how they can shape their future. Get you place here.
February 10th – Martha Lane-Fox Birthday – Martha Lane Fox is the founder of Doteveryone.org.uk a think tank whose aim is to make the future of the industry fairer through responsible technology. She also sits on the board of Twitter.
February 10th – Vivienne Malone-Mayes Birthday – Vivienne Malone-Mayes was an African-American mathematician and professor studying function properties.
February 11th – International Day of Women & Girls in Science – this day is dedicated to achieving full and equal access to and the participation of women and girls in science and STEM. Find out more here.
March 1st – Zero Discrimination Day – this day aims to stamp out all discrimination. Find out more here.
March 6th – Valentina Tereshkova Birthday – At 26, Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to travel to space. Read her story and that of 4 other women who have been to space here.
March 8th – International Women’s Day – this day celebrates the progress made so far and highlights the action that needs to be taken still to further women’s rights. This year’s theme is ‘invest in women’ and how gender equality brings progress for us all. Join us on March 6th, as we celebrate International Women’s Day with a free virtual conference, consisting of 3 events: a talk, an ideation workshop, and a panel. For Years 7 upwards, you can book your school’s place here.
March 13th – British Science Week – is a 10-day celebration of British STEM, encouraging people of all ages to get involved in STE(A)M.
March 23rd – Emmy Noether – Emmy Noether was a German mathematician whose work helped contribute to abstract algebra and theoretical physics.
April 1st – Start of Mathematics Awareness Month – April is the month to increase the understanding and appreciation of mathematics and statistics.
April 3rd – Jane Goodall Birthday – Jane Goodall is a British primatologist, anthropologist and the world’s leading expert on Chimpanzees. Discover our favourite Jane Goodall quotes.
April 4th – Maya Angelou Birthday – Maya Angelou is an American civil-rights activist, writer and performer. Some of her most notable works include the poem Still I Rise and I know why a caged bird sings.
April 9th – Mary Jackson Birthday – Mary Jackson was an African American mathematician and aerospace engineer who worked for NASA. Janelle Monáe portrayed Mary in the movie Hidden Figures.
April 12th – International Day of Human Space Flight – this day marks the day that the first human space flight took place. Read our piece on this day here.
April 15th – Emma Watson Birthday – since leaving Hogwarts, Emma Watson has been a vocal advocate for women and girls rights across the globe through her work for the UN initiative He For She. She even has her own online feminist book club, follow Our Shared Shelf on Instagram.
April 21st – World Creativity and Innovation Day & International Astronomy Day – World Creativity and Innovation Day is celebrated 6 days after Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday and one day before Earth Day purposely to encourage creating multidisciplinary thinking to help us create a sustainable future. Discover more here. International Astronomy Day encourages interaction between the general public, astronomy groups, and enthusiasts.
April 22nd – Earth Day – is a worldwide annual event. Organisations hold various events across the globe to demonstrate the need and support for environmental protection of the planet.
April 23rd – Annie Easley Birthday – Annie Easley was an African-American computer scientist, mathematician and rocket scientist.
May 4th – Star Wars Day – an annual day to celebrate the famous sci-fi movie franchise Star Wars.
May 27th – Donna Strickland’s Birthday – Donna Strickland is a Canadian optical physicist and is best known for her work in pulsed lasers. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018.
May 30th – Claudia Alexander’s Birthday – Claudia Alexander was an African-American scientist whose research specialised in geophysics and planetary science.
May 30th – Helen Sharman’s Birthday – Helen Sharman was the first British Astronaut to travel to space and the first woman to visit the Mir Space Centre. Read more about her story on our blog.
May 31st – Chien-Shiung Wu’s Birthday – Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American physicist who greatly contributed to the study of nuclear physics.
June 2nd – Yi So-yeon Birthday – South-Korean native Yi So-yeon was the first Korean to fly to space in 2008. Read more about her story here.
June 5th – World Environment Day – the UN established World Environment Day to encourage awareness and action to protect our environment.
June 23rd – International Women in Engineering Day – a day to celebrate women’s achievements in engineering and encourage more girls to pursue a career in engineering.
July 12th – Malala Yousafzai Birthday – Malala Yousafzai is a well-known activist for girls and girls education. Read one of our teen InnovateHer’s piece on the role model.
July 15th – Joyce Bell-Burnell Birthday – Joyce Bell-Burnell is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who co-discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967.
July 23rd – Vera Rubin Birthday – Vera Rubin was an American astronomer who was a pioneer in the work of galaxy rotation rates.
August 26th – Katherine Johnson Birthday – Katherine Johnson is an African-American mathematician whose calculations were critical to the first manned space flight to the moon. Taraji P Henson portrayed Katherine in the movie Hidden Figures.
August 28th – Sheryl Sandberg Birthday – Sheryl Sandberg is an American technologist and activist. She is currently the COO of Facebook and the Founder of Leanin.org.
September 12th – Anousheh Ansari Birthday – Shortly after her 40th birthday, Ansari was the first Iranian woman to go to space in 2006. She is also the co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems. Read more about her story here.
September 16th – Dame Stephanie Shirley Birthday – Dame Stephanie Shirley is a British technologist who founded the software company ‘Freelance Programmers’. Her team worked on programming the Concorde’s black box flight recorder.
September 19th-25th – National Coding Week, a week in place to celebrate Coding and the skills, careers and resources it provides to us all.
September 20th – Dorothy Vaughan Birthday – Dorothy Vaughan was an African-American mathematician and human-computer who worked for NASA. Octavia Spencer portrayed Dorothy in the Hidden Figures Movie.
October 8th – Ada Lovelace Day, a day to celebrate Ada Lovelace, the first female computer programmer, a day that acknowledges and celebrates the importance of women in STEM.
October 11th – Eleanor Roosevelt Birthday & International Day of the Girl – Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that approved the UN Declaration of Human Rights. She was the only woman on the committee. International Day of the Girl aims to highlight and address the needs of girls across the globe whilst promoting girls empowerment. Read more.
October 17th – Mae Jemison Birthday – Dr Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman to travel to space. Read her story here.
October 21st – Carrie Fisher Birthday – Actress Carrie Fisher is best known for portraying Princess/General Leia in the Star Wars franchise.
November 7th – Marie Curie Birthday – Marie Curie was a physicist and chemist who was a pioneer in radioactivity research and was awarded the Nobel Prize twice for her work.
November 7th – Lise Meitner Birthday – Lise Meitner was an Austrian-Swedish physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. She is best known for her discovery of nuclear fission.
November 9th – Hedy Lamarr Birthday – Hedy Lamarr was an actress and inventor who pioneered Wireless Communication and co-invented a ‘Secret Communications System’ used by the Allied forces in WWII. The principles she developed were the foundation of today’s most used technologies, such as Bluetooth and wifi.
December 9th – Grace Hopper Birthday – Grace Hopper was an American Rear Navy admiral and scientist who taught us what debugging is.
December 10th – Ada Lovelace Birthday – Ada Lovelace was the world’s first computer programmer. Read her story.
December 11th – Annie Jump Cannon Birthday – Annie Jump Cannon was an American astronomer who, through her work, helped the development of the contemporary stellar classification.
If you would like to suggest a date to add to the calendar, please email: hello@innovateher.co.uk
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