History is shaped not only by what we remember, but also by who has been left out.
When we think about the history of European science, familiar names often come to mind. Yet behind the well-known stories are generations of researchers whose work received far less recognition.
Among them are migrant women scientists.
Throughout European history, women scientists moved across borders because of conflict, persecution, exile and political change. They continued researching, teaching and contributing knowledge in new countries and institutions, often under extremely difficult circumstances.
Yet their contributions have frequently been omitted, downplayed or attributed to others.
Forgotten Pioneers was created to examine this missing part of Europe’s history.
A double erasure
Women have historically faced considerable barriers to recognition within science. Migration could make those barriers even greater.
Forgotten Pioneers describes this as a double erasure. Contributions could first be overlooked because the scientist was a woman, while migration or forced displacement could also separate her work from its original context, networks or national history.
The project highlights examples such as Hungarian radiochemist Elizabeth Rona, who worked across several European countries while political upheaval and antisemitism affected her career, and Czech-born chemist Gertrud Kornfeld, who was forced to emigrate during the rise of Nazism. Their experiences show how gender, migration and political circumstances could influence not simply a scientific career, but whether that career was properly remembered afterwards.
Recovering these histories is therefore about more than adding additional names to a list. It asks us to look critically at how scientific history itself has been recorded.
Why historical visibility matters today
Representation in history helps shape expectations in the present.
When migrant women scientists are largely missing from textbooks, archives, exhibitions and public discussion, it can create the impression that they were never significant participants in European science.
That matters particularly for younger generations.
Young people need opportunities to encounter a wider range of scientists, innovators and thinkers. For girls and young people from migrant backgrounds in particular, seeing people with different experiences represented as contributors to European knowledge can help challenge assumptions about who belongs in STEM.
Forgotten Pioneers will therefore work with young people not simply as an audience, but as active participants. Storytelling, dialogue and educational activities will encourage them to question established narratives, discover overlooked pioneers and consider how remembrance connects with equality and citizenship.
Connecting past and present
There is also a clear contemporary dimension to the project.
Highly qualified migrant women across Europe continue to encounter challenges including non-recognition of qualifications, employment below their skill level, limited professional networks and barriers to career progression.
Forgotten Pioneers does not suggest that remembering historical scientists alone can solve these structural problems. Instead, it recognises that public narratives matter.
If migrant women are absent from the history of European science, it becomes easier to view their presence in highly skilled professions today as unusual rather than part of a much longer tradition.
The project will connect these historical stories with discussions about current inequalities, supporting educators, young people, cultural institutions and policymakers to consider how gender and migration can interact in both historical and contemporary contexts.
Remembering Europe’s migrant women scientists is therefore not simply about looking backwards. It is about building a more accurate understanding of Europe’s past and using that understanding to create better conversations about equality, belonging and whose knowledge we choose to recognise today.