Cosmetics company L'Oreal has linkurl:launched;http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/06/06/sciwomen106.xml a search for the most influential woman scientist of all time. The corporation, which for the past decade has sponsored a linkurl:fellowship program;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/20260/ for female researchers, unveiled a linkurl:website;http://www.womeninscience.co.uk/ listing the nominees last Friday (Jun 6). Researchers and academics nominated 39 women scientists, including Hypatia of Alexandria, a mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer who was murdered in 415 BC for her accomplishments, Mary Anning, a 19th century paleontologist, and mycologist, artist and author, linkurl:Beatrix Potter.;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53057/ Among several Nobel laureates on the list are linkurl:Barbara McClintock,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13699/ who discovered linkurl:transposons,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/15904/ linkurl:Marie Curie,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/21760/ and Howard Hughes Medical Institute physiologist linkurl:Linda Buck,;http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/buck_bio.html who linkurl:won;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22434/ a Nobel in 2004 for her work on the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying olfaction. Visitors to the website can read brief biographies of the women nominated for the award and can vote for their favorite.

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