50 Amazing Women: Extraordinary Lives and Achievements

Juliane Koepcke survived a plane explosion and a two-mile fall into a jungle on Christmas Eve. She sustained herself on candy and traveled for ten days with parasites in her wounds.

27. In 1887, America's first female mayor was elected. A group of men nominated her as a joke intended to humiliate women, but she ended up winning over 60% of the vote.

28. Ewa Wi?nierska, a German paraglider, was caught by surprise in a thunderstorm and was sucked up by a cumulonimbus cloud to an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). She survived temperatures of -50°C and extreme oxygen deprivation at a height higher than Mount Everest.

29. In 1518, in the small French town of Strasbourg, a young woman named Frau Troffea began dancing uncontrollably in the street. Her dancing continued for days, and by the third day, her shoes were soaked with blood. She attracted over 30 people to join her, which catalyzed the Dancing Plague of 1518.

30. Queen Teuta of Illyria was a formidable warrior queen who commanded a fleet of fierce pirates and led armies and navies to conquer cities and islands along the Adriatic coast. She boldly challenged the authority of the Roman Republic by declaring piracy a legitimate business and even resorted to killing their diplomatic envoys as a display of her power.

Sonora Carver, one of the first female horse divers, lost her vision due to retinal detachment while diving with her horse, Red Lips, during an Atlantic City show in 1931. Despite her permanent injury, she continued horse diving for another 11 years.

32. A female doctor from Brazil, fed up with burglars trespassing onto her property and stealing her belongings, placed dozens of HIV-infected syringes on top of her metal fence along with a warning board stating, "Wall with HIV-positive blood. No trespassing."

33. Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old female pitcher, accomplished the remarkable feat of striking out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in a single exhibition game. Her contract was subsequently voided.

34. Balkan sworn virgins were women who took a vow of celibacy in certain Balkan nations, enabling them to live as men. They were allowed to wear male clothing, inherit property, and become the head of a household. Women took this oath to escape arranged marriages and the obligation to bear children.

35. Lisa Leslie, as a high school basketball player, scored an astonishing 101 points in just 16 minutes of play. She made 37 out of 56 shots from the floor and 27 out of 35 from the free-throw line. However, she did not break the record for the highest number of points in a high school game due to the opposing team's coach refusing to play the second half.

Madonna Buder, at the age of 82, became the oldest woman to complete an Ironman Triathlon, which includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a marathon run in a single day. She is widely known as the Iron Nun.

37. In 2013, a woman named Asha Mandela broke the world record for the longest dreadlocks, measuring over 55 feet long. She claims that her hair possesses healing powers and has aided her in surviving cancer.

38. Two individuals have survived falls from the Empire State Building. In 1979, Elvita Adams jumped in a suicide attempt, but a gust of wind blew her onto a ledge one story below.

39. A woman named Tapputi is recognized as the first recorded chemist. Mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dating back to around 1200 BC in Babylonian Mesopotamia, she was a perfume maker. Tapputi held a position of power in the Mesopotamian government and religion as the overseer of the Mesopotamian Royal Palace.

40. Renowned British military surgeon James Barry had a groundbreaking career spanning over 50 years. After Barry's death in 1865, a nurse preparing the body for burial discovered female anatomy and stretch marks from pregnancy. Barry, born Margaret Ann Bulkley, had lived as a woman throughout her career.

Annie Edson Taylor, a 63-year-old woman, became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. She had hoped to gain enough money from her fame to achieve financial security but did not receive much, partly because her manager stole her barrel.

42. A woman named Akiko Takakura miraculously survived the Hiroshima bombing despite being only 300 meters away from the hypocenter.

43. The most successful pirate in history was a Chinese woman named Ching Shih. She commanded the Red Flag Fleet, consisting of 300 ships and 40,000 pirates. Remarkably, she was one of the few pirates who actually retired.

44. Irena Sendler, a woman who worked as a plumber in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, saved over 2,500 Jewish children, smuggling many of them out in her tool box. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but lost to Al Gore.

45. Female warriors (Onna-Bugeisha) from the Samurai class, although uncommon, did indeed exist. The historical accounts of remarkable Onna-Bugeisha such as Empress Jingu, Tomoe Gozen, and H?j? Masako reveal their active participation in both battles and politics, despite these fields being predominantly male-dominated. Notably, Nakano Takeko, one of the last samurai, exemplified her unwavering bravery by requesting her sister to sever her head when she was fatally shot, ensuring that the enemies could not claim it as a trophy.

Augusta Ada King, also known as Ada Lovelace, is regarded as the first computer programmer for her notes in the 1800s on using computers to compute algorithms.

47. In 1994, 23 people fell ill and five were hospitalized after coming into contact with Gloria Ramirez, who was unconscious at the time. The media dubbed her "The Toxic Lady of Riverside." An investigation concluded that Gloria's blood, drawn and cooled in the ER, broke down into dimethyl sulfate and vaporized, causing the illnesses.

48. Inés Ramírez Pérez had to deliver her own baby by performing a cesarean section on herself, all while her husband was out drinking at a bar. Using a kitchen knife and after consuming three glasses of hard liquor, she successfully performed the procedure and survived. She is believed to be the only person in history to have performed a self-performed cesarean and survived.

49. A woman named Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse was one of the earliest pioneers in parachuting. In 1799, she jumped out of a perfectly good hydrogen balloon and safely descended 900 meters below.

50. Contrary to popular belief, it was actually a woman named Nellie Bly who once held the record for traveling around the world in 72 days. Her impressive feat was inspired by Jules Verne's fictional character, Phileas Fogg, in 'Around the World in Eighty Days.'