33 Female TV Characters Killing it in S.T.E.M.

Time for some real talk here! Science saves the day and there’s a trove of kickass women in S.T.E.M. to do it. 

They often aren’t the lead character, but oftentimes if a team is in trouble they’re looking to someone with scientific knowledge to get them out of a jam.

Think of all the times that Kurt and Jane had to find a way out of a tough situation on Blindspot, Gibbs and his team on NCIS needed evidence to put a bad guy away, or anyone on The 100 needed a problem solved on the ground. 

They hold roles from nurse practitioners and doctors to forensic scientists and engineers and they are all killing it in their chosen fields. 

Here are 33 female TV characters who are killing it in a scientific field. 

1. Patterson (Blindspot)

Patterson, no first name, is the head of FBI’s forensic science unit. She works on the puzzles that adorn Jane’s body in her intricate tattoos and possesses an abundant knowledge of math, chemistry, and physics.

Face it, without Patterson, the team would have been dead a long time ago. She’s calculated airspeed to make sure that the team is safe and figured out how to use MREs to make an improvised explosive device while kidnapped, even when Patterson is unconscious, she manages to save the day and figure out the puzzle.

Plus, she’s also the developer behind a well-known app called Wizardville.

 2. Raven Reyes (The 100)

 

Raven Reyes was the best Zero-G mechanic on the Ark, but she’s also a pretty awesome mechanic on the ground.

In five seasons of The 100, Raven’s built bombs, led Clarke to the kill switch in The City of Light, destroyed a hydro-power damn, and got seven people off of the ground and into space so that they could outrun a death wave and survive on the ring.

Abby puts it perfectly during The 100 Season 4 Episode 12, “The Chosen:”

We need you. And not just for the hundreds of things we know you can fix, but for the thousands that we haven’t even thought of yet.

3. Meredith Grey (Grey’s Anatomy)

Viewers have been following Meredith Grey since she first started her residency at then Seattle-Grace hospital.

Over the years, she’s become an amazing head of general surgery who has replaced an abdominal wall, figured out mini-livers, removed an impossible tumor that had to be 3D printed, and assisted on many other cases.

4. Claudia Donovan (Warehouse 13)

You have to be pretty special to get Artie to give you Filo Farnsworth’s Farnsworth.

When viewers first met Claudia Donovan she had an ax to grind with Artie as she fought to get her brother Joshua after a teleportation experiment with Rheticus’s Compass goes wrong.

Claudia ultimately saves her brother and during the rest of her time at the warehouse proves herself to be skilled hacker and inventor creating a few new inventions including the Mini-Tesla and a Tesla rifle.

 5. Colonel Samantha Carter (Stargate: SG-1) 

Sam Carter has a Ph.D. in astrophysics, is smarter than you are (especially on matters relating to the stargate), and has blown up a sun! Do I need to say more?

Okay, other things she’s done: saved the earth when aliens invaded Stargate Command and duplicated her coworkers, trapped humanoid replicators, and fixed a spaceship when she was the only one left on board.

And that’s just a shortlist of her accomplishments. There are ten seasons of Sam Carter bending science to her will! Ten!

6. Jiya (Timeless) 

Pilots are precious in the Timeless universe.

Jiya is another programmer working at Mason Industries when we first meet her in Season 1. Later on, Connor Mason tells her that he’s selected her for flight training to pilot the Lifeboat.

The skill to fly the lifeboat requires a deep understanding of physics, and Connor remarks that Jiya’s skills are in line with Rufus. And she proves herself to be a valuable asset to the team saving them multiple times throughout Seasons 1 and 2.

But Jiya also saves the team in the present when they’re lost during Timeless Season 1 Episode 7, “Stranded,” by figuring out Rufus’s code regarding the death star.

7. Marcy (Travelers)

Marcy is a traveler from the future who’s inhabiting the body of a woman who would have died during a mugging. She has a lot of foreknowledge, but she can’t always use it or ask for help.

Some of the scenes where Marcy attempts to treat herself are the most nail-biting of the series. In her efforts to save the future, Marcy has done everything from self-surgery to submerging herself in ice water in an attempt to make sure she’s at her best to save her team, and she’s in a unique situation. 

8. Abby Sciuto (NCIS) 

NCIS’s first fifteen years would have been a very different show without Abby, the forensic scientist down in the lab.

She always worked alone but always delivered results with the help of her Mass Spectrometer, aka Major Mass Spec, and her favorite energy drink, Caff-Pow. Abby may not have left her lab much, but the tall, Goth scientist with a soft and affectionate center was a centerpiece of the first fifteen seasons of NCIS.

9. Kaylee Fry (Firefly)

Who doesn’t love Serenity’s lovable mechanic with a zest for life and the little pleasures that it brings? In addition to being absolutely adorkable, Kaylee is a genius with engines, especially Serenity’s ceramic parts.

While she might seem lovable, she takes pride in her work. So you best not insult her ship.

10. Cristina Yang (Grey’s Anatomy)

Cristina Yang played to win from the moment she stepped into Seattle-Grace hospital, and for ten years on Grey’s Anatomy, she delighted fans with a mix of competitive spirit, sarcastic humor, and a devotion to her “person” Meredith Grey.

Cristina accomplished a lot during her time on the show from saving Derek after he was shot, to operating during a power outage, and ultimately saved kids with a rare heart condition.

Cristina ultimately went off to Switzerland to work on 3D printed hearts at the end of Grey’s Anatomy Season 10, and it’s exactly the kind of exit from Grey-Sloane Memorial this captivating character deserved.

11. Temperance Brennan (Bones)

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, aka Bones, has always had a mind for science.

On Bones, the overly analytical scientist consistently shuns anything that she can’t prove with cold, hard facts. While her mind for science and proof is one of her strengths, she’s also got a desire to go out into the field. 

Her passion for her job and the way she finds fulfillment in it is clearly expressed in Bones Season 1 Episode 10, “The Woman at the Airport.”

BONES: These bones you bring me, I give them a face, I say their names out loud, I return them to their loved ones and you arrest the bad guy. I like that.

12. Cosima Niehaus (Orphan Black)

When fans met Cosima Niehaus in Orphan Black Season 1, she was a student of evolutionary development. As she and the other clones dove into the mystery of their existence, her role became associated with the phrase “crazy science.”

Cosima’s story presented a momentous task, having to find a cure for an illness plaguing the Leda clones, but it’s one that she and Delphine doggedly pursued.

 13. Nic Nevin (The Resident)

Nic Nevin is a nurse practitioner you want in your corner if you’re staying at Chastain Medical.

On The Resident Season 1, Nic is the first person to guess that guess that Dr. Hunter might be treating patients who didn’t actually have cancer, and she advocates for them fiercely until it lands her in jail. That doesn’t stop her though.

Even though she gets resistance at every turn, she continues to pursue the truth all with the wellbeing of her patients in mind. 

 14. The Thirteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Okay, so Doctor Who‘s science isn’t grounded in reality most of the time, but it sure can be entertaining to watch The Doctor get Earth, and other planets, out of lots of alien jams.

The Thirteenth Doctor’s debut on Doctor Who Season 11 Episode 1, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth,” showed the first female Doctor building her own sonic. And for anyone who knows Doctor Who, when you’re The Doctor, your sonic is your go-to, get-you-out-of-any-jam device. 

15. Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds)

This list wouldn’t be complete without B.A.U.’s favorite tech giant: Penelope Garcia.

On Criminal Minds, Penelope is a hacker who was recruited into the FBI, and she has been a pillar for their cases, constantly feeding them information to further any leads they encounter while they’re on a case.

16. Mariana Adams-Foster (The Fosters / Good Trouble)

Mariana struggled with her self-confidence like many teenage girls, but she found a topic she loves when she joined the S.T.E.M. Club at school. She goes on to graduate from M.I.T., and Mariana currently is a kickass software engineer.

17. Missy (Doctor Who)

Falling squarely under the category of “evil genius,” Missy was the first Time Lady to appear on Doctor Who. A new regeneration of The Master, who now calls herself “The Mistress,” Missy arrived in Season 8 and was ready to show audiences her ingenuity. 

She led 3W, an organization that was turning corpses into Cybermen and encapsulated Clara in a Dalek during her first two seasons.

In Doctor Who Season 10, while she was being kept in the vault, she saved The Twelfth Doctor and Bill when they were stuck on Mars, and later ended up being the Doctor’s mechanic for basic Tardis maintenance. 

Missy is one of those characters that makes you think: if she wasn’t so busy being the self-proclaimed “Queen of Evil” what good could she have accomplished? 

18. Felicity Smoak (Arrow)

When viewers first met Felicity Smoak she was working in the IT Department of Queen Consolidated, and Oliver Queen was asking her for many favors related to his vigilante activities.

But Felicity’s computer skills did not manifest themselves overnight. She’s been building computers since the age of seven and built a super virus while she was at M.I.T. meant to hack government databases.

It’s very clear that Felicity has an abundance of knowledge that could be used for good or evil, but she prefers doing good, serving as Overwatch to help Team Arrow navigate the city safely.

19. Amy Farrah Fowler (The Big Bang Theory)

Neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler is a research scientist working at CalTech. When she first arrived on the show, she had a dry sense of humor and no understanding of sarcasm.

Over the years, Amy has become looser and more integrated into the fabric of the show, her interest in science never waning.

20. Angela Montenegro (Bones)

Angela Montenegro is much more than just the best friend on Bones.

She’s an artist who has morphed her skills into the computer science field, creating software called The Angelatron. Using this software, she reconstructs the faces of the bones that Temperance Brennan works with at the Jeffersonian.

After years of work with The Angelatron, Angela was offered a MacArthur Genius Grant and later found out that none other than her best friend had nominated her for it. 

21. Dana Scully (The X-Files)

This list wouldn’t be complete with Dana Scully from The X-Files. A medical doctor who decided not to practice medicine and join the FBI, her job was to debunk Mulder’s out-of-this-world theories while he worked on The X-Files.

Scully often found herself doing “alien autopsies” and trying to find a scientific explanation for the unusual behavior she encounters while she and Mulder searched for the ever-elusive “truth.”

22. Abby Griffin (The 100)

We first met Dr. Abby Griffin on the Ark, where she monitored the 100 kids, her daughter included, who were sent down to the ground to see if it was viable. Abby will do anything for her patients and the ones she loves, even if it means putting herself in danger.

23. Saanvi Bahl (Manifest)

Without a doubt, Saanvi from Manifest has to be on this list.

When viewers first met Saanvi on Manifest’s first season, she was developing a treatment protocol that would ultimately save fellow Flight 828 passenger Cal Stone. Since then, Saanvi has led Ben and Michaela Stone down the scientific path to dissecting what happened to them on the flight.

24. Doc (Van Helsing)

Doc is extremely timid when the audience first meets her in Van Helsing, but life with a vampire uprising tends to change a person. By the end of Van Helsing’s first season, Doc finds herself doing live surgery on a number of patients.

25. Caitlin Snow (The Flash)

Caitlin is an employee at S.T.A.R. Labs working on a particle accelerator when we first meet her, but when the project implodes, she shifts her focus from straight research to helping new superhero Barry Allen.

On The Flash, Caitlin Snow is constantly saving her teammates by monitoring Barry’s physiological data through his super suit. She’s also taken on the role as team doctor.

But she isn’t afraid to have some fun with her science background too. She once concocted a whiskey solution powerful enough to get Barry drunk.

26. Penelope Alvarez (One Day at a Time)

On One Day at a Time, Penelope Alvarez is a nurse who loves what she does. Yes, she acknowledges that sometimes people get mad at her for no reason, and sometimes she has to deal with jerks like Scott, but she also finds joy in the good moments.

She also pushed herself to become a nurse practitioner, and in the finale of One Day at a Time Season 3, achieved that goal, donning a white coat for the first time.

27. Alex Dunphy (Modern Family)

Alex Dunphy has always been the smartest person in the room. She extremely self-reliant and is often protecting some of her other family members, like when her dad decided to make rhubarb pie with the leaves without realizing they were poisonous. 

She references science and her desire to be a scientist several times over the course of Modern Family‘s run, so it’s no surprise that Alex eventually gets into Caltech and is studying biochemistry.

28. Miranda Bailey (Grey’s Anatomy)

Miranda Bailey has always been driven to succeed. Over fifteen seasons, the audience has watched her rise from a resident to being Chief of Surgery, but on Grey’s Anatomy Season 14, Miranda reached new heights when she attempted to innovate how colonoscopies are done. 

The kicker was that she later realized the invention also had a pleasurable application. She later sold her invention to a sex toy company for a payday.

29. Jemma Simmons (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

It’s possible that Team Coulson wouldn’t be alive today without the help of genius biochemist, Jemma Simmons. Simmons earned two Ph.D.’s for biochemistry by the time she was seventeen.

Her expertise has led to multiple discoveries while working with Coulson’s team including, the use of dendrotoxin as tranquilizer ammunition, a cure for an extraterrestrial virus, and crystalline nucleation. 

But Simmons doesn’t just stay in the lab. She demonstrated her spy abilities when she infiltrated HYDRA at the start of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2.

30. Claire Browne (The Good Doctor)

Dr. Claire Browne is a surgical resident at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital who is a good example that your past doesn’t have to define your future.

Not only does Dr. Browne rock at her job, but she also has extremely high emotional intelligence. She’s great at communicating with not just her coworkers, but also her patients and Dr. Shaun Murphy.

31. Helen Sharpe (New Amsterdam)

Helen Sharpe has an impressive resume.

She’s currently the head of oncology at New Amsterdam Medical Center and is board certified in both pediatric and adult oncology. She was educated at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine and completed her foundation program at Kings College Hospital in London.

32. Maura Isles (Rizzoli and Isles)

Boston’s medical examiner, Maura Dorethea Isles, is the ying to homicide detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli’s yang.

She’s the science and numbers person who doesn’t like to guess, and it drives Jane a little nuts. But her guess is better than most doctors at times, and that’s what makes their partnership work.

33. Helen Magnus (Sanctuary)

When you live more than a century and a half you develop a very unique set of skills. It’s no surprise that Helen Magnus has acquired some unique specialties in the medical field.

She’s studied cryptozoology and xenobiology, skills that are essential for her work as head of The Global Sanctuary Network where she helps all kinds of creatures we’d consider supernatural.  

But science isn’t her only skill. She’s also skilled in numerous languages and possesses various weapons skills. 

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Who are your favorite women in S.T.E.M. from this list? Are there any others you’re excited about that you’d have included? Let us know in the comments below. 

What do you think of the latest television news? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

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