The recently released Joy (2024) tells the story of the early days of IVF which culminated in the birth in 1978 of Louise Joy Brown, the world's first 'test-tube baby'. Dr Patrick Steptoe and Dr Robert Edwards are always cited as the pioneers of IVF, but the film makes clear that there was third person who made an equally important contribution. This was nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy and, scandalously, she was excluded from the official record following her death at the age of 39. So this week on the Post we focus on women whose significant contributions to science and maths have been overlooked.