8. Elizabeth Ascheim
Elizabeth Fleischmann Ascheim was originally a bookkeeper who was fascinated by a mysterious beam of light, discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen: The x-ray. She purchased an x-ray machine and put it at her husband’s office. The machine was the first in San Fransisco and she experimented with many objects, including her limbs and torso. Not realizing the consequence of x-ray exposure, over the years, she developed a violent case of cancer. Her works encouraged the medical society to use the z-ray technology to achieve quick, non-invasive diagnosis.