Dr. Khama Ennis is the chief of emergency medicine at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Massachusetts. Despite that impressive accomplishment, she’s had to put up with far too much nonsense over the years.

Once, as I walked past a patient’s room, I heard the family berating their nurse, demanding to be seen by a doctor because they had been waiting for hours. I popped in to reassure them that I was, in fact, their doctor. I’d already been in the room several times. I had done a rectal exam. All I could think was, “Why would you let me do that if you didn’t think I was your doctor?”

I wonder how much of what Dr. Ennis has experienced can be attributed to racism, how much to sexism, and how much to a combination of the two. But mostly, I marvel at how she powers through.

In the 1970s, Rosemary Mariner finished college at just 19, in order to become part of the first group of women to earn their wings as United States Naval Aviators. Not long after, she became the very first female jet pilot in the American military. She was far from the last. At her funeral last week, a missing woman salute was performed by an entirely female flyover crew.

In the late 1960s, astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the first four known pulsars while working as a grad student. A few years after that, a Nobel Prize was awarded for this discovery, but it didn’t go to Bell Burnell. Instead, her adviser Antony Hewish was the recipient, along with another man. While Bell Burnell has always downplayed the controversy, many feel she was unjustly excluded from recognition.

Now, she’s being recognized with a Breakthrough Prize:

On Thursday, half a century after her pioneering work, it was announced that Bell Burnell will receive a $3 million Breakthrough Prize, one of the most lucrative and prestigious awards in science. The special award in fundamental physics, given for her scientific achievements and “inspiring leadership,” has only been granted three times before.

Good for her! However, the very best part of this story is what the 75-year-old Bell Burnell plans to do with the money.

“I don’t need a Porsche or Ferrari,” she said. “I don’t have an affluent lifestyle.”

Instead, the funds will go to creating scholarships for women, underrepresented minorities and refugees who want to study physics. The funds will be administered by Britain’s Institute of Physics.

Discovering pulsars is very cool, but helping other women and minorities make the next discovery is what really kicks ass.

When an engine failed catastrophically on Southwest flight 1380, veteran pilot Tammie Jo Shults knew exactly how to handle it.

Some feel safer with a male pilot, but I go the opposite way. All pilots are incredibly well-trained, but when I have a female pilot, I feel even safer. She likely had to be far better than the average just to get the job. Industry veterans back up this thinking:

One thing, however, is clear: while the times are a changin’, they are changing slowly—and women are often held to a different standard. “Men are assumed to be able to do their job well until they prove they cannot. Women are assumed to not be able to do it until they prove they can,” says Cheryl Pitzer, a captain at FedEx. “We have to be better than average or we get criticized for not being good enough,” says Wendy O’Malley, captain on a business jet for a Silicon Valley company.

In North America, women represent only about 5% of commercial pilots. Here’s hoping the powerful example set by Tammie Jo Shults helps improve that number.

Australian teenager Jade Hameister has skied to the North Pole and she’s skied across Greenland’s largest ice cap. And now, while skiing to the South pole, she’s doled out some epic snark for internet trolls as well. Well done, Jade.

In 1955, Helen James was forced to accept an “undesirable” discharge from the Air Force due to her sexuality. At the age of 90, after a lifetime of accomplishments, she’s fighting back against this injustice.

Dr. Mary-Claire King has had an incredible career in science and human rights. However, even in her extraordinary life, the first week of April, 1981 must stand out. She narrates the events of that week, and it’s quite a ride, one which even features a special celebrity guest appearance.