Athena / Minerva

By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com Guide

How interesting that, in a time when women were being excluded from scientific occupations and organizations, science was depicted as a woman, as in this 1850 illustration by Alonzo Hartwell. The goddess Minerva (Roman version of the wisdom and warrior goddess of Greece, Athena) guides Science, and the god Mercury (messenger god) carries Science around the world.