Top 100 coolest women of all time (Full Details+Photos)
 

The greatest women of all time

They changed the way the world looked at women. They flew planes, swam across the English Channel, decoded the DNA, enthralled cinemagoers and commanded respect in every field traditionally dominated by men. On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, here's our top 100 coolest women of all time. The names are in no particular order. By: Ruchira Singh, Rituparna Chatterjee and Soumyadip Choudhury.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...obama_mar7.jpg

100. Michelle Obama
American first lady, the wife of Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States. She is the first African American first lady.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...vlova_mar7.jpg

99. Anna Pavlova
Russian ballerina, the most celebrated dancer of her time.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...dhull_mar7.jpg

98. Victoria Woodhull
Unconventional American reformer, who at various times championed such diverse causes as woman suffrage, free love, mystical socialism, and the Greenback movement.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...arias_mar7.jpg

97. Babe Didrikson Zaharias
American sportswoman, one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...orska_mar7.jpg

96. Wislawa Szymborska
Polish poet whose intelligent and empathic explorations of philosophical, moral, and ethical issues won her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...Smith_mar7.jpg

95. Bessie Smith
American singer and one of the greatest of blues vocalists.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...elley_mar7.jpg

94. Mary Shelley
English Romantic novelist best known as the author of 'Frankenstein.'

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...stral_mar7.jpg

93. Gabriela Mistral
Chilean poet, who in 1945 became the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...couri_mar7.jpg

92. Melina Mercouri
Greek actress and political activist who was the minister of culture in her country's first socialist government (1981).

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ether_mar7.jpg

91. Emmy Noether
German mathematician whose innovations in higher algebra gained her recognition as the most creative abstract algebraist of modern times.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...olgar_mar7.jpg

90. Susan Polgar
Hungarian-born American chess player who won the women's world championship in 1996 from Xie Jun of China.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...andra_mar8.jpg

89. Sandra Day O'Connor
She was the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...assis_mar7.jpg

88. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
American first lady (1961–63), the wife of John F Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, who was noted for her style and elegance.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...Curie_mar7.jpg

87. Irene Joliot-Curie
French physical chemist, who along with her husband jointly won the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their discovery of new radioactive isotopes prepared artificially.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ersee_mar7.jpg

86. Jackie Joyner-Kersee
American athlete, considered by many to be the greatest female athlete ever.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...apgar_mar7.jpg

85. Virginia Apgar
American physician, anesthesiologist, and medical researcher who developed the Apgar Score System, a method of evaluating an infant shortly after birth to assess its well-being and to determine if any immediate medical intervention is required.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...raway_mar7.jpg

84. Hattie Ophelia Caraway
American politician who became the first woman elected to the US Senate.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...morro_mar7.jpg

83. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro
Newspaper publisher and politician who served as president of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ngson_mar7.jpg

82. Emily Dickinson
American lyric poet who lived in seclusion and commanded a singular brilliance of style and integrity of vision.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...uncan_mar7.jpg

81. Isadora Duncan
American dancer whose teaching and performances helped free ballet from its conservative restrictions and presaged the development of modern expressive dance.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...0King_mar7.jpg

80. Ada King
English mathematician, an associate of Charles Babbage, for whose prototype of a digital computer she created a program. She has been called the first computer programmer.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...nglen_mar7.jpg

79. Suzanne Lenglen
French tennis player and six-time Wimbledon champion in both singles and doubles competition. She changed the nature of women's tennis and positioned her as the dominant women's amateur player from 1919 until 1926, when she turned professional.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ang%20Qing.jpg

78. Jiang Qing
Third wife of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong and the most influential woman in the People's Republic of China for a while until her downfall in 1976, after Mao's death.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ygaga_mar7.jpg

77. Lady Gaga
American pop singer-songwriter and iconic fashionista known for dressing bizzarely.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...oya-080311.jpg

76. Bhanu Athaiya
One of the most respected costume designers in Indian cinema and the first Indian to win an Oscar.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ari-080311.jpg

75. Karnam Malleswari
The first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...kar-080311.jpg

74. Lata Mangeshkar
She is the golden voice of India. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ita-080311.jpg

73. Sister Nivedita
She dedicated her life for the betterment of Indian women.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ral-080311.jpg

72. Sarla Thakral
The first Indian woman to fly a plane, back in 1936.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...til-080311.jpg

71. Pratibha Patil
The first woman president of the world's largest democracy. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ndela_mar7.jpg

70. Winnie Mandela
South African social worker and activist considered by many black South Africans to be the 'Mother of the Nation.'

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...otter_mar7.jpg

69. Beatrix Potter
English author of children's books, who created Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle, and other animal characters.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...alani_mar7.jpg

68. Liliuokalani
The first and only reigning Hawaiian queen and the last Hawaiian sovereign to govern the islands.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...steva_mar7.jpg

67. Julia Kristeva
Bulgarian-born French psychoanalyst and educator, best known for her writings on philosophical feminism.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...odall_mar7.jpg

66. Jane Goodall
British ethologist, known for her exceptionally detailed and long-term research on the chimpanzees of Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ria-080311.jpg

65. Reita Faria
For being the first Indian woman to win a major international beauty pageant. (Photo by Wesley/Keystone/Getty Images)

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...shi-080311.jpg

64. Isha Basant Joshi
The first Indian woman IAS officer.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...lla-080311.jpg

63. Homai Vyarawalla
The first Indian woman photojournalist.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...evi-080311.jpg

62. Ashapoorna Devi
One of the doyennes of Indian literature.

https://static.ibnlive.com/pix/slide...ill-080311.jpg

61. Amrita Sher-Gil
A pioneer in Indian art who cleared the path for generations of woman artists to follow.