A noted feminist scholar will speak about the history of women in the development of modern science at 8 tonight in the HUB Gallery as part of the Feminist Scholar's Series.

Margaret Rossiter, a Cornell University professor of the History of Science, will discuss the importance of scientific contributions made by women scientists from 1940 to 1970, said Kathy Foster, administrative aide for the Women's Studies Program.

Rossiter has researched women scientists who, working behind the scenes as assistants and wives, have been forgotten in the male perspective of our world, said Sharon Jadrnak, director of the Women in Engineering Program.

"She's one of the leaders in this field and a natural for the series," Foster said.

Tonight's speech is the last in a series of six lectures about Women in Science and Technology sponsored by the Women's Studies Program this semester.

Rossiter, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow and Faculty Associate of the Cornell Science, Technology and Society Program, serves on the National Science Foundation Director's Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Technology.

Her book, Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940, received the Berkshire Prize in 1983 for the best book by any American woman about any field of history.

Rossiter's speech is a co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program, the Departments of History and Health Education, the Colleges of Science, Engineering and the Liberal Arts, the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies and the Center for Women Students.