THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Nancy “Nan” Farley Wood
July 12, 1903 – March 19, 2003
“Nan Wood was a committed feminist, a generation older than most of us in Chicago NOW in the ’70s. We loved her, and she provided us a model for a life of working excellence, family support, fierce devotion to the rights of women and friendship across the generations.” – Mary Jean Collins, 2021
Physicist, Inventor, Business owner. Founding member, Chicago National Organization for Women. Woman of the Year, Chicago NOW, 1977. National secretary, National Organization for Women. International Chairman, Status of Women, Zonta International. Member of the Manhattan Project where she designed and developed ionizing radiation detectors. Founded the N. Wood Counter Laboratory in Chicago.
Photo. Nan participating in one of the many marches she supported. (Photo courtesy of Dori Jacobson-Wenzel)
Photo courtesy of Dori Jacobson-Wenzel
More About Nan:
- Nan Wood’s Obituary, Chicago Tribune, May 17, 2003
- Nancy Farley Wood history, Johnson County Missouri Historical Society and Museum
- Atomic Heritage Foundation, in partnership with the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
- Nancy Wood BF3 Proportional Counter, Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity
- National Organization for Women, Chicago Chapter Records, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America, page 499
- Wikipedia page
