Nina Chhita

Nina Chhita is an illustrator best known for her drawings of trailblazing female scientists on Instagram. Her account on the platform, Nina Draws Scientists, has over 23,000 subscribers. She delights her audience with brilliant illustrations of some of the most important, but most unsung women in science history — particularly through the ‘Heroines in STEM’ series she posts in the run-up to each International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The other series on her account have included ‘LGBTQIA+ Scientists in History’, ‘Asian American Icons in Science’, and ‘Scientists with Disabilities’. Through her artistic talents, Chhita both informs and inspires generations of women.

Chhita currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, where she writes educational material for the healthcare sector. Before that, however, she was based in London, and before that, she got a degree in developmental biology from the University of Bath. However, it was her other passions, history and art, that led to her popularity: a fan of blue plaques, she began drawing the scientists whose names she found on them. Through this, she realised there was a massive lack of visibility for female scientists past and present. To correct this, she began her Instagram account, bringing together her three favourite things.

Like anything motivated by true love and passion, Chhita’s account found a receptive audience that is still growing today.