tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170497362024-03-19T06:35:10.741-04:00annals of spacetimethe state of the universe - and what's doing on the pale blue dotMaia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-82107926839704658722015-09-14T23:04:00.000-04:002015-10-07T23:16:58.757-04:00so long blues: an homage to marjorie thompson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh89bfVUXpdtXBbuzfU0Is-TIZ8T72YZjYF1jUA_c0AvwufvowcTYTxlla3n0_MvG5HtSwi7LJHjPwlQE2ZqweegfHhJD6inRl3kUMbjLWk83vSYnBGbpN4lPX6G1JxXRzC5mWWmw/s1600/Marjorie-Thompson-guitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh89bfVUXpdtXBbuzfU0Is-TIZ8T72YZjYF1jUA_c0AvwufvowcTYTxlla3n0_MvG5HtSwi7LJHjPwlQE2ZqweegfHhJD6inRl3kUMbjLWk83vSYnBGbpN4lPX6G1JxXRzC5mWWmw/s400/Marjorie-Thompson-guitar.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<center><i>The following tribute marks one year since the passing of<br />
Marjorie Thompson, beloved biology professor, dean, <br />
musician, and friend to thousands.</i></center><br />
It was high noon on a picture-perfect Memorial Day, 1999, the unofficial beginning of summer and the official beginning of the rest of my life. As photons from our home star beamed down through gothic mullioned windows, I and several hundred biology concentrators — the lot of us clad in black from head to shin — lined the pews of the First Unitarian Church in Providence, Rhode Island, waiting to receive our undergraduate diplomas.<br />
<br />
One by one, we made our way toward the moment many of us had been anticipating since the word "college" first crossed our synapses. As O's and P's yielded to V's and W's, my name finally rang out across the hall. With my family proudly looking on, I strode with purpose to the podium, toward a petite brunette with wavy, chin-length hair and thin, metallic spectacles. We exchanged knowing smiles, and I reached out my right hand. I was soon holding onto a small rectangular paper that read, in part, "et huic omnia privilegia lura honores us ad hunc gradum evectis pertinentia fruenda dedit" — "and to she has given to enjoy all the privileges, rights, honors, and symbols pertaining to those advanced to this degree." Thanks in no small part to the woman with the wire-rimmed glasses, Brown University was about to make its appearance in the rear-view mirror of my life.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6Lvi5QHOUfTNcrvQAV2iawBuUEirzr8Z6f8lThjwGyg8beuKKNY9sMI5m09VO7Kj5uTqv8TfD7Q9pfSeBiAvcC6j5X5hXZHPTY9MO_QRggUmq95uUsQfdJSKqcydlGziuP-f0g/s1600/jen-marge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6Lvi5QHOUfTNcrvQAV2iawBuUEirzr8Z6f8lThjwGyg8beuKKNY9sMI5m09VO7Kj5uTqv8TfD7Q9pfSeBiAvcC6j5X5hXZHPTY9MO_QRggUmq95uUsQfdJSKqcydlGziuP-f0g/s400/jen-marge.jpg" /></a></div><b>Marge (right) with Jen, a fellow bio concentrator and my former roomie, at our graduation in 1999.</b><br />
<br />
Now, 15 years, five months, and three weeks later, I am sitting in the same hallowed hall, once again dressed in black. The flood of brilliant sunlight from that memorable May day has given way to a smattering of amber-stained rays, soon to disappear behind our earthly orb. On this bitter-cold November afternoon, students, colleagues, family, and friends have come to say goodbye to Marjorie Thompson, the woman who helped me and thousands of others at Brown become who we are: scientists, doctors, engineers, writers — and much, much more.<br />
<br />
It had been a shock to hear the news some two months prior that Marge, a two-time Brown graduate, longtime adjunct professor, and beloved dean, had <a href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/2014/09/16/associate-dean-biological-sciences-marjorie-thompson-dies/" target="_blank">died at the age of 60</a> from cancer. While I hadn't been in touch for quite a few years, Marge had always seemed so dynamic and vital — the kind of person you'd imagine would be doling out time-tested truisms well into her 80s or 90s. Tragically for her family and for everyone she touched, cancer took Marge at the pinnacle of life: In addition to her flourishing career, she'd found recent success outside of the university as a singer-songwriter; at home, her children were all thriving, the two youngest actively studying at Brown.<br />
<br />
Her youngest son, Griffin, was, in fact, still a bun in the oven when I first met Marge in the summer of 1994, between my junior and senior years of high school. I'll never forget that muggy June morning when the dozen or so members of our histology class discovered that our petite 5'2" professor was very pregnant with her seventh — seventh! — child. The fact was incredible on several fronts: that such a small person could seemingly double her size while carrying a baby; that someone as young as she could have already birthed six other children; and that as a profoundly busy professor and dean she could have had much time for family at all, much less a fairly large one.<br />
<br />
And yet, here she was, introducing us starry-eyed teenagers to the basics of cellular and tissue biology in what was, for most of us, our first academic venture away from home. I don't think I ever told Marge how much of an impact she had on my decision to apply to Brown and to ultimately matriculate, but for 10 weeks, she was my ambassador to a world where I could become whomever I wanted to become — even if I didn't know who that was quite yet.<br />
<br />
It was during this time, for instance, that I first entertained the thought of combining art with a career in science. While I sometimes struggled to memorize the functional differences between fibroblasts and osteoblasts, I excelled in our labs, in which we were to draw and describe what we saw in stained tissue slides magnified by standard light microscopes. The positive feedback she gave upon seeing my lab work encouraged me at various points to consider a career as a scientific illustrator/designer, or to work in some way to bring science to life through art.<br />
<br />
To be sure, Marge was also an excellent teacher of biology: Her analogies were always illuminating, and she mixed fact and humor in a way that made learning challenging material fun. But Marge made it clear to us in word and in deed that science could be interdisciplinary — and that we didn't have to abandon our multiple interests and passions as we came into our adult years. As someone who went on to take many science courses across a wide range of subject areas, I can say that few professors encouraged cross-disciplinary thinking the way Marge did. She was a proponent of STEAM — Arts in connection with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — before the term even existed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvS-oZIFlXVdNrFTByLfqHBpCOmwNCdCWBEHrgbD8E1KIw6B-ZjgKjRSHAoGXimkwIsrHViH0Xr7fKC0YwHYbi1vfOcY5YbN8gkf5QRquAuefjDYxi-SV51imm3yp-XmBrZakqoQ/s1600/cellular-fun-jewelry.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvS-oZIFlXVdNrFTByLfqHBpCOmwNCdCWBEHrgbD8E1KIw6B-ZjgKjRSHAoGXimkwIsrHViH0Xr7fKC0YwHYbi1vfOcY5YbN8gkf5QRquAuefjDYxi-SV51imm3yp-XmBrZakqoQ/s400/cellular-fun-jewelry.png" /></a></div><b>Cellular fun: Marge's handmade jewelry fused science and art.</b><br />
<br />
And by the way, she really walked the walk. Well before Etsy, Marge was a budding crafts entrepreneur in her own right, with a line of biologically inspired jewelry she called <a href="http://cellularfunjewelry.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Cellular Fun</a>. She produced and sold vibrant pins, earrings, and necklaces of neurons, white blood cells, and skin cells made from colored polymer clay.<br />
<br />
She also betrayed her love of music to us on more than one occasion — gushing in class, for example, over Lyle Lovett and the Beatles. Years later, well after I'd graduated from Brown, she followed her own advice and took her guitar-playing talents to the next level, becoming an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/mudsockhts/videos" target="_blank">accomplished singer-songwriter</a>. "Time doesn't wait for you," she told Oprah Winfrey when interviewed about this mid-career shift on Winfrey's eponymous TV show. "I knew that it was now or never." In her 50s, Marge toured the country, playing in coffee shops and on stage; she produced five albums of original music as well as a series of instructional guitar videos. In short, she'd found a second calling, and instead of writing it off as too late to start anew, she'd embraced it with full force.<br />
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lb9qPdm1_Y8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
It was the kind of move that didn't surprise for one moment those who knew her. As associate dean of biology, Marge headed up the advisory system for one of Brown's most popular concentrations. Hundreds of students each year engaged directly with Marge, who made sure their academic requirements were on track, who gave advice regarding courses of study and career paths, and who organized and advertised events and opportunities encouraging them to follow their love of the sciences — or whatever it was they were passionate about.<br />
<br />
Sitting now at the First Unitarian Church, I am moved by the stories spoken aloud by former students who have returned to Providence to pay their respects to Dean T (<a href="http://wudanyan.tumblr.com/post/97672339803/in-memory-of-dean-t" target="_blank">as Marge was known to many</a>). One in particular brings the congregation to tears when he plays an original recording of her singing a song she'd written some years back. The words of colleagues and friends make plain the enormous impact Marge had on her family and her community.<br />
<br />
That, of course, includes me. In addition to drawing me back to Brown for my undergraduate years, Marge helped me choose my major, an interdisciplinary concentration that drew from biology but also anthropology, psychology, and sociology to better understand human evolution. She also led me to my future concentration advisor, Anne Fausto-Sterling, a noted professor and science writer on topics relating to the sociology and biology of gender. Anne helped guide me toward a path where I could explore the STEM fields through writing — and, ultimately, the photography, animation, and design that gave it additional color through the popular science outlets I've worked for throughout my career. More recently, Marge has been in my thoughts as the public has started to know me as a "LEGO artist" for my photographic <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157623988000684/" target="_blank">depictions</a> of scientists and engineers in minifigure form. As she quipped in her interview with Oprah, "this is not how I imagined my life!" Yet I've enjoyed this new avenue of expressing appreciation for the work that scientists do, and these vignettes have become an project of which I'm extremely proud.<br />
<br />
So thank you, Marge, for your insights, encouragement, and grace. In the lives that you have touched, you will live on for generations to come, once again and more.<br />
<br />
<iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify%3Atrack%3A2XTqdeBx37kwpFMphikoI9" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-76766383486473116112014-09-01T12:04:00.000-04:002014-09-01T12:43:05.040-04:00labor day ode to "i.b.m. girls"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZFrX8AJJpGqhaPHaIOCVV0rC8jgm4JFV2bM2mDvfKHqHxIa6Gn0_-L0KKcDwAPRfJgC5e9cRO8WxUDACAgRUGTt0owYBi-MCX-WOCt_vcRHGXPf6YVUjgq7wqoGVnhaMr20zllQ/s1600/songs-of-the-ibm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZFrX8AJJpGqhaPHaIOCVV0rC8jgm4JFV2bM2mDvfKHqHxIa6Gn0_-L0KKcDwAPRfJgC5e9cRO8WxUDACAgRUGTt0owYBi-MCX-WOCt_vcRHGXPf6YVUjgq7wqoGVnhaMr20zllQ/s400/songs-of-the-ibm.jpg" /></a></div>This Labor Day, I invite you to step into my Delorean time machine and travel with me back to 1937. Thanks to an eye-opening <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/tripping-through-ibms-astonishingly-insane-1937-corporate-songbook/" target="_blank">article in <i>Ars Technica</a>,</i> I’ve recently learned this was an era where working for a corporation like IBM meant having to sing company songs that toed a delicate line between college-style fight song and war-era propaganda. You can actually listen to some of these ditties <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/music_clips.html" target="_blank">on IBM’s own website</a>. <br />
<br />
In reading the <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/08/tripping-through-ibms-astonishingly-insane-1937-corporate-songbook/#image-1" target="_blank">50-plus-page songbook</a> uncovered by <i>Ars</i> reporter Lee Hutchinson, I was particularly interested in how IBM handled the issue of women who worked for the company. At the time, <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/witexhibit/wit_decade_1930.html" target="_blank">females <i>were</i> employed at IBM</a>, but they were fairly rare, and just about invisible in management and the more technical areas of the company. Not surprisingly, the few mentions of women in the songbook focus on their looks and how nurturing they were in their supportive roles. <br />
<br />
The collection starts off with the patriotic “America” and the “Star-Spangled Banner,” followed by “<a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/music/music_EO1.html" target="_blank">Ever Onward</a>,” an original song written explicitly for IBM. (Most of the other songs contain new IBM-themed lyrics but borrow melodies from popular songs of the day.) Despite it being the official company rally song, “Ever Onward” does not include women:<br />
<blockquote>“EVER ONWARD — EVER ONWARD! …<br />
Our leaders we revere, and while we’re here<br />
Let’s show the world just what we think of them!<br />
So, let us sing, men. SING, MEN!<br />
Once or twice, then sing again<br />
For the ever onward I.B.M.”</blockquote>Indeed, phrases like “In the glorious I.B.M. we are blest with mighty men” are littered throughout the songbook. Here’s a ditty hailing company president T.J. Watson to the tune of “Happy Days Are Here Again”:<br />
<blockquote>“Happy days are here again!<br />
Nine thousands hearts in I.B.M.,<br />
All loyal T.J. Watson men,<br />
Love our noble President.”</blockquote>The “I.B.M. Hundred Percent Club No. 2” is even worded such that listeners might think IBM was a women-free zone (though the intended meaning was almost certainly that all employees were invested 100 percent in the company):<br />
<blockquote>“O—h! It’s great to belong to the best of Clubs<br />
In our glorious I.B.M.<br />
We’re all one hundred per cent men in President Watson’s band.<br />
We’re selling all our products in every clime and land.<br />
O—h! It’s great to belong to the live-wire gang<br />
In our world-famed I.B.M.”</blockquote>To be sure, women do see a few mentions. But these hat tips reek of <i>Mad Men</i>-style condescension and a focus on the appearance and “sweetness” of the women in question. For starters, there’s “To Our I.B.M. Girls,” sung to the tune of “They’re Style All the While”:<br />
<blockquote>“The office girls surely are always in style.<br />
They greet you with smiles, their welcome’s worth while,<br />
The best in the world are our girls, rank and file, <br />
They’re style all the while—all the while.<br />
<br />
They’ve made I.B.M. complete and worth while,<br />
They work and they smile—so sweetly they smile;<br />
Tall, short, thin and stout girls—they win by a mile—<br />
With heavenly styles all the while.”</blockquote>Here’s the slightly better “To Our I.B.M. Systems Service Girls,” to the tune of “Betty Co-ed”:<br />
<blockquote>“To our Co-eds who spent their time at studies.<br />
To our Co-eds from school of I.B.M.<br />
To our Co-eds no finer group of ladies,<br />
With faces shining bright as diadems;<br />
Ever alert and eager in their duties,<br />
To help our customers their problems shed,<br />
Teaching the use and application of machines.<br />
Yes, here’s to all our I.B.M. Co-eds.”</blockquote>Finally, the songbook includes dozens of odes to individual employees — starting with corporate higher-ups, from Watson and various vice presidents, to managers and leaders of company divisions in the U.S. and around the world. The lone female IBM’er among these individual odes is Anne S. Van Vechten, the company’s secretary of women’s education:<br />
<blockquote>“We admire Anne Van Vechten <br />
She is tops as we all know<br />
With her work in women’s education<br />
That is helping I.B.M. to grow<br />
Every day is working with a purpose<br />
And we all can highly recommend<br />
Anne Van Vechten yes we most sincerely<br />
Our best wishes to you extend.”</blockquote>On the one hand, I admire IBM’s willingness to arouse company spirit with these songs and give thanks to its employees. On the other, the songbook is a reminder of the deeply ingrained attitudes toward women in the workplace that continue to this day. Of course, our country’s laws and societal norms have evolved a great deal in the past three-quarters of a century since these lyrics were written. But female workers in the U.S. still face major obstacles including <a href="http://www.nwlc.org/our-issues/employment/equal-pay-and-the-wage-gap" target="_blank">lower wages for the same jobs</a> as their male counterparts; <a href="http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/23/obama-says-us-should-have-paid-maternity-leave/11288791/" target="_blank">no guaranteed maternity leave</a>; unchecked <a href="http://www.nwlc.org/our-issues/employment/sexual-harassment-in-the-workplace" target="_blank">sexual harassment</a>; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_v._Hobby_Lobby" target="_blank">erosion of rights to effective family planning</a>; and persistent bias in terms of attitudes toward <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/03/in-search-of-a-less-sexist-hiring-process/" target="_blank">hiring</a> and <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3034895/strong-female-lead/the-one-word-men-never-see-in-their-performance-reviews" target="_blank">evaluation</a>. To me, the day when women are truly treated as equals in the workplace will be a day to sing about. <b>∞</b><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-41424065136510074892014-07-24T22:02:00.000-04:002014-07-24T22:29:57.555-04:00happy birthday, amelia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuctPear32j2R6uV1RgslWmjH6K8Ehvn36KMp0MvfMcVQhZ5NmnBVxj_AkZ0f1BhNW1o-R3GbTTAD1t_4K-dUn5_dR1dNI1gjABg_1aQyJ5XntYUX7RFhhbXROOEUCEKdjaEZmw/s1600/amelia-earhart-portrait-schlesinger-library-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJuctPear32j2R6uV1RgslWmjH6K8Ehvn36KMp0MvfMcVQhZ5NmnBVxj_AkZ0f1BhNW1o-R3GbTTAD1t_4K-dUn5_dR1dNI1gjABg_1aQyJ5XntYUX7RFhhbXROOEUCEKdjaEZmw/s400/amelia-earhart-portrait-schlesinger-library-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Pioneering aviator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart">Amelia Earhart</a> was born 117 years ago today: July 24, 1897. To celebrate, I arranged for a brief visit with her papers, which are held by the <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library">Schlesigner Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study</a> in Cambridge, MA. I could have spent hours reading through her letters, school notes, and other memorabilia . . . <br />
<br />
The following are snapshots of some of the unique objects in her file. (Click for larger versions.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6q4eEfedDc5mES02Ys2joorO0FPTIfzUJ-Yr42ySM3bunEWx75s4Bag_Xy47LQnrhdDJtkC82Cvt9TGYOsN_DBxI0DQLObGZDTOLOTYf8MF5UpNZ_AdI6_HRjU03cDl1rao7Jzg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-baby-book-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6q4eEfedDc5mES02Ys2joorO0FPTIfzUJ-Yr42ySM3bunEWx75s4Bag_Xy47LQnrhdDJtkC82Cvt9TGYOsN_DBxI0DQLObGZDTOLOTYf8MF5UpNZ_AdI6_HRjU03cDl1rao7Jzg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-baby-book-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipt9Nkd4eL4x676L_wU1ZmUcVs7khWno7TRciZZ8mf06fNz0IDaWgUkg2TTYP5_lInJb35TcFpSW9N8pg3gfJvKtKpvzSm4Yfl09084mdPg7tEhNRzDeqqK2SjmyOlx34a0raiLg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-lock-hair-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipt9Nkd4eL4x676L_wU1ZmUcVs7khWno7TRciZZ8mf06fNz0IDaWgUkg2TTYP5_lInJb35TcFpSW9N8pg3gfJvKtKpvzSm4Yfl09084mdPg7tEhNRzDeqqK2SjmyOlx34a0raiLg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-lock-hair-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Baby book for Amelia and her sister, Muriel.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpz09TAQ_1_tAJlzayXC5CXxj0NfVXz3Enmw1X_b9KrY9diyitcApywaAWqOMZq16-FMxMtxPgM3S9in-UBKAFhjYtbfGlwUZog32v3q6SmXktYLfNnKv5yrmgCcyjs0PJ4l3H0Q/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-chemistry-notes-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpz09TAQ_1_tAJlzayXC5CXxj0NfVXz3Enmw1X_b9KrY9diyitcApywaAWqOMZq16-FMxMtxPgM3S9in-UBKAFhjYtbfGlwUZog32v3q6SmXktYLfNnKv5yrmgCcyjs0PJ4l3H0Q/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-chemistry-notes-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Notes from chemistry class.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9aer_ofTvi1kem4m6Gw5SEOJO13IR9r4XkuS2GHEF3BVAXCe6tzW7RUq9uE6jbr5AECNRUkXw7fl3l79G6xu0t-8DwlXY2ihB3RiK91XNAGeWIPlPQwyzVqaapHUw4xM-KPAxQ/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-report-card-grades-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9aer_ofTvi1kem4m6Gw5SEOJO13IR9r4XkuS2GHEF3BVAXCe6tzW7RUq9uE6jbr5AECNRUkXw7fl3l79G6xu0t-8DwlXY2ihB3RiK91XNAGeWIPlPQwyzVqaapHUw4xM-KPAxQ/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-report-card-grades-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Prep school grades.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRVlsRT4za6voHqspn4A1mOUypyLxckIAkLMjLuBZFvNFp6PXK8G2lHUH3QwVeYFwQx4S3KIax5f6FfwE3xMTUxvMtShxnjwm-fLueXvhQUat-NLOILRluUCewOVggannU5VnBg/s1600/amelia-earhart-letter-schlesigner-library-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRVlsRT4za6voHqspn4A1mOUypyLxckIAkLMjLuBZFvNFp6PXK8G2lHUH3QwVeYFwQx4S3KIax5f6FfwE3xMTUxvMtShxnjwm-fLueXvhQUat-NLOILRluUCewOVggannU5VnBg/s400/amelia-earhart-letter-schlesigner-library-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBs1uhtOwACyCz48ON82jVMcb2dAOqjnqNXLyiDRbDXeCM1Efvez4Scyo-Qnu9YF-C3_UFI7SVFJVjdkRUjnvxhlttl4V9qUqUBSSHo1kon7Z60OgF-7sH4ypGA2NQ4JBcpX-Bsg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-letter-signature-autograph-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBs1uhtOwACyCz48ON82jVMcb2dAOqjnqNXLyiDRbDXeCM1Efvez4Scyo-Qnu9YF-C3_UFI7SVFJVjdkRUjnvxhlttl4V9qUqUBSSHo1kon7Z60OgF-7sH4ypGA2NQ4JBcpX-Bsg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-letter-signature-autograph-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>1936 letter to a young woman who had asked Earhart for career advice. Choice line: "I warn you deans, teachers, and possible employers are likely to discourage you from so reasonable a line of thought, but I feel women must hold to it if they are to progress."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYscMb6MySNyA6nAHWoWAXpy3-5g7PrTlu3_tiKGFFmtM9E8XygT7zbdQ8CJBSre1l3P4aGomP2SRgLixBEi1BfYlTfE9SfdVyeLJ55SbmgjQax9sIrQT2TaN_h7DmilvRIIaPg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-merry-christmas-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYscMb6MySNyA6nAHWoWAXpy3-5g7PrTlu3_tiKGFFmtM9E8XygT7zbdQ8CJBSre1l3P4aGomP2SRgLixBEi1BfYlTfE9SfdVyeLJ55SbmgjQax9sIrQT2TaN_h7DmilvRIIaPg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-merry-christmas-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Holiday card.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQs377bNaugjIj0BCK4l2AQd16RU_gGW_L2vDUuL8DZkxVkULaQ8hfXnODW5j7zhyphenhyphenpKVkaZJLb-yerMO6bR8neh2MMTrUmqpeKkNG7Rq2TVlsuC9IUHgOMwh2pCsv3ogyQmzSqw/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-stamp-cover-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijQs377bNaugjIj0BCK4l2AQd16RU_gGW_L2vDUuL8DZkxVkULaQ8hfXnODW5j7zhyphenhyphenpKVkaZJLb-yerMO6bR8neh2MMTrUmqpeKkNG7Rq2TVlsuC9IUHgOMwh2pCsv3ogyQmzSqw/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesinger-library-stamp-cover-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XprIKI3yBmB33VMH0o6AndjMivYC4u5O6-WPeG_37j4DEIc9Vwq7MXR4Ft_3fseRy3ork_CbD81G6b3d2U8jqeCqT8vihgxos70nHRe1aErtR21TwQzp4ItWLnNCiFT1tC3jRg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-stamps-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9XprIKI3yBmB33VMH0o6AndjMivYC4u5O6-WPeG_37j4DEIc9Vwq7MXR4Ft_3fseRy3ork_CbD81G6b3d2U8jqeCqT8vihgxos70nHRe1aErtR21TwQzp4ItWLnNCiFT1tC3jRg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-stamps-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>U.S. postage stamp memorabilia.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayDPsZsbACfHk8IntTmlYJTH_-ernaq1tE2G4uxvTiSS_Yq4BQZyrq_DOsoiP0GsmCu7v79j9GFNGGwio3irA0F1AiCwpWLR9mKEBjCc5RRz68En6OimfuTZznZpcpfhouDZMIg/s1600/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-file-boxes-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayDPsZsbACfHk8IntTmlYJTH_-ernaq1tE2G4uxvTiSS_Yq4BQZyrq_DOsoiP0GsmCu7v79j9GFNGGwio3irA0F1AiCwpWLR9mKEBjCc5RRz68En6OimfuTZznZpcpfhouDZMIg/s400/amelia-earhart-schlesigner-library-file-boxes-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Archival boxes containing Earhart's papers. <br />
<br />
The Schlesinger is literally a treasure trove of hidden women's history, and I'm looking forward to spending more time there researching the lives of women in the STEM fields. In the meantime, many thanks to librarian Amanda Strauss, who meticulously prepared Earhart's files for me on short notice! <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Top image: Portrait of Earhart in the Schlesigner Library conference room. Uncanny resemblance here to another aviation pioneer, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Collins">Eileen Collins</a>.</i><br />
<br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-51414170696064993172014-06-03T23:22:00.000-04:002014-06-03T23:22:34.471-04:00women of the periodic table quilt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq21TA3BckBKX0U5tfPk4wzlSKZm-gHpWWe8PgHqWfunJcaDWcmS9wh_RkMPVPdXvfNIIgQMlCIA_YXp-KBAHGJB69wDe-CJicEWrplh0u25aGfgnXMloDyWZr36KMmBPU4BsPag/s1600/women-periodic-table-quilt.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq21TA3BckBKX0U5tfPk4wzlSKZm-gHpWWe8PgHqWfunJcaDWcmS9wh_RkMPVPdXvfNIIgQMlCIA_YXp-KBAHGJB69wDe-CJicEWrplh0u25aGfgnXMloDyWZr36KMmBPU4BsPag/s400/women-periodic-table-quilt.jpeg" /></a></div><i>This article originally appeared on the <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2014/04/25/women-of-the-periodic-table-quilt/" target="_blank">Scientific American Guest Blog</a> on April 25, 2014.</i><br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/" target="_blank">Cambridge Science Festival</a> (CSF) is an annual spectacle of more than 150 science-related events and activities taking place in and around Cambridge, Mass. during the month of April. This year, CSF organizers asked local artists, scientists, and science communicators to join forces for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEAM_fields" target="_blank">STEAM</a> project portraying “<a href="http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2014Festival/2014ScheduleofEvents/CentralElements.aspx" target="_blank">central elements</a>” of science in an artistic light. Participating as a science writer who also <a href="http://maiaw.com/" target="_blank">dabbles in artistic projects</a>, I teamed up with <a href="http://sokath.com/main/" target="_blank">computer scientist and crafter Gillian Smith</a>. Our common interest in women’s history made it easy to select a project that would highlight and commemorate women who contributed significantly to the discovery of elements of the periodic table. Our canvas would be cotton — colorful and queen sized.<br />
<br />
A number of women have made seminal discoveries leading to a greater understanding of the nature of atoms and their properties. Most people, however, can barely name one. In part, this is because scientists in general fail to rank highly among the world’s recognizable boldfaced names. It is also due to the fact that many important discoveries by female scientists have been <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_effect" target="_blank">underplayed or overshadowed by accomplishments of male colleagues and rivals</a>. This has been particularly true in the male-dominated fields of chemistry and physics, which experienced bursts of exponential growth in the 20th century. During this prolific era, mysteries behind the building blocks of the universe began to be solved in rapid succession. But the simultaneous lack of acceptance for women in research settings made it difficult for female scientists to gain widespread recognition, even when their work was exceptional.<br />
<br />
For our quilt, Gillian and I chose to highlight five women whose scientific achievements include the discovery of an element or one of its isotopes. They are:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXy3k7QF9cqXPs_BxrJnCnSTXgV1fhndlryoC1vRUu5O76XtCJbvuZfCtqjNwXbQ8AfKmbIZW9KBdJo8sFhYhLjR_2CIyJCiIdiNq2B4RsWA7PNQ2PnsV2t3CrRCs-7MbP71zIvg/s1600/marie-curie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXy3k7QF9cqXPs_BxrJnCnSTXgV1fhndlryoC1vRUu5O76XtCJbvuZfCtqjNwXbQ8AfKmbIZW9KBdJo8sFhYhLjR_2CIyJCiIdiNq2B4RsWA7PNQ2PnsV2t3CrRCs-7MbP71zIvg/s400/marie-curie.jpg" /></a></div><b>Marie Curie:</b> World-famous Polish physicist who discovered radium (Ra) and polonium (Po) with her husband, Pierre; made history by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie" target="_blank">winning two Nobel Prizes</a> for her work on radiation; and became the namesake of curium (Cm), element 96.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzArrp9imRoBwHVN-GH2FPViX11LnOZl1EgGdtT9TSpUNKVJF9va_nVKgPjghVhp20-nv_Fk2sXoIlSDlKBBJ5CLB4xBo7XyAhiMsuDOw_Fc6OibMFh14yWw-w60STjv_Ku9VaUw/s1600/berta-karlik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzArrp9imRoBwHVN-GH2FPViX11LnOZl1EgGdtT9TSpUNKVJF9va_nVKgPjghVhp20-nv_Fk2sXoIlSDlKBBJ5CLB4xBo7XyAhiMsuDOw_Fc6OibMFh14yWw-w60STjv_Ku9VaUw/s400/berta-karlik.jpg" /></a></div><b>Berta Karlik:</b> Austrian physicist and contemporary of Curie’s who <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berta_Karlik" target="_blank">discovered astatine</a> (At), a radioactive element most commonly used for cancer therapy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-tNEirlSWeTpnWRwgpol4I3GHvJeKhwbCqQHxy5GljIgsksgFcdZbkLdWbGopoJhr4eaimkgPYL0Ns77_0MiL20CXo2Q-GE7ZeRlZ7XjI5qAoVUosY9j3vwEjlhqwH1DTTFscw/s1600/lise-meitner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-tNEirlSWeTpnWRwgpol4I3GHvJeKhwbCqQHxy5GljIgsksgFcdZbkLdWbGopoJhr4eaimkgPYL0Ns77_0MiL20CXo2Q-GE7ZeRlZ7XjI5qAoVUosY9j3vwEjlhqwH1DTTFscw/s400/lise-meitner.jpg" /></a></div><b>Lise Meitner:</b> Noted Austrian physicist and close friend of Karlik’s who discovered nuclear fission; identified an isotope of protactinium (Pa); and later became the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner" target="_blank">namesake of element 109</a>, meitnerium (Mt).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-tH00f3wg7iKeaalVMUjs3geEPz6WKMCRjWfu_z5auKFUR9UdTVOylhM3eMDxdL6-Rt_ltrheFcvH_f5_-wStJ8M0OiJiAkNdCzudE9y9Mh3-BBB5cZoyCpiEhkQHZ8G_SnXJg/s1600/ida-noddack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge-tH00f3wg7iKeaalVMUjs3geEPz6WKMCRjWfu_z5auKFUR9UdTVOylhM3eMDxdL6-Rt_ltrheFcvH_f5_-wStJ8M0OiJiAkNdCzudE9y9Mh3-BBB5cZoyCpiEhkQHZ8G_SnXJg/s400/ida-noddack.jpg" /></a></div><b>Ida Noddack:</b> German physicist and chemist who discovered rhenium (Re) alongside her husband, Walter, and was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Noddack" target="_blank">nominated three times</a> for a Nobel Prize, but never won.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUFmFRoJ3Y1h9cEOGRaEL9zGOdDWctj9Y4Ltnl2WpNnLP0eIU99b4XVrS89u0DntvB461JOyk2HTVvzBZoiLUV2bjf7c0Kd_Q16GKEfgHEqZ55sQMywYx7QLSTrZevvwxsgZyQw/s1600/marguerite-perey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUFmFRoJ3Y1h9cEOGRaEL9zGOdDWctj9Y4Ltnl2WpNnLP0eIU99b4XVrS89u0DntvB461JOyk2HTVvzBZoiLUV2bjf7c0Kd_Q16GKEfgHEqZ55sQMywYx7QLSTrZevvwxsgZyQw/s400/marguerite-perey.jpg" /></a></div><b>Marguerite Perey:</b> French physicist and student of Marie Curie’s who <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Perey" target="_blank">discovered francium</a> (Fr), a highly unstable radioactive metal.<br />
<br />
The quilt was designed with several goals in mind: to accentuate the women in question with photographs, so viewers would know instinctively that they were actual historical figures; to connect the scientists with a geometric thread representing the weaving of both academic knowledge and sisterhood; and to bring to life the colors of the Cambridge Science Festival.<br />
<br />
While I contributed the general concept and led research and writing for the project, Gillian was the quilter extraordinaire who made the artwork come to life. I visited Gillian’s studio during a late stage of the project to capture her process and soak in her thoughts on the joys and challenges of quilting. The images below provide a snapshot of the quilt’s production; a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157644295988375/" target="_blank">more complete photo album</a> is also available with additional views.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAqCSjsO-z3AgXDzkAkcsubpMXsS3zf2EzlKx9Iq6ORCWKVTZBzejlDUIRBKc995wYl-KIKsDQ4yAVJ6prCB3DlRS4IWu9yMhjcrG0fvZwaR8TVSLqj3PRkLg8Yx5ejA029bqnrw/s1600/quilt-design.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAqCSjsO-z3AgXDzkAkcsubpMXsS3zf2EzlKx9Iq6ORCWKVTZBzejlDUIRBKc995wYl-KIKsDQ4yAVJ6prCB3DlRS4IWu9yMhjcrG0fvZwaR8TVSLqj3PRkLg8Yx5ejA029bqnrw/s400/quilt-design.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsqpGauXA3ZZFI9IKhsihW6MyS0dyu_8nxj_qT7DVk4y02uie08e38ZL7FgWzYJ8Udcucvl6ze-EOs0U9sb07QPNkuXP5xJvddDCZxjt00elxvF0ufQH-IX7tGYQUOgJU4Un1lw/s1600/quilt-prep-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEsqpGauXA3ZZFI9IKhsihW6MyS0dyu_8nxj_qT7DVk4y02uie08e38ZL7FgWzYJ8Udcucvl6ze-EOs0U9sb07QPNkuXP5xJvddDCZxjt00elxvF0ufQH-IX7tGYQUOgJU4Un1lw/s400/quilt-prep-1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4prTbXmQamr9a8Za_hvM_eLZAdry9DpZlHZT0uuKco2ak9a6xitEvGqDKi2VgiELznDqkULRjUFKA3m6n6f5aFVozk0fsLmSZCTYxhY9M7UZhMHaIt2NGTFAC9xBEsWdjnJxNA/s1600/quilt-prep-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4prTbXmQamr9a8Za_hvM_eLZAdry9DpZlHZT0uuKco2ak9a6xitEvGqDKi2VgiELznDqkULRjUFKA3m6n6f5aFVozk0fsLmSZCTYxhY9M7UZhMHaIt2NGTFAC9xBEsWdjnJxNA/s400/quilt-prep-2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6tedq-89dTu5dN_jqu35HzOVmU_e55HJa1ULPjVRtHEd4oaYPghRrxV8qikpB1D36mBPPWUayqThl-q8PIADAVzCa18TXM18Js7b30UyHrZX6sBGZbJleAlwbFQoSfRzY4Vevsg/s1600/quilt-prep-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6tedq-89dTu5dN_jqu35HzOVmU_e55HJa1ULPjVRtHEd4oaYPghRrxV8qikpB1D36mBPPWUayqThl-q8PIADAVzCa18TXM18Js7b30UyHrZX6sBGZbJleAlwbFQoSfRzY4Vevsg/s400/quilt-prep-3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The final quilt will be on display at Cort Furniture on Massachusetts Avenue for the duration of the 2014 Cambridge Science Festival (April 18 – April 27). For anyone in the area who would like to stop by during the CSF <a href="http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2014Festival/2014ScheduleofEvents/CentralElements.aspx" target="_blank">Central Elements Open House</a>, Gillian and I will be at Cort alongside our quilt on the afternoon of Sunday, April 27, to describe our project and the women it celebrates.<br />
<br />
<i>All photographs by Maia Weinstock.</i><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-90165487172966315482014-06-03T22:00:00.000-04:002014-06-03T22:49:36.200-04:0015 works of art depicting women in science<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VQWkrUY_2AzEpIwbCya_vU3dl9ZQ89Aj099BHPbjDpdMnDgC1jN7apY-IYjRsevqdcUG3kthD1FFG-dW9WQxGmz3aeQKcIpEVt6KB9iMj828X-m3koGR5wO8LQApO89bxEib7g/s1600/Lonsdale-McClintock-Mayer-Pockels-Jennifer-Mondfrans.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VQWkrUY_2AzEpIwbCya_vU3dl9ZQ89Aj099BHPbjDpdMnDgC1jN7apY-IYjRsevqdcUG3kthD1FFG-dW9WQxGmz3aeQKcIpEVt6KB9iMj828X-m3koGR5wO8LQApO89bxEib7g/s400/Lonsdale-McClintock-Mayer-Pockels-Jennifer-Mondfrans.png" /></a></div><i>This post originally appeared March 7, 2014 on <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-works-of-art-depicting-women-in-science/" target="_blank">Scientific American online</a>.</i><br />
<br />
Research into why women continue to drop out of the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) despite high aptitude in these areas at early ages <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html?emc=eta1&_r=1&pagewanted=all&" target="_blank" title="Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?">increasingly points to factors</a> that include the stereotypical treatment and unequal representation of females in popular culture. It is becoming clear that toys, visual media, and written media, from books to references such as Wikipedia, could do wonders to encourage girls and young women by adding more and better representations of females in STEM. Fortunately this is starting to happen, as evidenced by new offerings such as the latest <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/09/02/breaking-brick-stereotypes-lego-unveils-a-female-scientist/" target="_blank" title="Breaking Brick Stereotypes: LEGO Unveils a Female Scientist">LEGO scientist</a>, whom I have written about at length on the heels of my own LEGO scientist <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157623988000684/" target="_blank">minfigure project</a>; by the runaway success of <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gravity-astronaut-cady-coleman-interview/" target="_blank"><i>Gravity</i></a>, a film with a medical engineer-astronaut as its protagonist and hero; and by the recent popularity of <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/15/wikipedia-is-focusofadalovelaceday.html" target="_blank" title="Wiki-editors boost entries on female scientists to mark Ada Lovelace Day">Wikipedia edit-a-thons</a>, including several I have organized in the U.S. focusing on articles about women in STEM.<br />
<br />
But there's another sea change taking place right now, and that is the morphing of STEM into <a href="http://www.steamedu.com/" target="_blank" title="STEAM: A Framework for Teaching Across the Disciplines">STEAM</a>, an acronym acknowledging that art and design have always been integral to the fields of science and technology. Scientific and mathematical crafts have become easier to find and purchase in recent years, thanks to the growth of online artist communities and marketplaces. And although depictions of scientists remain <a href="http://lookslikescience.tumblr.com/stereotype" target="_blank">overwhelmingly male</a>, an increasing number of artworks are beginning to highlight women as thinkers and creators. The artists in the following collection of works featuring women in science have contributed boldly to the dual goals of celebrating women in the STEM fields and portraying them positively through the lens of visual media. A selection of these will be featured at a women-in-STEM art exhibit that I will guest curate at the <a href="http://artsciencegallery.com/" target="_blank">Art.Science.Gallery.</a> in Austin, Texas, from September 13 through October 15, 2014.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzYsYCvSbYBIWd2Qupsb8r0nzrnqPY72iXaZNNAvi8aoMNnqhmjvo4s9yODu98h4a9ypUQ8fbRpyMllSaK5w9bAI9olaNoycq9-ixkGrBNb1plKxduHmK5GgMBf-iHPwN9ASpeQ/s1600/Marie-Curie-Jeff-Fenwick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzYsYCvSbYBIWd2Qupsb8r0nzrnqPY72iXaZNNAvi8aoMNnqhmjvo4s9yODu98h4a9ypUQ8fbRpyMllSaK5w9bAI9olaNoycq9-ixkGrBNb1plKxduHmK5GgMBf-iHPwN9ASpeQ/s400/Marie-Curie-Jeff-Fenwick.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Marie Curie" - Jeff Fenwick<br />
(goache and ink)</b><br />
<br />
This provocative painting of renowned physicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie" target="_blank" title="Marie Curie - Wikipedia">Marie Curie</a> gazing curiously at a serpent ghost appears at first glance to reference the fact that what Madam Curie became most famous for—her tireless work uncovering the mechanisms of radioactivity—was also what ended up killing her. But <a href="http://jeff-fenwick.com/" target="_blank" title="Jeff Fenwick Illustration">Jeff Fenwick</a>, a Toronto-based illustrator and craftsman, describes a secondary symbolism to his work: The snake and vial, he says, were designed to evoke a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius" target="_blank" title="Rod of Asclepius - Wikipedia">Rod of Asclepius</a>, the universal symbol of medicine. "The piece is meant to represent Curie's research being a miraculous breakthrough for medical science," Fenwick explains, "while also suggesting the immanent danger Curie was in while working with radioactive materials."<br />
<br />
After learning of Curie's life story, and of the circumstances behind her death from overexposure to radiation, Fenwick decided she would make an ideal model for a painting. He began and finished the piece during his first year at OCAD University in Toronto, where he is pursuing a degree in illustration. "I chose Marie Curie because she has a very particular melancholy expression which I felt makes her portrait interesting to study."<br />
<br />
Fenwick plans to focus on creating comics and other illustration works after he graduates. "I also see a future," he says, "in marrying my love of design and art with my professional career as a carpenter."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://jeff-fenwick.com/" target="_blank" title="Jeff Fenwick Illustration">Jeff Fenwick</a>. Used by permission.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ8H-t45GyhpX6AaAnU7guL6pAly-abBYsOYIp1ztjftvmDV0G-rBvF9qiZq8Uv8WIS9GUqlDAyza8uPdjy5d0gbg3gNwLgI74w7pOKWII0JYoY7oWzRaYrhWiRO5BsHnRmKkGQ/s1600/Lise-Meitner-Orlando-Leibovitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbZ8H-t45GyhpX6AaAnU7guL6pAly-abBYsOYIp1ztjftvmDV0G-rBvF9qiZq8Uv8WIS9GUqlDAyza8uPdjy5d0gbg3gNwLgI74w7pOKWII0JYoY7oWzRaYrhWiRO5BsHnRmKkGQ/s400/Lise-Meitner-Orlando-Leibovitz.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Lise Meitner and Nuclear Fission" - Orlando Leibovitz<br />
(acrylic on jute)</b><br />
<br />
Both Marie Curie and German-born physicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Meitner" target="_blank" title="Lise Meitner - Wikipedia">Lise Meitner</a> were responsible for some of the most important physics of the 20th century. Meitner's contribution was the discovery of nuclear fission, the splitting of atoms that led to the development of nuclear energy and atomic weapons. Unlike Curie, who was showered with two Nobel Prizes, Meitner was snubbed when her collaborator, Otto Hahn, took home a solo Nobel in physics for their work. But Meitner's accomplishments eventually earned her something even more enduring: a place on the periodic table of elements. She is the namesake of meitnerium, element 109.<br />
<br />
I was pleasantly surprised by the whimsy with which <a href="http://jeff-fenwick.com/" target="_blank" title="Jeff Fenwick Illustration">Orlando Leibovitz</a>, a self-taught artist based in Santa Fe, N.M., represented Meitner's signature work. In stark contrast to Jeff Fenwick's cautionary vision of a transformational breakthrough, Leibovitz provides a simpler, more joyful look at an iconic scientist and her discovery. The portrait belongs to a 10-piece series called "<a href="http://www.orlandoleibovitz.com/Painted_Physics_Thumbs.html" target="_blank" title="Painted Physics - Orlando Leibovitz">Painted Physics</a>," which also includes paintings of Richard Feynman dancing in front of a chalkboard filled with Feynman diagrams and Ernest Shroedinger juggling cats. "Since my teenage years," says Leibovitz, "I have been intrigued by the way theoretical physics explains our universe. Artists seek the same explanations. Art, of course, does not require the same rigorous verification. But creativity and the desire to penetrate the mysterious connect art and physics."<br />
<br />
Leibovitz adds: "Lise Meitner's discoveries continue to have a monumental impact on our lives. The way she overcame the discrimination she faced as a woman, as a physicist, and as a Jew in Nazi Germany is a dramatic story. Meitner wrote, 'Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity. It teaches people to accept reality with wonder and admiration...' She lived that sentiment every day of her life. That is a story worth painting."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://www.orlandoleibovitz.com/" target="_blank" title="Orlando Leibovitz">Orlando Leibovitz</a>. Used by permission.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4M8yfjBKop_CZXAgKGhTodidjkIo6xz5DUEmZdHU_7jUFM_WXv7nDBcqGUw_qcRuKpkVCMYSDluLxLDUOJ__woUjN3fNE7GCNqtFQVhysAbg90BCSvpAcC0HVMP6rsd29rYibg/s1600/Inge-Lehmann-Ele-Willoughby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4M8yfjBKop_CZXAgKGhTodidjkIo6xz5DUEmZdHU_7jUFM_WXv7nDBcqGUw_qcRuKpkVCMYSDluLxLDUOJ__woUjN3fNE7GCNqtFQVhysAbg90BCSvpAcC0HVMP6rsd29rYibg/s400/Inge-Lehmann-Ele-Willoughby.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Inge Lehmann and the Earth's Core" - Ele Willoughby<br />
(ink on kozo paper)</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://minouette.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Minouette - Ele Willoughby">Ele Willoughby</a> is a marine geophysicist based in Toronto whose research focuses on gas hydrate deposits in underwater environments. She is also a highly accomplished printmaker who creates screen prints, etchings, and linocut prints on topics in science and the natural world. This wonderful piece depicting Danish seismologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inge_Lehmann" target="_blank" title="Inge Lehmann - Wikipedia">Inge Lehmann</a>, who in 1936 demonstrated that our planet contains a solid inner core, is part of Willoughby's linocut series on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/minouette?section_id=6820498" target="_blank" title="Science and Scientists by Minouette - Etsy">famous and lesser-known scientists</a>. "I'm rather passionate about the history of science, particularly physics and geophysics," says Willoughby. "I am more than happy to be sharing it through art—especially under-appreciated female superstars like Inge Lehmann."<br />
<br />
The print's geometric red figure is a representation of Earth in cross-section as depicted in Lehmann's seminal paper, "P'," one of the most succinctly titled articles in the history of science. "The three concentric spheres are the mantle, outer core, and inner core, which she postulated," Willoughby explains. "'E' marks the epicenter of a massive earthquake. The numbered rays from E show the waves we would expect to observe at various angular distances around the Earth, as time progresses and they propagate through the planet."<br />
<br />
"I'm not sure when I realized," Willoughby adds, "that the Lehmann of the Lehmann discontinuity or the American Geophysical Union's Lehmann Medal recognized a woman whose career spanned a period when it would have been unusual for her to achieve what she did. The more I looked into her story, the more interesting she was. It was not only really clever to infer that what she was seeing in the data were earthquake waves that shouldn't have been there if the core was fluid as it was believed; it was really a paradigm shift. She decided that these needed a proper, systematic explanation, and her bold hypothesis fit. It isn't widely recognized—even among earth scientists—that this fundamental discovery about the structure of our planet was the work of a pioneering woman in the field."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://minouette.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" title="Minouette - Ele Willoughby">Ele Willoughby</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgucoNFNNEMNlZCmvGrn3q4KwiG27YqCyAsoLy6TVicMNcpBdBroc6imXg9etSyq3V5FhgjQjWETaZiL0EA8MvOwEkiMIH2cRwMl-gXa0lonW4Ko4q13F0qDcvvv5CM-HHetWOdJA/s1600/Emilie-du-Chatelet-Nicolas-de-Largilliere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgucoNFNNEMNlZCmvGrn3q4KwiG27YqCyAsoLy6TVicMNcpBdBroc6imXg9etSyq3V5FhgjQjWETaZiL0EA8MvOwEkiMIH2cRwMl-gXa0lonW4Ko4q13F0qDcvvv5CM-HHetWOdJA/s400/Emilie-du-Chatelet-Nicolas-de-Largilliere.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Portrait of Gabrielle-Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet" - Nicolas de Largillière<br />
(oil on canvas)</b><br />
<br />
The great 18th-century mathematician, physicist, and natural philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89milie_du_Ch%C3%A2telet" target="_blank" title="Emilie du Chatelet - Wikipedia">Émilie du Châtelet</a> has been the subject of quite a few artistic renditions, but this radiant portrait by French painter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_de_Largilli%C3%A8re" target="_blank" title="Nicolas de Largilliere - Wikipedia">Nicolas de Largillière</a> is my favorite by far.<br />
<br />
It dates to around 1735, a period in history when it was almost unheard of for a female scholar—particularly one who worked in the natural sciences—to be depicted by a master painter such as De Largillière. The work also dates, roughly, to the time when Du Châtelet reconnected with her childhood friend, Voltaire, the historian and philosopher who would become her lover, intellectual partner, and lifelong friend.<br />
<br />
Paris-born Émilie du Châtelet was drawn to the sciences from an early age, and she benefited from the encouragement and tutoring of many fine academics. As an adult, she became particularly fascinated with the work of Isaac Newton, and she is considered to have been a leading driver of the move among French academics away from Cartesian physics and toward Newtonian physics. Near the end of her short life she contributed her most lasting work, a translation and commentary on Netwton's groundbreaking <i>Principia.</i> It is, to this day, the standard translation of the work into French. Du Châtelet died after the birth of her fourth child at the age of 42.<br />
<br />
The symbols and gestures in De Largillière's portrait are chock-full of meaning. First, Du Châtelet is staring skyward, a likely nod to the fact that she was interested in astronomy and the cosmos. She grips with her right hand a gold compass, symbolizing her work in measuring and bringing order to the natural world and universe. Her left hand sits on a celestial globe, probably a cue to her reverence for Newton's theory of universal gravitation. Whether the positioning of this hand just above the constellation Scorpio was related to the fact that her beloved Voltaire was born under that particular sign is up for debate.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, this artwork is likely the most valuable among those presented in this collection; the original sold at auction for $134,500 in 2010.<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_de_Largilli%C3%A8re" target="_blank" title="Nicolas de Largilliere - Wikipedia">Nicolas de Largillière</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VQWkrUY_2AzEpIwbCya_vU3dl9ZQ89Aj099BHPbjDpdMnDgC1jN7apY-IYjRsevqdcUG3kthD1FFG-dW9WQxGmz3aeQKcIpEVt6KB9iMj828X-m3koGR5wO8LQApO89bxEib7g/s1600/Lonsdale-McClintock-Mayer-Pockels-Jennifer-Mondfrans.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VQWkrUY_2AzEpIwbCya_vU3dl9ZQ89Aj099BHPbjDpdMnDgC1jN7apY-IYjRsevqdcUG3kthD1FFG-dW9WQxGmz3aeQKcIpEVt6KB9iMj828X-m3koGR5wO8LQApO89bxEib7g/s400/Lonsdale-McClintock-Mayer-Pockels-Jennifer-Mondfrans.png" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale," "Barbara McClintock," "Agnes Pockels," and "Maria Goeppert-Mayer" - Jennifer Mondfrans<br />
(oil, acrylic, and wax pastel)</b><br />
<br />
"I was having a conversation with a male acquaintance, and we were talking scientists," begins San Francisco artist <a href="http://www.jennifermondfrans.com/" target="_blank" title="Jennifer Mondfrans - Painter of high-octane portraits">Jennifer Mondfrans</a>. "He thought the only historical woman scientist was Marie Curie. After asking many of my smart friends, I realized that this was a secret history that needed to be known."<br />
<br />
Mondfrans's response was two spellbinding series of vivid portraits depicting notable, but not necessarily well-known, women in science and mathematics. One set, "<a href="http://www.jennifermondfrans.com/#at-least-i-have-you" target="_blank" title="Jennifer Mondfrans - At Least I Have You, To Remember Me">At Least I Have You, To Remember Me</a>," pairs portraits in wild, saturated colors with "autobiographies" in the form of letters to the viewer. These are meant to imprint a story along with Mondfrans's visual interpretation of the scientist in question. The other set, "<a href="http://www.jennifermondfrans.com/#scientists" target="_blank" title="Jennifer Mondfrans - Women Scientists in History">Women Scientists in History</a>," includes alternate interpretations for some of the same personalities, while introducing yet more individuals to her overall mix. "I chose women who had accomplished great work and who had been photographed," Mondfrans says.<br />
<br />
The four women represented here are (clockwise from top left): <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Lonsdale" target="_blank" title="Kathleen Lonsdale - Wikipedia">Kathleen Lonsdale</a>, the pioneering British crystallographer who proved that the benzene ring is a flat hexagon; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Mcclintock" target="_blank" title="Barbara McClintock - Wikipedia">Barbara McClintock</a>, the American geneticist and Nobel Prize-winner who produced the first genetic map of maize; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_Pockels" target="_blank" title="Agnes Pockels - Wikipedia">Agnes Pockels</a>, an underappreciated German pioneer in the discipline of surface science; and German-American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Goeppert-Mayer" target="_blank" title="Maria Goeppert-Mayer - Wikipedia">Maria Goeppert-Mayer</a>, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who proposed the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus.<br />
<br />
Mondfrans plans to add even more portraits of women to her science collections, as time allows. High on her to-do list are chemist Irène Joliot-Curie and biologist Lynn Margulis. "I will continue to do scientists as they pass," she says, "to create an ongoing history."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credits (4): © <a href="http://www.jennifermondfrans.com/" target="_blank" title="Jennifer Mondfrans - Painter of high-octane portraits">Jennifer Mondfrans</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3ssQVfcNatOqusmvL-EdHz18rZHRsIaN5GxnLdhIXEU6dQ_0yDfHSeN0zHnGdEr9ED1dsvuvp-vQXF1RLBiFBSPrsAEXuq9uu20FzsMUMOkPilswhmyOLt0kFVFbCMi4dZuX3g/s1600/Henrietta-Swan-Leavitt-Raul-Colon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU3ssQVfcNatOqusmvL-EdHz18rZHRsIaN5GxnLdhIXEU6dQ_0yDfHSeN0zHnGdEr9ED1dsvuvp-vQXF1RLBiFBSPrsAEXuq9uu20FzsMUMOkPilswhmyOLt0kFVFbCMi4dZuX3g/s400/Henrietta-Swan-Leavitt-Raul-Colon.png" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Henrietta Swan Leavitt" - Raúl Colón<br />
(colored pencil and lithographic crayon on paper)</b><br />
<br />
I live in the same neighborhood where astronomer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Swan_Leavitt" target="_blank" title="Henrietta Swan Leavitt - Wikipedia">Henrietta Swan Leavitt</a> spent a great deal of time, carefully analyzing the brightness of stars as they were observed around the turn of the 20th century. I often pass by her former office at the Harvard Observatory, and by the last apartment building she lived in before she <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/8727034886/" target="_blank" title="Henrietta Swan Leavitt's grave marker - pixbymaia on Flickr">died</a>. I wonder how life might have been for her, walking these same streets.<br />
<br />
Physically, much of the area remains unchanged, but in Leavitt's time, women couldn't even dream of matriculating at a university like Harvard. Nevertheless, she was one of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Computers" target="_blank" title="Harvard Computers - Wikipedia">famous group of women</a> who not only worked at the Harvard Observatory (earning next to nothing, I might add) but who also succeeded in making a number of major contributions to the field of astronomy.<br />
<br />
Last summer, I came across a children's <a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/Look-Up!/Robert-Burleigh/9781416958192" target="_blank" title="Look Up! Henrietta Leavitt, Pioneering Woman Astronomer - Simon & Schuster">picture book about Leavitt</a>, written by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by New York artist <a href="http://www.morgangaynin.com/colon/" target="_blank" title="Raul Colon - Morgan Gaynin Inc. Illustration Representatives">Raúl Colón</a>. It details her life and greatest work: the discovery of an important relationship between the changing brightness of so-called variable stars and the duration, or period, of their light fluctuations. Leavitt gained little notoriety for it in her lifetime, but this observation proved so fundamental to later discoveries about our place in the cosmos that a number of scholars, including renowned astronomer Edwin Hubble, considered it worthy of a Nobel Prize. "I was impressed by her accomplishment—basically, finding a way to measure the distance of stars," says Colón. In his portrait, the top panel represents the varying brightness of a star, while the bottom is a recreation of how Henrietta and her fellow "computers" noted the changes on paper.<br />
<br />
"When I visited Harvard, I saw the transparencies of different stars Henrietta and other astronomers studied," Colón explains. "I also read through some of the notebooks they used to annotate their observations concerning the degree of brightness in each star through a period of time. Having some of the equipment they used—like the glass device to place the transparencies—right there for me to study and sketch really connected me to the past and her story."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://www.morgangaynin.com/colon/" target="_blank" title="Raul Colon - Morgan Gaynin Inc.">Raúl Colón</a>. Used by permission. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. <a href="http://SimonandSchuster.com" target="_blank" title="Simon and Schuster">SimonandSchuster.com</a>.</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRe2Y1jOa45tH403o2Zl-miKugu3aekMNtArDnW0XP7_Yk4Yol4psrJa9sTnnT5ak5r92L09GuMwYDZBaGUTuwzhy2S_sCxAG_hCdyaOdAGPhzgkkwUkv60pU9tevX7JBGo7RdQ/s1600/Mae-Jemison-Muhammad-Yungai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRe2Y1jOa45tH403o2Zl-miKugu3aekMNtArDnW0XP7_Yk4Yol4psrJa9sTnnT5ak5r92L09GuMwYDZBaGUTuwzhy2S_sCxAG_hCdyaOdAGPhzgkkwUkv60pU9tevX7JBGo7RdQ/s400/Mae-Jemison-Muhammad-Yungai.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Mae Jemison" - Muhammad Yungai<br />
(oil on canvas)</b><br />
<br />
You may know that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison" target="_blank" title="Mae Jemison - Wikipedia">Mae Jemison</a> was the first African American woman in space, but did you have any idea that she's a serious dancer? That she spent two and a half years as a Peace Corps doctor in Africa? Or that she fulfilled a childhood dream by playing a <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Mae_Jemison" target="_blank" title="Mae Jemison - Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki">small role on <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation?</i></a><br />
<br />
Mae Carol Jemison has become an inspiration to women and children everywhere, not only because she earned the call from NASA, but because she has, in her post-astronaut years, excelled as a multifaceted and highly successful businesswoman, tech developer, and social leader.<br />
<br />
These credentials, plus her commitment to education, are just a few of the reasons why Atlanta-based artist and teacher <a href="http://www.muhammadyungai.com/" target="_blank" title="the.art.of... Muhammad Yungai">Muhammad Yungai</a> decided to create this expressive portrait of Jemison as part of his colorful "<a href="http://www.muhammadyungai.com/large-multi-view/29%20Black%20People%20You%20Should%20Know/1920113-1-164463/29%20Black%20People%20You%20Should%20Know.html#.Uk7jdiSHodN" target="_blank" title="29 Black People You Should Know - Muhammad Yungai">29 Black People You Should Know</a>" series. "Mae Jemison is an amazing woman whose story should be known," he says.<br />
<br />
Yungai is a self-taught painter who grew up in New Orleans with a passion for artistic expression. "After receiving praise and guidance at a very early age from my father, my fascination with art bloomed into an unquenchable thirst," he writes on his website.<br />
<br />
Today, Yungai lives in Atlanta, where he teaches visual arts to children at the KIPP WAYS Academy. His portrait of Mae Jemison was created to honor Black History Month and to serve as a fundraiser for his students. Along with the other 28 paintings of historical black leaders from Langston Hughes to Whitney Houston, Jemison's portrait was auctioned off, with proceeds going toward materials to help Yungai instruct a new generation of artists.<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://www.muhammadyungai.com/" target="_blank" title="the.art.of... Muhammad Yungai">Muhammad Yungai</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIEfZEO-BWmUS980KpDX4-nyGWWwBn0fCQCTo5bpryRV6ml01cZuCqtKfTIZMgz00-PLl-4BrfjIc00kvHSde7qFH523o0O_WUij9_FPY88RXmWSS88WBgtOhCx-sfZeNpfjKkg/s1600/Jane-Goodall-Hayley-Gillespie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBIEfZEO-BWmUS980KpDX4-nyGWWwBn0fCQCTo5bpryRV6ml01cZuCqtKfTIZMgz00-PLl-4BrfjIc00kvHSde7qFH523o0O_WUij9_FPY88RXmWSS88WBgtOhCx-sfZeNpfjKkg/s400/Jane-Goodall-Hayley-Gillespie.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Jane Goodall Darwin Day Portrait Project 2013" - Hayley Gillespie<br />
(paper collage and acrylic on wood panel)</b><br />
<br />
In 2012, ecologist, conservation biologist, and artist <a href="http://jhayleygillespie.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" title="J. Hayley Gillespie">Hayley Gillespie</a> began the <a href="http://biocreativity.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/darwin2012/" target="_blank" title="2012 Darwin Day Portrait Project">Darwin Day Portrait Project</a>, a community endeavor in Austin, TX, that celebrates great naturalists on Charles Darwin's birthday (February 12th). After crafting a collage of Darwin himself for the inaugural event, Gillespie decided to focus this year on primatologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall" target="_blank" title="Jane Goodall - Wikipedia">Jane Goodall</a>, a chimpanzee expert and one of the most celebrated scientists of the 20th century.<br />
<br />
By happy coincidence, Gillespie learned she would have the opportunity to show her work to Goodall just a few months later, during a public lecture at Southwestern University, where Gillespie was a visiting professor. "I felt a lot of pressure to get the portrait just right because I knew she might see it," Gillespie admits. "'Very good likeness,' was her calm assessment, so I felt really good about that!"<br />
<br />
The collage, now signed by Goodall (top right), is on display at the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin—not far from <a href="http://www.artsciencegallery.com/" target="_blank" title="Art.Science.Gallery.">Art.Science.Gallery.</a>, another of Gillespie's creative endeavors. She began the project in response to her popular <a href="http://jhayleygillespie.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" title="J. Hayley Gillespie">blog</a> about science and art. "I met so many amazing artist-scientists through my blog who were searching for a place to exhibit their work," she explains. "I woke up one morning and said, 'Why not start a gallery specifically for science and nature-inspired work?'" Art.Science.Gallery. existed in pop-up mode for some time, but it now has a permanent space a few miles east of downtown Austin, where it not only showcases artworks but also provides a home for science communication activities.<br />
<br />
"My mother, several aunts and grandmother are all artists, and my grandfathers were engineers, so art and science have just always been a part of my life," Gillespie says. "I think they were just as much a part of Darwin's life—who had to draw, sketch, etc.—or Earnst Haeckel's life, who became famous for his <a href="http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/01/art-forms-of-nature-ernst-haeckel.html" target="_blank" title="Art Forms in Nature - The Ernst Haeckel Collection">Art Forms in Nature</a>. Somehow the two fields became more separated in the 20th century as science became more quantitative. But, I think we're on the verge of a major resurgence of integrating arts and sciences."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://jhayleygillespie.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" title="J. Hayley Gillespie">Hayley Gillespie</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOqCj-4eFMu84hFn5xCyM-dxJw_Roeak1Q59Y_uOa_o_SEOWjQndHTI0kiGKJ4mX7MZ_GnjG-M7EsL8SEOfV87GhvRuGytLO8gBZXFzxAt8mvLfoxsz-NXmCUWRXpTGVwhyeOag/s1600/Rosalind-Franklin-Geoffrey-Appleton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkOqCj-4eFMu84hFn5xCyM-dxJw_Roeak1Q59Y_uOa_o_SEOWjQndHTI0kiGKJ4mX7MZ_GnjG-M7EsL8SEOfV87GhvRuGytLO8gBZXFzxAt8mvLfoxsz-NXmCUWRXpTGVwhyeOag/s400/Rosalind-Franklin-Geoffrey-Appleton.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Rosalind Franklin" - Geoffrey Appleton<br />
(acrylic on board)</b><br />
<br />
This unique painting of renowned x-ray crystallographer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin" target="_blank" title="Rosalind Franklin - Wikipedia">Rosalind Franklin</a> was commissioned in the late 1990s by the science department of Staffordshire University in England. "I wanted to show Franklin at work," says British artist <a href="http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2008/juries/illu/illustration/1087/geoffrey-appleton" target="_blank" title="Geoffrey Appleton - Professional Awards">Geoffrey Appleton</a>, who was trained at St. Albans College and the Canterbury College of Art, now part of Kent University. "I knew more about her as a figure that had been sidelined in the DNA structure discovery, rather than as a committed crystallographer. But I got the impression from reading about her that she was very hard-working and thorough and solitary."<br />
<br />
Appleton's intent was to portray Franklin "as an innocent in a dark, male-dominated world," with the feet of scientific rivals James Watson and Francis Crick "waiting in the wings." The figure before Franklin represents <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2010/11/rosalind-franklin-gets-her-closeup.html" target="_blank" title="Rosalind Franklin Gets Her Closeup - Annals of Spacetime">Photograph 51</a>, her famous DNA x-ray image. Without her knowledge or permission, Franklin's colleague Maurice Wilkins showed Photo 51 to Watson and Crick shortly before they introduced the world to DNA's double helix structure in 1953. This photo led directly to Watson and Crick's discovery, and today Franklin is often credited as a co-discoverer of DNA's structure.<br />
<br />
But only Watson, Crick, and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize—and the early glory—for this achievement. Franklin died at age 37 from ovarian cancer, likely a result of her work with high-energy particles. This left her ineligible for a share of the Nobel, since the prizes may not be awarded posthumously. It also left her unable to defend herself when Watson and others publicly belittled her in books and interviews. In more recent years, Franklin has become a revered symbol of the history of discrimination against women in science.<br />
<br />
Geoffrey Appleton has been a freelance illustrator since the 1980s. If you look closely, you can make out his likeness as a symbol of genetic inheritance on the bottom right of his Franklin portrait. "The picture is based on a family photo, showing my Mum and Dad with me as a baby," he says. "It's a sort of nod toward my identity."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2008/juries/illu/illustration/1087/geoffrey-appleton" target="_blank" title="Geoffrey Appleton - Professional Awards">Geoffrey Appleton</a>; <a href="http://www.staffs.ac.uk/" target="_blank" title="Staffordshire University">Staffordshire University</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9epf3InMx_xNN0qQ2r_gHuQeZgo_HBYbANPkxOhE-10O2BUWNmO2mNlp22QupMeiKtCAWLvkWqZ0zghb8HFK4KwXP3-kGMCLDWSxJm5UQBTBK12Hq4svWtNVruwrZVczOJlqoQ/s1600/Rita-Levi-Montalcini-Francesca-Mantuano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9epf3InMx_xNN0qQ2r_gHuQeZgo_HBYbANPkxOhE-10O2BUWNmO2mNlp22QupMeiKtCAWLvkWqZ0zghb8HFK4KwXP3-kGMCLDWSxJm5UQBTBK12Hq4svWtNVruwrZVczOJlqoQ/s400/Rita-Levi-Montalcini-Francesca-Mantuano.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Rita Levi-Montalcini" - Francesca Mantuano<br />
(digital)</b><br />
<br />
On the penultimate day of 2012, the world said goodbye to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Levi-Montalcini" target="_blank" title="Rita Levi-Montalcini - Wikipedia">Rita Levi-Montalcini</a>, a spirited and highly decorated Italian neurologist best known for her Nobel Prize-winning discovery of nerve growth factor. That same day, Italian artist <a href="http://redpandastudio.blogspot.it/" target="_blank" title="Francesca Mantuano">Francesca Mantuano</a> created this digital portrait of the esteemed scientist.<br />
<br />
Levi-Montalcini was 103 years young when she died, and by all accounts she lived each of those years to the fullest. Born an identical twin in 1909, Levi-Montalcini's early career was colored by the dark cloud of World War II. After studying chicken embryos in hiding, she moved to the U.S., where she spent three decades on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis, MO. There, she focused her work on a mysterious protein responsible for nerve growth and maintenance. She would eventually return to her homeland, first part-time and later for good. Levi-Montalcini never stopped working or supporting the causes that were important to her. A longtime champion of women in science, she was also, from 2001 until her death, a fiery member of the Italian senate. "I've always admired her for her work and contributions that she gave to science," says Mantuano, "but also for her personality and importance in the Italian social contest. I wanted to make a tribute because I think it's important to honor this kind of character, especially nowadays, when the Italian social-political-cultural situation is not the most prosperous and shiny."<br />
<br />
Mantuano dabbles in various media, but her first love is comics. She has completed programs in comic, cartoon, and animation design, and she is soon to finish a program in Web design at the New Institute of Design in Perugia. Mantuano takes pride in the achievements of Levi-Montalcini and hopes the illustration of her fellow countrywoman might serve as an inspiration: "We must remember that we, as a nation and people, can do a lot and bring a lot of enrichment to others."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: © <a href="http://redpandastudio.blogspot.it/" target="_blank" title="Francesca Mantuano">Francesca Mantuano</a>. Used by permission. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5yXlAQMT6ePTytiLZMEWY-cngxtpA4-jBbS5nUUElc9uBDD0Q1341O0RjGGPMx9W5JWsxTYLgkhyzuLfO8bUphxv6dAynvceHDkwAzXFmYGhGtP_Tx-z-w_x_GNEmZAbe0v8ag/s1600/Ada-Lovelace-Margaret-Carpenter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv5yXlAQMT6ePTytiLZMEWY-cngxtpA4-jBbS5nUUElc9uBDD0Q1341O0RjGGPMx9W5JWsxTYLgkhyzuLfO8bUphxv6dAynvceHDkwAzXFmYGhGtP_Tx-z-w_x_GNEmZAbe0v8ag/s400/Ada-Lovelace-Margaret-Carpenter.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"(Augusta) Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852) Mathematician; Daughter of Lord Byron" - Margaret Sarah Carpenter<br />
(oil on canvas)</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace" target="_blank" title="Ada Lovelace - Wikipedia">Augusta Ada King</a>, the 19th century Countess of Lovelace, is best known for her work on the Analytical Engine, an early computing machine devised by her mentor and friend, Charles Babbage. Her predictions on how this and other machines might one day move beyond simple arithmetic calculation were unique for her time, and for this reason she is considered a visionary in the field of computational technology. She is also said by many to be the first computer programmer for the notes she contributed to an Italian article about the Analytical Engine.<br />
<br />
But Ada Lovelace is way more than the sum of her intellectual, mathematical achievements. She has become, <a href="http://findingada.com/about/history-of-ada-lovelace-day/" target="_blank" title="History of Ada Lovelace Day">especially in the last five years</a>, an influential symbol of the celebration of women who have contributed significantly, oftentimes silently or without reward, to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.<br />
<br />
This regal painting of Lady Lovelace was completed by British portraitist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Carpenter_%28painter%29" target="_blank" title="Margaret Carpenter (painter) - Wikipedia">Margaret Carpenter</a> in 1836. It was the same year that Lovelace gave birth to the first of three children with her husband William King, a.k.a. the Earl of Lovelace.<br />
<br />
The piece was greeted with critical acclaim at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, but Lovelace herself was far from pleased with the likeness. In fact, she responded rather brusquely to it, and to Carpenter's effort. "I conclude she is bent on displaying the whole expanse of my capacious jaw bone," Lovelace wrote, "upon which I think the word Mathematics should be written."<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Carpenter_%28painter%29" target="_blank" title="Margaret Carpenter (painter) - Wikipedia">Margaret Carpenter</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGNaCxwKOw8LKgx-GyVpaepkItMUUhTowme0gI8RQoEKatxBJzKTDFdWHDqTvvXtiAulRVXs7ZK0I0Q7s1qXC7uZzZ30a5lb392ch7j56IPlCmVhiBtMqcehhlPNNnFNBCzVPQw/s1600/Sally-Ride-Andrea-Del-Rio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzGNaCxwKOw8LKgx-GyVpaepkItMUUhTowme0gI8RQoEKatxBJzKTDFdWHDqTvvXtiAulRVXs7ZK0I0Q7s1qXC7uZzZ30a5lb392ch7j56IPlCmVhiBtMqcehhlPNNnFNBCzVPQw/s400/Sally-Ride-Andrea-Del-Rio.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<b>"Sally Ride" - Andrea Del Rio<br />
(mixed media)</b><br />
<br />
It is fitting that astronaut, physicist, and science educator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride" target="_blank" title="Ada Lovelace - Wikipedia">Sally Ride</a> would strike a pose in this portrait so similar to that of her fellow pioneer, Ada Lovelace. Standing tall with her characteristic bright, inviting smile, Ride provides hope for the next generation of explorers, whether out in the cosmos or here on Earth.<br />
<br />
In becoming the first American woman in space, Ride captured the world's attention when she flew on the shuttle <i>Challenger</i> in 1983. But in her post-NASA career, up until the day she died of pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2012, Ride made her living as a steadfast <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/07/sally-k-ride-1951-2012.html" target="_blank" title="Sally K. Ride (1951-2012) - Annals of Spacetime">champion of STEM education</a>. She particularly encouraged young girls to "reach for the stars."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.behance.net/AndreaDR" target="_blank" title="Andrea Del Rio - Behance">Andrea Del Rio</a>, a Peruvian art student at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, attempted to capture that inspiration in her unique artwork. To create Ride's likeness, Del Rio utilized a variety of media, including watercolor, charcoal, india ink, colored pencil, chalk pastels, and acrylic paint. "The pose is empowering," Del Rio says. "Her helmet represents what the world saw her accomplish, and her suit shows what perhaps she saw out there in space. Sally did great things that before her time were not possible. As she smiles and looks away, I believe she is thinking how everything turned out just fine. Nothing is impossible."<br />
<br />
Del Rio's own aspirations include becoming a full-time portrait painter and textile designer. On this particular work, she adds: "I wanted to represent someone who had overcome many obstacles to achieve her dreams, to serve as inspiration for me and other people, to realize that the possibilities are endless. Like saying, 'Look at her! She did it. Now get to work!'"<br />
<br />
<i>Image credit: <a href="http://www.behance.net/AndreaDR" target="_blank" title="Andrea Del Rio - Behance">Andrea Del Rio</a>. Used by permission.</i><br />
<br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-27080632201745595162014-01-08T09:46:00.000-05:002014-01-10T12:21:14.152-05:00calling all astro dj's!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsHrAEPlm0WpJACIhOez7uSLTior-BVu0t1sldDmmCd1-XyoQbw3T4-W_21BPWt593My1RIl4RB8ptPCx8yAAan99DluGvuJYtrn_ZrlZjM-Ls7_B84el8WawKqDxYm9rvpwJkA/s1600/astro-dj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsHrAEPlm0WpJACIhOez7uSLTior-BVu0t1sldDmmCd1-XyoQbw3T4-W_21BPWt593My1RIl4RB8ptPCx8yAAan99DluGvuJYtrn_ZrlZjM-Ls7_B84el8WawKqDxYm9rvpwJkA/s400/astro-dj.jpg" /></a></div>Do you love astronomy, space flight, and the beauty of the cosmos? When you hear these subjects explored in song does your inner nerd smile from ear to ear? Are you curious about the artists who choose to cover astro-related topics? If so, you should contribute to <a href="http://astrotunes.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">Astrotunes</a>!<br />
<br />
It's been two years since I began the Astrotunes blog on Tumblr, and I've thoroughly enjoyed writing about songs that cover all manner of topics in space and astronomy. Unfortunately, though, I haven't been able to keep the blog as current as I'd like, so I've decided to open it up to contributing writers.<br />
<br />
Anyone can submit a post, and commitment level is entirely up to individual contributors. Need an idea for a song to write about? I've got tons. Posts don't have to be very long, but should convey something notable about the song, artist, video, or a related event in astro news or history. All authors will be credited on their posts, and regular contributors will be added to the "masthead" on Tumblr. Please note there will be no compensation, as Astrotunes is a labor of love :)<br />
<br />
Interested in participating? <a href=mailto:maiaw@nasw.org>Get in touch</a> for more information. <b>∞</b>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-76026920995293240232013-12-31T09:38:00.000-05:002014-01-04T10:05:31.810-05:00gone in 2013: a tribute to 10 remarkable women in science<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2MtTEnrmod-TgzhpwCmcQKsojx9uKbr3nWCvvmYto77U6mONLXAtmFi74_ZWwL-Oln1mYONJ-nMUNQPapOvVVk0ROznLrUMOgArCI1p2tgqQN5lypdh4hnPveAzrYUlI744lOw/s1600/women-in-science-died-2013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge2MtTEnrmod-TgzhpwCmcQKsojx9uKbr3nWCvvmYto77U6mONLXAtmFi74_ZWwL-Oln1mYONJ-nMUNQPapOvVVk0ROznLrUMOgArCI1p2tgqQN5lypdh4hnPveAzrYUlI744lOw/s400/women-in-science-died-2013.png" /></a></div><i>This post originally <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/12/30/gone-in-2013-a-tribute-to-10-remarkable-women-in-science/" target="_blank">appeared on the Scientific American Guest Blog</a> on December 30, 2013.</i><br />
<br />
Pioneering scientists and engineers are often overlooked in popular retrospectives commemorating the year’s departed. In particular, women in such fields tend to be given short shrift. To counter this regrettable circumstance, I present here a selection of 10 notable women in science who left us in 2013. Each of these individuals contributed greatly to her field and should be remembered for her exceptional accomplishments. This, of course, is not a comprehensive list; I’d welcome your thoughts, in the comments below, on any others who may also be deserving of recognition.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Eleanor Adair</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNvP6oGzINQbsqhvM35y7HRW5OazSZzp8nRbPApmunUFwwDQ2_NJbfiBkXPL9hLAMVUK_rYh9se0j_Y21V2YQml4rq5xNY3DepDJLdtiulDrSzQgVsf2VhHnx72QZEtj8RLvM4A/s1600/eleanor-adair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfNvP6oGzINQbsqhvM35y7HRW5OazSZzp8nRbPApmunUFwwDQ2_NJbfiBkXPL9hLAMVUK_rYh9se0j_Y21V2YQml4rq5xNY3DepDJLdtiulDrSzQgVsf2VhHnx72QZEtj8RLvM4A/s200/eleanor-adair.jpg" /></a></div>A dual expert in physics and psychology, Eleanor Adair was a trailblazing American researcher in the field of microwave radiation safety. She carried out numerous controlled studies in which she exposed monkeys and human volunteers—including herself—with microwave radiation. Her conclusions were always the same: environmental microwaves such as those emitted by cell phones, microwave ovens, and power lines have no adverse effects on health. Adair’s work ultimately helped set international standards for microwave exposure. She died on April 20 at age 86.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Brigitte Askonas</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ewya2zOq0VXVeB-ZwtYRrM469JHUC7Ze_F0a0oQ7SZkFGAJ8oB_NOwJ7dePLZQs3S7fFp4QjIJpqFppgn9xR5Vz-YDcUDgGbQ9GsaX5AoEtv81w9gpUHcZGS52NgUFiZnbDQzw/s1600/ita-askonas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ewya2zOq0VXVeB-ZwtYRrM469JHUC7Ze_F0a0oQ7SZkFGAJ8oB_NOwJ7dePLZQs3S7fFp4QjIJpqFppgn9xR5Vz-YDcUDgGbQ9GsaX5AoEtv81w9gpUHcZGS52NgUFiZnbDQzw/s200/ita-askonas.jpg" /></a></div>Austrian-born British immunologist Brigitte “Ita” Askonas contributed many influential works on the nature of the human immune system. She is best known for her groundbreaking studies elucidating the behavior of antibody-producing B cells and determining the role of T lymphocytes in viral infections. Askonas served for 12 years as head of the Division of Immunology at the National Institute for Medical Research in London and was both a fellow of the UK’s Royal Society and a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Askonas was 89 when she died on Jan. 9, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Ruth Benerito</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwwLRHRWZqIQFhXz7L7Eohiwfmsb7KrvRnoMOh-2yG4llG6Lh97sjwuQ7IhTKlC0Mll2QZrVr_CFY_t-mqR9NQl8OJpU9WugTLf2hb89dOzm8KewgI-qRsCeo5ZLvTX0ndSlZ9g/s1600/ruth-benerito.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwwLRHRWZqIQFhXz7L7Eohiwfmsb7KrvRnoMOh-2yG4llG6Lh97sjwuQ7IhTKlC0Mll2QZrVr_CFY_t-mqR9NQl8OJpU9WugTLf2hb89dOzm8KewgI-qRsCeo5ZLvTX0ndSlZ9g/s200/ruth-benerito.jpg" /></a></div>Holder of 55 patents and a 2008 inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Ruth R. Benerito was an American chemist best known for her invention of “easy-care” permanent press cotton, a staple of modern fabrics. Her work at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Orleans focused on chemically bonding cotton fibers in a way that would prevent wrinkling. Today, many think of her inventions as having saved the cotton industry. Benerito passed away at age 97 on Oct. 5, 2013.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Yvonne Brill</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFMt4024OkjCb2go5PEzmoVSEfcg3HG145srMkNfib5T0SxH-REGqDFA7Mk5qj8D3kJPfzcuqEfu1Wv_irdW4Ef2nr2akvCBFYOQc5HYWVFsujUNCY9VQNPgE8Z5hSjbhXiqSlg/s1600/yvonne-brill-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFMt4024OkjCb2go5PEzmoVSEfcg3HG145srMkNfib5T0SxH-REGqDFA7Mk5qj8D3kJPfzcuqEfu1Wv_irdW4Ef2nr2akvCBFYOQc5HYWVFsujUNCY9VQNPgE8Z5hSjbhXiqSlg/s200/yvonne-brill-2.jpg" /></a></div>Yvonne Brill was a Canadian-born American aerospace engineer whose career focused on developments in rocket propulsion. Her most important contribution was the invention of a thrust mechanism that is now routinely used to help keep satellites in their proper orbits. Brill was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2010 and awarded the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2011. Her death in March at age 88 led to a review of best practices for writing about notable women in history after The New York Times received criticism for citing in Brill’s obituary her ability to “make a mean Beef Stroganoff” before any mention of her professional accomplishments.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Katharine Giles</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHLBx__7JtVfAq6H5gDEL_1iibALfCMFQFSKEhQtmny3uCESMRRUtQ1w9AwSI0ipuEWdeYSOnj_bUNvrH1hyphenhyphen2ymkSu0xeSLuTnDhyphenhyphen6W2nx3YUWHJpQt7BOfiLfKkgahxMrf0eyQ/s1600/katharine-giles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHLBx__7JtVfAq6H5gDEL_1iibALfCMFQFSKEhQtmny3uCESMRRUtQ1w9AwSI0ipuEWdeYSOnj_bUNvrH1hyphenhyphen2ymkSu0xeSLuTnDhyphenhyphen6W2nx3YUWHJpQt7BOfiLfKkgahxMrf0eyQ/s200/katharine-giles.jpg" /></a></div>Katharine Giles, a British climate scientist studying the effects of global warming on sea ice, died suddenly on April 8 at age 35 after being hit by a truck while cycling to work in London. Giles’s most recent research focused on using radar data to monitor sea ice thickness in the Arctic and Antarctic. Giles had discovered that satellite altimeter observations between floes, or large chunks of sea ice, could illustrate to scientists how winds affect the Arctic Ocean in the wake of sea ice melting.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Margherita Hack</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh8yKg-3VTNarXbV-gAZ157p4uXxpn4DvOVLd9lZlgauz6KwMqFMomr_bKmxWZrP5fgqhTFt2a5aAusGqNDN_ZxkAkE9HbxF4FxuO6FVqD5kl8fwTNcgh-cRb0raSm495IjsijQ/s1600/margherita-hack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTh8yKg-3VTNarXbV-gAZ157p4uXxpn4DvOVLd9lZlgauz6KwMqFMomr_bKmxWZrP5fgqhTFt2a5aAusGqNDN_ZxkAkE9HbxF4FxuO6FVqD5kl8fwTNcgh-cRb0raSm495IjsijQ/s200/margherita-hack.jpg" /></a></div>Known as the “lady of the stars,” Margherita Hack was a beloved Italian astrophysicist, science writer and public commentator. The first woman to lead an astronomical observatory in Italy, Hack taught astronomy at the University of Trieste. Some considered her an Italian Carl Sagan because of her enormous influence as a writer, teacher and public figure. Hack used her gift for communication to champion civil rights, rational thinking, vegetarianism and the wonders of astronomy. She died on June 29, 2013 at age 91.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Virginia Johnson</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LwvxPoVbex3-3fXr0hrVTxjgXQwBNwYU53CE5UYrImxUJVh30dIz_u_vhEEdVg6b0NQG5zm5vL8GQTUXd-7I37IqiHps5Ab7h-w0bdjIo5KG_q993Hbby2c2ryoNhB_VTahFiw/s1600/virginia-johnson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-LwvxPoVbex3-3fXr0hrVTxjgXQwBNwYU53CE5UYrImxUJVh30dIz_u_vhEEdVg6b0NQG5zm5vL8GQTUXd-7I37IqiHps5Ab7h-w0bdjIo5KG_q993Hbby2c2ryoNhB_VTahFiw/s200/virginia-johnson.jpg" /></a></div>American sexologist Virginia E. Johnson was one of the first researchers to systematically investigate human sexuality. Together with her colleague and former husband, William H. Masters, Johnson made clinical observations of some 700 volunteer subjects to chronicle the physiology and psychology of human sexual behavior. This work led to their identification of four distinct stages of sexual behavior, or, what is now known as the human sexual response cycle. Johnson co-authored numerous papers and books detailing the duo’s findings and became a sought-after sex therapist as part of the Masters and Johnson Institute in St. Louis. Johnson passed away on July 24. She was 88.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Ruth Patrick</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Zd3rCDBOGQGuIRO6saJzCBMItkMmAWBvJ4xR4vYzwuV4ZTMi9rh2SNyvVtfh1wJlyGNSA5O9T4M6zHKSf_fuh_AN36y-nooX8AoWSrLYjhTVxiWYBPGk1IZUwSrIvIZeYIcvtQ/s1600/ruth-patrick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Zd3rCDBOGQGuIRO6saJzCBMItkMmAWBvJ4xR4vYzwuV4ZTMi9rh2SNyvVtfh1wJlyGNSA5O9T4M6zHKSf_fuh_AN36y-nooX8AoWSrLYjhTVxiWYBPGk1IZUwSrIvIZeYIcvtQ/s200/ruth-patrick.jpg" /></a></div>The field of limnology, or freshwater ecology, owes a great debt to American environmental scientist Ruth Patrick, a pioneer in the study of water pollution. Her work on single-celled algae known as diatoms led to a new understanding of the types of environmental stresses that can affect freshwater systems. A longtime environmental activist, Patrick authored more than 200 research articles and was honored in 2009 with the National Medal of Science. She died on Sept. 23, 2013 at the awe-inspiring age of 105.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Candace Pert</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mFCGM-Z1L-bJvWDuclnqahyphenhyphenDq5ITSrT0gJaqY-xaYhwiN3FzkSrvlgN5KCVeeoqqp7dlP6MGuAuxz2mhIRxW4ft3xc3DZgNcMm443oOiSJpQJ5W95msyv81CF_kr_5wcXUYA-A/s1600/candace-pert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1mFCGM-Z1L-bJvWDuclnqahyphenhyphenDq5ITSrT0gJaqY-xaYhwiN3FzkSrvlgN5KCVeeoqqp7dlP6MGuAuxz2mhIRxW4ft3xc3DZgNcMm443oOiSJpQJ5W95msyv81CF_kr_5wcXUYA-A/s200/candace-pert.jpg" /></a></div>Candace Pert was an American neuroscientist and mind-body researcher who identified the first opiate receptor, or cellular binding site, in the brain. Her discovery laid the groundwork for future research in brain biochemistry and helped her graduate advisor—but not her—earn the prestigious Lasker Award, often referred to as the American Nobel. Pert, who died on Sept. 12 at the age of 67, also discovered the receptors for Valium and PCP but eventually shifted her career to focus on the application of scientific standards to questions of whether and how the brain may play a role in disease.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Janet Rowley</font></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeYeAohvEgQIaj4IGJirLEK1Vo0dXqTh0pij3XnbCqK5H_dNpYALCmFt2K-I7v-tSj0n6HqOrmM00Y4tJtuc0orgMkyuvYW3moHB7XAuNEBHpiNU4deORIGiw7ZNREmkAisRb0Q/s1600/janet-rowley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZeYeAohvEgQIaj4IGJirLEK1Vo0dXqTh0pij3XnbCqK5H_dNpYALCmFt2K-I7v-tSj0n6HqOrmM00Y4tJtuc0orgMkyuvYW3moHB7XAuNEBHpiNU4deORIGiw7ZNREmkAisRb0Q/s200/janet-rowley.jpg" /></a></div>That cancer can have a genetic basis has only been known for about 40 years, and it was American physician and geneticist Janet Rowley who discovered the first evidence of such a connection. While working with leukemia in the early 1970s, Rowley found that chromosomal slip-ups known as translocations can lead to the development of cancerous cells. Her research on cancer genetics was far-reaching and laid the groundwork for a number of important therapies. Rowley, who died at age 88 on Dec. 17, was the recipient of countless awards for her outstanding work, most notably the National Medal of Science, the Lasker Award and the National Medal of Freedom, which is the United States’ highest civilian honor. <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Individual photo credits, top to bottom: Courtesy of Michael R. Murphy; MRC National Institute for Medical Research; Mary Jackson, courtesy of the Lemelson-MIT Program; Wikimedia Commons; University College London; Wikimedia Commons; Courtesy of Becker Medical Library, Washington University School of Medicine; Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University ANSP Archives coll. 457; Press image - author unknown; Wikimedia Commons.</i><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-11657985255275727592013-11-12T10:50:00.002-05:002013-11-14T01:38:51.180-05:00smiling for cassini<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIFuXpLZoX7bXnuZgZSPfXXOq3JD1f9faTMo_xxWOMaEGn92ubSyNU9GVm0cUQeuEnZM41-DQyIEXQoeuwMwF8oQF8VwDMiut8PPj9H2ctkUEp0FQdJbqSgZJbca9gUrvgMUPIQ/s1600/saturn-day-earth-smiled-1000x600.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIFuXpLZoX7bXnuZgZSPfXXOq3JD1f9faTMo_xxWOMaEGn92ubSyNU9GVm0cUQeuEnZM41-DQyIEXQoeuwMwF8oQF8VwDMiut8PPj9H2ctkUEp0FQdJbqSgZJbca9gUrvgMUPIQ/s400/saturn-day-earth-smiled-1000x600.png" /></a></div>Remember when we all <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57594419/cassini-spacecraft-set-to-capture-pale-blue-dot-of-earth/" target="_blank">smiled and waved at Saturn</a> back in July, while the Cassini spacecraft snapped our photo? Well, the full mosaic from that magical day has finally been <a href="http://www.ciclops.org/view/7699/The-Day-the-Earth-Smiled" target="_blank" title="CICLOPS.org">processed by Cassini's imaging team</a>, and boy, is it a stunner. I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that it brought a tear to my eye the moment I saw it <a href="http://www.ciclops.org/view_media/38740/The-Day-the-Earth-Smiled" target="_blank">in full size</a>... <br />
<br />
Like a lens that might be utilized to view either the incredibly small or the incredibly distant, this mosaic compels us both to look inward, at how we might improve ourselves and the health of our only home, and to keep dreaming, about what else awaits us so long as we continue on in our quest to explore the solar system and beyond. (Indeed, if ever an image were appropriate to use as a call to action for those deciding the budgetary fates of our national space program, this one would be it.)<br />
<br />
The timing of today's release coincides with the ceremonial hand-off of the late Carl Sagan's <a href="http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-200.html" target="_blank" title="Library of Congress Officially Opens The Seth MacFarlane Collection of Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan Archive">papers to the Library of Congress</a>, where they have recently been archived for future generations to examine. We can all be sure that Sagan would have been quite pleased with this most magnificent interplanetary portrait... It is, of course, not only a thing of beauty, perfectly planned to take advantage of a breathtaking alignment of the sun, Saturn, and Earth. The image also reminds us just how tiny we are in the grand scheme of the cosmos—and how important it is to connect regularly with our fellow human beings so that we may reflect on our shared place in the universe.<br />
<br />
I'm proud to have played a minor role in the planning of the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23dayearthsmiled&src=typd&f=realtime" target="_blank">#DayEarthSmiled</a> and will remember these past months, and those 15 peaceful minutes in July, for many moons to come. For further insight, I highly recommend the latest <a href="http://www.ciclops.org/index/7787/The-Day-the-Earth-Smiled" target="_blank">Captain's Log</a> from Cassini's imaging leader, Carolyn Porco, which beautifully summarizes her intent for the project and describes the many hidden treats you'll find if you take a closer look at the final mosaic. <br />
<br />
Even if you missed the big event this past summer, take heart in knowing that your essence was captured in time and in space in this spectacular image in the year 2013. <b>∞</b>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-70252047091410984182013-10-20T12:27:00.001-04:002013-12-07T02:17:25.481-05:00ada lovelace wikipedia edit-a-thon at brown: a recap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgDxAPiCQl_yyDe-N96z-YpIVzuL0EU-CyERPbxH2WngufJkrn9351u9PKoCkK-znb15HAXZRvpDfYkgDpCAFWIBZVgaawwFWlLv0-a1XqYvoW84VCDoRmjnCOQmUP4Jo4TbOWQ/s1600/Edit-a-thon-by-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrgDxAPiCQl_yyDe-N96z-YpIVzuL0EU-CyERPbxH2WngufJkrn9351u9PKoCkK-znb15HAXZRvpDfYkgDpCAFWIBZVgaawwFWlLv0-a1XqYvoW84VCDoRmjnCOQmUP4Jo4TbOWQ/s400/Edit-a-thon-by-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>Ada Lovelace Day 2013 has come and gone. I'm proud to have co-organized an extremely successful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Ada_Lovelace_Edit-a-thon_2013_-_Brown" target="_blank">Wikipedia edit-a-thon</a> this year at my alma mater, Brown University, on October 15th. As with the similar event I led <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/10/channeling-ada-wikithon-in-honor-of.html">at Harvard last year</a>, the aim was to increase the participation of female editors on Wikipedia while simultaneously giving new visibility to important women in the STEM fields on one of the most popular encyclopedias in the world. I dare say we achieved these goals, and then some.<br />
<br />
All told, about 40 people attended in person, while another 25-30 participants contributed remotely via the Web. We began accepting contributions a week prior to the event and allowed folks to add their final edits through the 18th. In total, we added 20 new Wikipedia articles, mostly biographies on individual women in the STEM fields. These included mathematician and computer scientist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibyl_M._Rock" target="_blank">Sibyl Rock</a>, archaeologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanche_Wheeler_Williams" target="_blank">Blanche Wheeler Williams</a>, electrical engineer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingeborg_Hochmair" target="_blank">Ingeborg Hochmair</a>, and neuropathologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_McKee" target="_blank">Ann McKee</a>. Nearly 70 additional articles—again, mainly bios—were also added to, cleaned up, or otherwise improved. Three of the new articles (Hochmair, Rock, and Williams) were accepted to Wikipedia's front-page "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Recent_additions" target="_blank">Did You Know?</a>" area. This is a phenomenal result for a single edit-a-thon! (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Ada_Lovelace_Edit-a-thon_2013_-_Brown#Results" target="_blank">Full list of articles created/improved</a>.)<br />
<br />
This year's event was co-organized by my friend and former undergraduate advisor, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Fausto-Sterling" target="_blank">Anne-Fausto Sterling</a>, whom I had the pleasure of teaching how to edit Wikipedia earlier this summer. Through her efforts, and the efforts of Brown's Science and Technology Studies Program; Science Center; and Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, we were able to round up some impressive national and international press prior to and after the event. This couldn't have happened without the assistance of the Brown University news office, and especially David Orenstein. Thanks to their press release, dozens of media outlets featured our edit-a-thon as part of Ada Lovelace Day. We also garnered thousands of tweets, posts, and comments through social media. For a visual summary, including photos, tweets, and write-ups, check out our <a href="http://storify.com/20tauri/ada-lovelace-day-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-2013-brown" target="_blank">colorful Storify recap</a>. Here, also, is a representative list of some original articles that covered our event:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/15/wikipedia-is-focusofadalovelaceday.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera America</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/amightygirl/posts/583600228342961" target="_blank">A Mighty Girl</a> | <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/women-scientists-wikipedia-under-microscope-ri" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> | <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/to-fix-wikipedia-s-gender-imbalance-a-big-editing-party/280470/" target="_blank">The Atlantic</a> | <a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/10/10/celebrate-ada-lovelace-day-by.html" target="_blank">BoingBoing</a> | <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/science/blogs/science-in-mind/2013/10/11/solving-wikipedia-woman-scientist-problem/whUJUVbRrtOITMkRafIpQK/blog.html" target="_blank">Boston Globe</a> | <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-15/ada-lovelace-day-fixing-the-problem-of-women-in-science-in-wikipedia" target="_blank">Business Week</a> | <a href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/10/15/pembroke-center-celebrates-lovelace-day/" target="_blank">Brown Daily Herald</a> | <a href=" http://www.bust.com/wikipedia-editing-party-is-gonna-smash-the-patriarchy.html" target="_blank">Bust</a> | <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/wiki-edit-a-thon-at-brown-u-will-add-entries-for-women-in-science/47235" target="_blank">Chronicle of Higher Education</a> | <a href="http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/10/08/brown-to-host-wikipedia-edit-a-thon-for-stem-equity.aspx" target="_blank">Campus Technology</a> | <a href="http://maiaw.com/cjad-wikipedia-interview-with-maia-weinstock.mp3" target="_blank">CJAD 800 News Radio</a> (Montreal) | <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/brown-university-editing-party-wikipedia/" target="_blank">Daily Dot</a> | <a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/3019978/help-fix-wikipedias-glaring-lack-of-articles-about-female-scientists" target="_blank">Fast Company</a> | <a href="http://www.fayerwayer.com/2013/10/hoy-es-el-dia-de-ada-lovelace-la-primera-programadora-de-la-historia/" target="_blank">FayerWayer</a> (Spanish) | <a href="http://feministing.com/2013/10/15/add-women-to-wikipedia-for-ada-lovelace-day/" target="_blank">Feministing</a> | <a href="http://www.geekexchange.com/happy-ada-lovelace-day-87793.html" target="_blank">Geek Exchange</a> | <a href="http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2013/10/15/le-scienziate-invadono-wikipedia/744801/" target="_blank">Il Fatto Quotidiano</a> (Italian) | <a href="http://jezebel.com/lady-scientists-organize-mass-wikipedia-edit-to-honor-a-1443894109" target="_blank">Jezebel</a> | <a href="http://www.linkiesta.it/wikipedia-donne" target="_blank">Linkiesta</a> (Italian) | <a href="http://www.livescience.com/40349-wikipedia-women-in-science-entries.html" target="_blank">LiveScience</a> | <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/ada-lovelace-wikipedia/" target="_blank">The Mary Sue</a> | <a href=" http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/10/brown-u-trying-to-fix-wikipedias-gender-gap.html" target="_blank">New York</a> | <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/10/ada-lovelace-the-first-tech-visionary.html" target="_blank">New Yorker</a> | <a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/a-day-to-remember-the-first-computer-programmer-was-a-woman/" target="_blank">New York Times</a> | <a href=" http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/10/help-write-women-scientists-into-wikipedia.html" target="_blank">PBS</a> | <a href=" http://www.policymic.com/articles/68339/you-don-t-know-who-ada-lovelace-is-on-her-special-day" target="_blank">Policy Mic</a> | <a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37891/title/Ada-Lovelace-Day/" target="_blank">The Scientist</a> | <a href="http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/10/15/rejoice-women-in-science-during-ada-lovelace-day-with-wikipedia-edit-a-thons/" target="_blank">Silicon Angle</a> | <a href=" http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/11/brown_wikipedia_edit_a_thon_reaches_out_to_woman_wiki_editors_raises_awareness.html" target="_blank">Slate</a> | <a href="http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2013/10/14/6203/" target="_blank">Southern California Public Radio</a> (@ 1:29:40) | <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/11/brown_wikipedia_edit_a_thon_reaches_out_to_woman_wiki_editors_raises_awareness.html" target="_blank">Slate</a> | <a href="http://www.slate.fr/life/79056/femmes-scientifiques-wikipedia" target="_blank">Slate France</a> (French) | <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/10/15/happy-ada-lovelace-day-go-add-some-nerdy-ladies-to-wikipedia/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> | <a href="http://worldsciencefestival.com/blog/happy_ada_lovelace_day" target="_blank">World Science Festival</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DZhDhk7bxDmtvNukC7mxWl42eT7b6HbS81IJhEBHz6qadn2AqaXwspDAF3NK09BOnPVEMwzS7Ubhgg8HFku2wnTRGknoQbAs8lmSXgQF-ypCbjOMDTsvZyCDnccUkpgzGJWdwA/s1600/Edit-a-thon-3-by-maia-weinstock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DZhDhk7bxDmtvNukC7mxWl42eT7b6HbS81IJhEBHz6qadn2AqaXwspDAF3NK09BOnPVEMwzS7Ubhgg8HFku2wnTRGknoQbAs8lmSXgQF-ypCbjOMDTsvZyCDnccUkpgzGJWdwA/s400/Edit-a-thon-3-by-maia-weinstock.jpg" /></a></div>The edit-a-thon itself went off without a hitch, and it was truly incredible to see so many students, faculty, staff, and even a few out-of-town visitors who made the trek to join us in Pembroke Hall. Many folks came in knowing not a lick of Wikipedia markup language. Others were experienced Wikimedians who worked on their own articles but also helped others through the afternoon and evening. In addition to presentations from Anne and myself, we were fortunate to have Michael Umbricht, the curator at Brown's historic Ladd Observatory, speak to the group about Wikipedia's GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) efforts, including a project he spearheaded at the Ladd very recently.<br />
<br />
I'm honestly not sure what I could possibly do to top the outcome of this edit-a-thon for next year's Ada Lovelace Day... That is a huge testament to everyone who helped out! Thank you again to all who spread the word about the importance of recognizing women's contributions to the STEM fields; who volunteered to do the gritty work of adding and improving Wikipedia articles; or who played a role behind the scenes. That includes, I might add, folks like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suw_Charman-Anderson" target="_blank">Suw Charman-Anderson</a>, who began Ada Lovelace Day, and <a href=" http://adainitiative.org/2012/02/interview-with-sarah-stierch-wikimedian-in-residence-at-the-smithsonian-and-wikimedia-fellow/" target="_blank">Sarah Stierch</a>, <a href=" http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/11/emily-temple-wood-profile/" target="_blank">Emily Temple-Wood</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gobonobo" target="_blank">Gobonobo</a>, who have done so much in recent years to promote women on the pages of Wikipedia. You all made this edit-a-thon a gargantuan success! <b>∞</b><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-90877606919146396592013-10-18T23:31:00.000-04:002013-10-20T13:22:28.337-04:00channeling ada: chien-shiung wu, courageous hero of physics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg410SaMm9KisvPUApOkYUNVvYq6ASxqGKiaKm_OgBRd379ze7MvDZWZWo8V_wu9PFex_ZGwul_qtoExd3__Tw_sy8K_cKYdD6h5JwXbdUppjylgafxDckM_W3hGrMo2YjONzjwjQ/s1600/chien-shiung-wu-violation-of-parity-ele-willoughby.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg410SaMm9KisvPUApOkYUNVvYq6ASxqGKiaKm_OgBRd379ze7MvDZWZWo8V_wu9PFex_ZGwul_qtoExd3__Tw_sy8K_cKYdD6h5JwXbdUppjylgafxDckM_W3hGrMo2YjONzjwjQ/s400/chien-shiung-wu-violation-of-parity-ele-willoughby.png" /></a></div><br />
This post originally appeared on the <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/10/15/channeling-ada-lovelace-chien-shiung-wu-courageous-hero-of-physics/" target="_blank">Scientific American Guest Blog</a> on October 15, 2013.<br />
<br />
<i>Today marks the 5th Ada Lovelace Day, an annual celebration of women who have made important contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The event is named for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_lovelace" target="_blank">Augusta Ada King</a>, Countess of Lovelace, who is often credited as the first computer programmer. Since its inception in 2009, <a href="http://findingada.com/" target="_blank">Ada Lovelace Day</a> has grown from a purely blog-based affair to one marked by worldwide events including public lectures and <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/11/brown_wikipedia_edit_a_thon_reaches_out_to_woman_wiki_editors_raises_awareness.html" target="_blank">Wikipedia edit-a-thons</a>. This year, the Ada Lovelace Day organizers have also published a book of essays celebrating women in STEM entitled, <a href="http://findingada.com/book/" target="_blank">A Passion For Science: Stories of Discovery and Invention</a>. This blog post presents my chapter of that book. It describes the life and work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chien_Shiung_Wu" target="_blank">Chien-Shiung Wu</a>, one of the most important physicists of the 20th century. Few outside of physics have ever heard of Wu, nor could they name any of her considerable contributions to science. I hope this essay will change that in some small way. –MW </i><br />
<br />
It is the afternoon of May 31, 2012, and the skies above Liuhe in the Chinese province of Jiangsu are overcast but resplendent in silver and grey. A late-spring chill fills the air as a crowd of expectant locals and distinguished guests, including a number of representatives from the People’s Government, gathers in a circular stone-walled courtyard to honor a hometown legend. Scores of women, men and children who have made the journey here huddle in their well-worn jackets and coats as they wait for the memorial ceremony to begin.<br />
<br />
Over the next two hours, attendees of this spirited congregation will take turns paying their respects with flowers, speeches, and songs to one of the most decorated and esteemed scientists of the 20th century. She has been dubbed the "First Lady of Physics" and the "Chinese Marie Curie" for her groundbreaking work in nuclear science—some of which, controversially, helped earn her male colleagues, but not her, a Nobel Prize. But here in Liuhe, where she was born exactly 100 years ago (and where she was buried after her death in 1997) she is known simply as Chien-Shiung: "Courageous Hero".<br />
<br />
For one who faced so many uphill battles on the road to worldwide recognition and acclaim, physicist Chien-Shiung Wu more than lived up to the moniker her parents conferred upon her the day she came into the world in Liuhe, some 30 miles northwest of the port city of Shanghai. To begin with, Wu was born at a time when her homeland forbade girls from going to school. This was still an era when Chinese girls were expected to bind their feet and grow up to serve their male compatriots.<br />
<br />
And yet, only a year before Wu’s birth, the Xinhai Revolution had overthrown the last Chinese dynasty and established the new Republic of China. With that massive uprising came a sea change of attitudes and a new generation of leaders eager to overturn the status quo. One of those leaders was Wu’s father, Zhongyi Wu. An engineer by training who believed strongly in equal rights for women, Zhongyi felt that the best thing he could do to help his daughter and her peers was to start a school for girls — the region’s first. With the aid of his wife, Fan Fuhua, who persuaded other families to let their young ones enroll, Zhongyi Wu opened the Mingde School for Girls and became its principal. And so, young Chien-Shiung, an inquisitive child from the get-go, was one of the first girls to obtain formal education in China.<br />
<br />
But her father’s school could only take Wu so far. To continue learning, her only option was to join a girls' boarding facility 50 miles from home. She was all of 10 years old when she began classes at the Suzhou Girls' School, where she quickly came to discover the beauty and intrigue of physical science. It was, of course, not easy for a child so young to be away from her family, but her parents gave her strength. "Ignore the obstacles," her father told her. "Just put your head down and keep walking forward."<br />
<br />
With such encouragement, Wu dedicated herself to the goal of studying math and science at the university level. She practically lived at school for seven full years, during which time she worked twice as hard as many of her peers so that she would have the skills required to earn a place in the physics department at the National Central University in Nanjing. Her commitment paid off: In 1930, she completed high school and began at NCU as a math major, transferring later into physics.<br />
<br />
Wu graduated from NCU in 1934 as the school’s undisputed top student. But she once again found herself up against a wall: While the world was beginning to unravel the mysteries of the atom, a topic that intrigued her immensely, China had no graduate programs in physics. And so, at the suggestion of a mentor and with the financial backing of an uncle, Wu left for the United States on what she thought would be a brief detour in her journey to a scientific career in China. Little did she know that the course of her life would take a dramatic turn almost as soon as she landed on the California coast — nor that she would never again set eyes on the family she was leaving behind.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>A life atomic</font></b><br />
<br />
The United States of the 1930s saw the dawn of a new era in scientific inquiry. Atomic physics in particular took a major step forward in 1931, when future Nobel Prize-winner Ernest Lawrence, with the help of graduate student M Stanley Livingston, built the first cyclotron, a particle accelerator that uses magnetic fields to speed up and smash together atomic bits so that their interactions can be studied precisely.<br />
<br />
Lawrence and his cyclotron were based at the University of California at Berkeley, which was fast becoming the world’s leading hotspot for the study of the atom. It was also a stone’s throw from San Francisco, the city where Chien-Shiung Wu landed in the late summer of 1936 after her ship had crossed the vast and turbulent Pacific on her way to graduate school. Wu’s ultimate destination was the University of Michigan, where she planned to study for her PhD, but with some down time before classes began, she decided to pay a visit to the Berkeley campus and its world-class physics department.<br />
<br />
Only a few days into her California sojourn, Wu’s plans changed completely. For starters, she made the acquaintance of a fellow Chinese physics student named Luke Yuan, who would go on to become a permanent fixture in her life. Furthermore, after meeting with an obviously impressed Professor Lawrence, she was invited to pursue her graduate work at Berkeley. An opportunity to study under some of the legends of nuclear physics — which included not only Lawrence but also future Manhattan Project director Robert Oppenheimer — was a dream come true for Wu, who desperately wanted to learn as much as she could about the fundamental nature of matter. In an abrupt and daring move, she abandoned her plans to enroll at Michigan.<br />
<br />
As a graduate student, "Miss Wu" was quite popular with her peers. She also became notorious for an unwavering work ethic that saw her toiling in the lab well into the small hours of morning on many a night. It was a reputation that would follow her for her entire professional career. "I have always felt," she later explained, "that in physics, and probably in other endeavors, too, you must have total commitment. It is not just a job, it is a way of life."<br />
<br />
The truth is, however, that Wu had something of a difficult time adapting to American culture. English was a tricky language to master, and she would spend her adult life fumbling with certain pronunciations and grammatical rules. What’s more, she missed Chinese food and preferred the Chinese style of dress — so much so that she would continue to wear traditional high-necked <i>qipao</i> dresses well into her old age, oftentimes underneath a white lab coat.<br />
<br />
Not quite a year after Wu’s arrival in California, international headlines reported devastating news: Japan had invaded China. Since landing in the U.S., Wu had remained in close contact with her parents, brothers and sister, but after the invasion, she wouldn’t hear another word from her family for eight long years. It was a trying time, as horrific updates from the front trickled overseas: By the end of 1937, some 42,000 civilians in her home province of Nanjing alone had been raped or murdered by Japanese troops. Four years later, the conflict would officially merge with World War II after Japan surprised the United States with its attack on Pearl Harbor.<br />
<br />
With nothing she could do to help her loved ones, Wu attempted to tune out the war and focus instead on her work. She pursued her thesis under Lawrence and his assistant, another future Nobelist, Emilio Segrè. By 1940, Wu had completed her PhD and was considered an expert — "the authority," according to Robert Oppenheimer — in the new science of nuclear fission, the splitting of large atomic nuclei either by an induced nuclear reaction or by natural radioactive decay.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>Ask Miss Wu</font></b><br />
<br />
Wu stayed on at Berkeley as a research assistant for two years, solidifying her reputation as one of the most capable experimental physicists in the country. It was during this time that scientists led by physics icon Enrico Fermi were attempting, unsuccessfully, to produce the first large-scale, self-sustaining plutonium chain reaction at a research facility in Hanford, Washington. Fermi’s reactions to that point would run for a few hours but then sputter out without explanation.<br />
<br />
Legend has it that someone suggested to Fermi that he "ask Miss Wu" for advice. He did, and Wu swiftly deduced that the problem was the buildup of xenon, a plutonium fission by-product. Xenon is an inert noble gas, but it turned out that the particular isotope produced in Fermi’s chain reaction had a tendency to capture stray neutrons.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge74GJzy2tUNJHpAQymLi-nlEvHzfJJSeU-2K-guvkUG2BAGDaSfoAyKgCxpMlscGglw7uWLNeUnmiym9R4Mpd6d_VB5CLlW-XRiDXkmH3Ty44kt_sZO2B1abmOGcL3hhiAplb9A/s1600/chien-shiung-wu-switchboard.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge74GJzy2tUNJHpAQymLi-nlEvHzfJJSeU-2K-guvkUG2BAGDaSfoAyKgCxpMlscGglw7uWLNeUnmiym9R4Mpd6d_VB5CLlW-XRiDXkmH3Ty44kt_sZO2B1abmOGcL3hhiAplb9A/s320/chien-shiung-wu-switchboard.png" /></a></div>Wu knew that the more xenon built up in the reaction chamber, the more neutrons would be captured, and the fewer neutrons would be available to induce future reactions. She was right, and Fermi’s team corrected the glitch in short order. Just like that, Wu had solved one of the trickiest problems in all of experimental physics.<br />
<br />
In 1942, Wu and her new husband, Luke Yuan, moved to the East Coast. While many of her colleagues at Berkeley had been recruited for the war effort, Wu was not asked to join, despite her considerable knowledge of atomic physics. Neither was she asked to remain on at Berkeley in a more permanent role. It was an unfortunate reality that Wu encountered discrimination for being female at a time when most of the top American universities still refused to accept women, either as students or professors. During wartime, she also faced significant ethnic racism.<br />
<br />
When Yuan obtained a position at RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey to work on the development of radar, Wu accepted an assistant professorship at Smith College, a women’s school in Northampton, Massachusetts. The scenario was far from ideal. The newlyweds, living 200 miles apart, only saw each other on weekends in New York City. And while Wu enjoyed teaching upstart female scientists like she had once been, she had very few opportunities to do what she relished most: solve problems in the lab.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t long before Wu began to feel unhappy at Smith. When she vented her frustrations to her former advisor, Ernest Lawrence, he recommended her to a number of institutions in need of professors to pick up the slack while many of their staff members were on leave to help with the war. In short order, Wu was offered positions at eight prestigious universities, three of which still barred women from matriculating. She chose Princeton to be near Yuan and, in so doing, became that institution’s first female professor.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>The Manhattan Project</font></b><br />
<br />
Within a few months, Wu was recruited to join the Manhattan Project, the United States' cloak-and-dagger war research and development program. Many of her former professors and colleagues had already spent years working in secret to develop an atomic bomb. Now, Wu would apply her expertise in support of this goal at a New York City warehouse owned by Columbia University.<br />
<br />
Contrary to public perception, a fair number of women — many hundreds, certainly, and possibly thousands — were involved in the technical reaches of the Manhattan Project. They were chemists, technicians, doctors, mathematicians, and more. But Wu was one of the very few women who contributed at the highest levels of physics research for this critical war effort.<br />
<br />
Aside from her earlier help on Fermi’s plutonium problem, Wu’s work dealt mainly with the enrichment of uranium, the conversion of that element’s most abundant isotope, 238U, which is not fissionable, into the much rarer 235U, which is. In addition, she made major improvements to the Geiger counter, a device that any student of high school physics will recognize today as a common radiation detector.<br />
<br />
On August 6, 1945, the work of Wu and thousands of others became known to the world when a uranium bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, with devastating results. The use of nuclear power, both for international arsenals and for peaceful electricity production, was only getting started. But World War II was about to become history.<br />
<br />
The end of the war brought happy news and the turning of several new leaves, both professional and personal, for Chien-Shiung Wu. For starters, after not hearing from her family for eight agonizing years, she finally received word that everyone back home in China was well. Her father was even regarded as a war hero: He had engineered the Burma Road, a crucial transportation route used by the Allies to send supplies to Chinese troops.<br />
<br />
Wu was also thrilled to learn that Columbia University wanted her to stay on as a senior researcher. The Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan would in fact become her professional home for the next quarter of a century. It would soon become her personal home as well. After the birth of their son, Vincent, in 1947, Wu and Yuan moved to an apartment just a few blocks from Columbia’s physics building, Pupin Hall.<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>Beta decay</font></b><br />
<br />
By this point in her career, Wu had earned a solid reputation as a highly skilled experimental physicist. With the war behind her, she needed a new problem to focus on. Wu chose wisely: Her investigations of beta decay — a mysterious type of radioactivity in which a large atomic nucleus emits energy and morphs into a new element — would help her reshape the world’s understanding of several fundamental atomic processes.<br />
<br />
At the time, no one really understood how beta decay worked. Back in 1933, Enrico Fermi had devised what seemed like a viable theory for how an atom’s nucleus, composed of protons and neutrons, could shoot off an electron along with a neutrino and change into a completely different element in the process. But a number of physicists had tried to support Fermi’s theory with experimental data, and their results were muddled at best.<br />
<br />
If there was one thing for which Chien-Shiung Wu was known, it was going the extra mile to design experiments in a way that unequivocally elucidated the mechanisms of a system. "She had a very, very strong sense that things had to be done right," Wu’s former graduate student, Leon Lidofsky, told author Sharon McGrayne. "If it was done sloppily, it wasn’t worth doing because the results weren’t reliable."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGr8w36AmxUEpzzchm7OjIldSzcqZ4RIBSw6j3fZ-sZ-VCfeELTiH5gvP73DRKDHZlKSXkhKqmzF3WafpNFQOsujwHlRQs5NZZ-5CjPTlaPBsvfgOAJ95Nnqlw8PFwZgQVnIXJ4A/s1600/chien-shiung-wu-experiment.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGr8w36AmxUEpzzchm7OjIldSzcqZ4RIBSw6j3fZ-sZ-VCfeELTiH5gvP73DRKDHZlKSXkhKqmzF3WafpNFQOsujwHlRQs5NZZ-5CjPTlaPBsvfgOAJ95Nnqlw8PFwZgQVnIXJ4A/s320/chien-shiung-wu-experiment.png" /></a></div>Wu was really a master engineer as much as she was a physicist. And, much like <i>Star Trek’</i>s Lieutenant Commander Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, she was considered a "miracle worker". In the case of beta decay, by carefully deconstructing what other physicists had done in their experiments, she noted a critical fact: The radiation sources they had worked with were of different thicknesses. This turned out to be the key problem with previous tests of Fermi’s decade-old theory. As soon as Wu controlled for the source thickness, her and others' results beautifully matched Fermi’s predictions, proving him right once and for all.<br />
<br />
Wu continued to work on beta decay and related problems for the next decade. Somewhat incredulously, she was overlooked year after year for membership to the Columbia faculty because she hadn’t been assigned to teach. It wasn’t until 1952, eight years after she began her research for the Manhattan Project, that she was asked to join officially.<br />
<br />
Two years later, following a lengthy naturalization process, Wu and Yuan became U.S. citizens. It was a decision they’d made after China had become a Communist state in 1949. Unfortunately, due to ongoing tensions between the U.S. and Chinese governments during the Cold War, Wu would not be able to visit her homeland again until the 1970s, by which time most of her immediate family members had died.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, her son, Vincent, was growing up fast. As in her Berkeley days, Wu continued to be a workaholic, so she relied heavily on a nanny for childcare needs. "If my mother was overly busy in her lab, I didn’t feel deprived," said Vincent, who went on to become a successful atomic physicist himself. "I spent most of my time in the company of friends, on school work, or interests that lots of kids of school age have. I always like to figure things out for myself, so it wasn’t like I needed my parents to do my homework for me."<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>Conservation of parity</font></b><br />
<br />
In 1956, Wu would once again demonstrate her experimental mojo by achieving something very few people ever have: She disproved a fundamental "law" of nature. Many in the physics community believe she should have shared in the Nobel Prize that was later given for this most significant result of her career, but it did not play out that way.<br />
<br />
The law in question is known as the conservation of parity, and it held sway in the physics community for nearly 40 years. Simply put, parity states that nature does not favor right or left. If you watch a girl throw a baseball through a mirror, the laws of physics will be the same both for the girl and for her mirror image.<br />
<br />
As physicists in the mid-20th century began to discover a zoo of new subatomic particles, two of these, the theta meson and the tau meson, gave them fits. The theta and the tau shared a number of the same properties, including mass — a result that suggested they might actually be two forms of the same particle. But measurements also showed them decaying into two different parity states, one positive and one negative. If they were in fact the same particle, this would have to mean conservation of parity is not upheld in all cases. It was a troubling concept. At the time, parity was a bedrock law of physics; based on mathematical proofs, it was as well accepted as the laws of gravity. But had it really been proven?<br />
<br />
At a scientific conference in April, 1956, renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman floated the idea to his colleagues: What if the parity rule were wrong? Fellow theoreticians Tsung Dao Lee of Columbia and Chen Ning Yang of the Advanced Institute for Study in Princeton began to wrestle with this problem. They soon came to believe it possible that parity might not be conserved in some nuclear reactions—specifically, those involving beta decay. But how to test it?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Gdw58Ti3TzxI6QVC8nDYSv-H6hJJ_IffxukPqGwXA0Bx11FaNbdhkCf1I0C4MyOqtzG626aIlDUYPFIq2tXoKsO2jC4pqzW9btu13StrBHFZc4_s_87OoqRgx6zQr8spWHc9hA/s1600/chien-shiung-wu-lego.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Gdw58Ti3TzxI6QVC8nDYSv-H6hJJ_IffxukPqGwXA0Bx11FaNbdhkCf1I0C4MyOqtzG626aIlDUYPFIq2tXoKsO2jC4pqzW9btu13StrBHFZc4_s_87OoqRgx6zQr8spWHc9hA/s320/chien-shiung-wu-lego.png" /></a></div><br />
Lee approached Wu, an expert in beta decay, for advice. She suggested a specific approach using an isotope of the element cobalt as the best choice to test the hypothesis. After scouring the literature further, Lee and Yang published a paper stating that conservation of parity had not actually been proven in all cases, and suggesting some experiments to see what was really going on.<br />
<br />
Wu immediately got to work. She was uniquely qualified to design and carry out this test, and she wanted to be the first to do it. "Nobody believed it would happen and, because it was so difficult, they wouldn’t tackle it," Yang later told McGrayne. "Wu had the perception that right-left symmetry was so basic and fundamental that it should be tested."<br />
<br />
Wu dropped everything for six months — including sleep, meals, and a long-planned trip to China with her husband — to pursue the parity experiment. Even before Lee and Yang’s article was published, she had lined up a team of physicists to assist in carrying it out using special, super-cooling equipment at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington, DC. Wu began commuting back and forth between New York and Washington to check on the experiment, while the NBS team worked around the clock to prepare it for its first trials.<br />
<br />
Finally, two days after Christmas, the team was ready. Whatever the outcome, Wu and her colleagues knew their results would mark an important moment in the history of nuclear physics. They flipped a few switches, and the experiment was officially underway.<br />
<br />
The key factor the team was looking for was the direction in which electrons flung themselves from cobalt nuclei as the nuclei went through beta decay. If conservation of parity were conserved, they would see electrons ejected symmetrically in multiple directions. But if parity were not conserved, the electrons would fly off primarily in one direction. The team’s first results were clear: Electrons were not ejecting symmetrically. In the top left corner of the notepad where they’d jotted their data, team member Ralph Hudson wrote, with triumphant emphasis, "PARITY NOT CONSERVED!"<br />
<br />
Wu and her colleagues checked and re-checked their results many times over the next fortnight. At last, around 2 a.m. on January 9, 1957, the team broke out a bottle of champagne. The tau meson and the theta meson were the same particle — now known as the K meson — after all. As Wu later told McGrayne, "These are moments of exaltation and ecstasy. A glimpse of this wonder can be the reward of a lifetime."<br />
<br />
The next day, The New York Times heralded the "shattering of a fundamental concept of nuclear physics" on its front page. It was an unforgettable moment for Wu, but also a stark reminder that what we consider "laws" of nature are not necessarily irrefutable in the eyes of science. As fellow physicist Richard Feynman once famously quipped, "If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science."<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>Many honors, but no Nobel</font></b><br />
<br />
The parity results were so spectacular that they garnered a Nobel Prize that very same year, but not for Wu. In October 1957, the Nobel Committee announced that Lee and Yang had won the physics prize "for their penetrating investigation of the so-called parity laws which has led to important discoveries regarding the elementary particles."<br />
<br />
Wu was bitterly disappointed. It was not the first time theorists would win a Nobel while a key experimentalist who did the crucial work to back them up did not. When Wu’s own thesis advisor, Ernest Lawrence, won in 1939 for the invention of the cyclotron, his graduate student, M Stanley Livingston, who did much of the labor translating Lawrence’s vision into a physical, working machine, got nothing.<br />
<br />
"As an experimentalist, my natural tendency is to think it a shame that the experimental team was not included in the prize," Wu’s son, whose work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory focuses on neutron physics, admitted recently. "Beyond that, it would be presumptive to have a specific reaction without knowing the internal reasoning of the award committee. I personally think that if she had been included, it wouldn’t have been undeserved. But I don’t harbor any resentment, as she won many other awards for her work."<br />
<br />
Wu did indeed rack up an enviable list of honors, awards, and firsts, even before her official retirement from Columbia in 1981. Perhaps this was because she did not slow down after her momentous feat on conservation of parity. Quite to the contrary, over the following two decades, she would carry out many additional ground-breaking investigations, not only in the area of beta decay but also in the fields of short-lived "exotic" atoms and even the biophysics of sickle cell anemia.<br />
<br />
Among Wu’s most distinguished honors were: The Comstock Award of the National Academy of Sciences in 1964; the Tom Bonner Prize of the American Physical Society in 1974 (the same year she was named the society’s first female president); the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1975; the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1978; selection as Italy’s Woman of the Year in 1981; and induction into the United States' National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998. In 1990 she even became the first living scientist to have an asteroid named after her: Asteroid 2752 Wu Chien-Shiung.<br />
<br />
Wu’s final lasting contribution came about after her retirement, when she took time to travel the world and speak to audiences of her successes in the lab and of being a woman in a male-dominated field. Just as her father had been many years before, Wu was a champion of women through-and-through. She was not afraid to speak her mind about the miles yet to go before women would achieve any semblance of equal representation in math and the physical sciences. And she fervently hoped that the impressionable girls and young women she spoke to on her travels might take inspiration from her life story and go on to pursue careers in the STEM fields.<br />
<br />
That remarkable story came to an end on February 16, 1997, when Wu died of a stroke at the age of 84. In addition to her husband, her son, and a granddaughter, she left behind an enormous legacy. William Havens, a longtime colleague at Columbia, remarked: "She was the world’s distinguished woman physicist of her time." Tsung-Dao Lee, with whom she remained friendly until the end, spelled it plainly: "CS Wu was one of the giants of physics."<br />
<br />
<b><font color=78c7c7>Legacy of a courageous hero</font></b><br />
<br />
Chien-Shiung Wu made a life and a name and for herself in the United States, but it is here, in her hometown of Liuhe, that Wu chose to be buried alongside her husband, Luke, who died in 2003. The circular courtyard where their remains now rest is part of the Mingde School that Wu’s father began nearly a century ago so that his daughter could begin a proper education. It is heart-warming to imagine how proud he would have been to witness the rows and rows of children who now stand in silence, a single yellow flower in hand, as they honor Madame Wu, one of the most influential nuclear physicists of the 20th century, on what would have been her 100th birthday.<br />
<br />
Some 160 miles west of here, on the campus of Nanjing University (formerly National Central University), a wonderful museum invites visitors to learn about the incomparable Chien-Shiung Wu. Lining the walls are annotated framed photos of Wu with dignitaries, with colleagues in the lab, and joking around with friends. Thanks to the careful planning of Luke Yuan, who donated many of his wife’s possessions after her death, the gallery feels like a presidential library, with physical awards, honorary degrees, and even a re-created office space with Wu’s books giving visitors a genuine feel for her life and accomplishments.<br />
<br />
In a quiet corner of the museum, the words of one Courageous Hero appear as a final remembrance of her lasting legacy: "Science is not static but is dynamic and ever-improving. It is the courage to doubt what has long been believed and the incessant search for verification and proof that pushes the wheels of science forward." <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Images: Linocut of Chien-Shiung Wu by <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/83367125/linocut-history-of-physics-madame-wu-and" target="_blank">Ele Willoughby</a> (used with permission). LEGO minifigure and photo <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/10249876313/" target="_blank">by the author</a>. All other photos are in the public domain, as posted by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/" target="_blank">The Smithsonian</a> on Flickr.</i> <br />
<br />
<b>Further reading:</b><br />
<br />
Benczer-Koller, N (2009), <i>Chien-Shiung Wu 1912 – 1997,</i> National Academy of Sciences.<br />
<br />
Cooperman, SH (2004), <i>Chien-Shiung Wu: Pioneering Physicist and Atomic Researcher,</i> New York, NY: Rosen Central.<br />
<br />
Hammond, R (2010), <i>Chien-Shiung Wu: Pioneering Nuclear Physicist,</i> New York, NY: Chelsea House.<br />
<br />
McGrayne, SB (1998), <i>Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries,</i> Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press.<br />
<br />
Take a <a href="http://en.nju.gov.cn/detail.aspx?fid=344&cid=349&id=30031.html" target="_blank">virtual tour of the Wu museum</a> at Nanjing University.<br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-79525657556426427912013-09-09T22:25:00.001-04:002013-10-21T11:41:36.099-04:00professor bodin makes her bow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimikbBO-_22jsjDxmO3PNJfeF9ldGamx-c1SoTDQR1_jmHdXR4JM12RT0yI3i2244iyjassmvAm-nY7tFs6Ymjbzktu8jwa2huf6Q4XwgbrFzAlGo44NPcIOAH4J8iZfD2hiE_mw/s1600/scientist-minifig-640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimikbBO-_22jsjDxmO3PNJfeF9ldGamx-c1SoTDQR1_jmHdXR4JM12RT0yI3i2244iyjassmvAm-nY7tFs6Ymjbzktu8jwa2huf6Q4XwgbrFzAlGo44NPcIOAH4J8iZfD2hiE_mw/s400/scientist-minifig-640.jpg" /></a></div>It's been a remarkable week. Eight days ago, an excursion to a local LEGO store yielded my first brush with the company's newest minifigure, the Scientist, who had long been <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/04/do-right-thing.html" target="_blank">anticipated</a> on the pages of this blog. Upon returning home, I sat down and wrote about the experience, adding a brief history of LEGO, gender, and minifigs in the STEM fields for a <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2013/09/02/breaking-brick-stereotypes-lego-unveils-a-female-scientist/" target="_blank">guest post on the <i>Scientific American</i> blog network</a>. The piece went live the next day.<br />
<br />
By Tuesday, it had become the most read article on the <i>SciAm</i> blogs, and it remains in that position as I write this nearly a week later. The post spread like wildfire via social media, and before long, other outlets began covering it on their own sites. News of Professor C. Bodin, LEGO's first female lab scientist minifig, had clearly captivated scores of people around the globe who, like me, were surprised at just how few female STEM minifigures LEGO has produced in 35 years.<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/09/lego-reveals-a-female-scientist-minifigure/" target="_blank">Smithsonian</a>, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57601187-1/lego-finally-releases-a-female-scientist-minifig/" target="_blank">CNET</a>, <a href="http://lego.gizmodo.com/meet-the-first-female-lego-minifig-scientist-1244704180" target="_blank">Gizmodo</a>,</i> and <i><a href="http://www.themarysue.com/first-female-scientist-minifig/" target="_blank">The Mary Sue</a></i> were the first major outlets to piggyback on the post, followed by <i><a href="http://www.livescience.com/39421-lego-releases-first-female-scientist.html" target="_blank">LiveScience</a>, <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3016823/fast-feed/legos-first-female-scientist-breaks-into-the-toy-boys-club" target="_blank">Fast Company</a>,</i> the <i><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0904/Lego-s-new-female-scientist-is-a-first-for-toy-company" target="_blank">Christian Science Monitor</a>,</i> and <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=566983773337940&set=a.360833590619627.72897.316489315054055&type=1" target="_blank">A Mighty Girl</a>,</i> among others. <i><a href="http://www.today.com/moms/last-lego-creates-female-scientist-minifigure-8C11083650" target="_blank">TODAY</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/07/lego-scientist-woman_n_3882380.html" target="_blank">The Huffington Post</a>, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/06/2584721/plastic-ceiling-lego/" target="_blank">Think Progress</a>,</i> and <i><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/pollution-transformed-from-health-concern-to-art-piece/2013/09/09/c9cbd55c-10c5-11e3-bdf6-e4fc677d94a1_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a></i> joined in toward the end of the week. On Friday, my day was made when <i><a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/lego-introduces-first-female-scientist-figure,33755/" target="_blank">The Onion</a></i> cracked wise with their tongue-in-cheek American Voices spoof, which asked three supposed "men on the street" their opinions about the minifig's debut. It was also fun to see articles from other countries, including <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/55006/legos-female-scientist-turns-bunsen-burner-stereotypes" target="_blank">the UK</a>, <a href="http://www.madmoizelle.com/lego-scientifique-femme-197130" target="_blank">France</a>, and <a href="http://index.hu/kultur/2013/09/04/bricking_news_itt_a_noi_tudos_legofigura/" target="_blank">Hungary</a>. Even <a href="https://twitter.com/PPact/status/376082884282421248" target="_blank">Planned Parenthood</a> named my original post their "Friday feminist moment of awesome"!<br />
<br />
My only lament about whole thing is that the actual news became distorted rather quickly. Many outlets claimed this was the first female scientist for LEGO, when I had taken pains to point out in my post that this was not actually the case. Others reported incorrectly that a <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/06/female-lego-minifigures-need-your-vote.html" target="_blank">proposed all-female minifig set</a> had also been released as an official product.<br />
<br />
It's been a pleasure, however, to read so many tweets and comments on this story. Most have been positive, although many readers have been flabbergasted at the fact that this could be news in the year 2013. To that end, I hold that there is much yet that can and should be done to increase the representation of women and minorities in all facets of history and popular culture, including toys. I would love, for instance, to see more brown LEGO minifigures representing people of color. It would also be nice to see more minifigs—and LEGO Friends—in other areas of science and technology. This is not just ho-hum wishful thinking; the way people have embraced the news of this particular minifig strongly suggests that toy companies can still make a profit with products that defy the pink-blue, girly-macho gender dichotomy.<br />
<br />
Lastly, a wee bit of trivia that didn't make the <i>SciAm</i> post, since I only discovered it later in the week... Just who is this C. Bodin, after whom the new LEGO scientist is named? Some have wondered whether the fig was made in the likeness of <a href="http://www.joannelovesscience.com/" target="_blank">Joanne Manaster</a>, a.k.a. the Science Goddess, who was actually <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/4576760615/in/set-72157623988000684" target="_blank">one of my first</a> LEGO Scitweeps. But no, it would appear that the real namesake is one <a href="http://dk.linkedin.com/in/cynthiabodin" target="_blank">Cynthia Bodin</a>, Concept and Product Designer for the LEGO Group, who looks quite like the minifig in real life. It's interesting to note that Bodin's past product concepts include some of the <a href="http://www.coroflot.com/cynthia_bodin/LEGO-CLIKITS" target="_blank">girliest, blingiest, pink-and-purpliest</a> LEGO stuff I've ever seen. These designs were part of the now-defunct <a href="http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Clikits" target="_blank">Clickits theme</a> that preceded Friends in attempting to woo girls. More recently, Bodin has led efforts to <a href="http://www.expatindenmark.com/Events/Pages/LEGO-Duplo-Workshop-for-mothers.aspx" target="_blank">test LEGO products</a> with parents in Denmark, where the company's headquarters are located. I reached out to her for comment, but she could neither confirm nor deny her connection with the new scientist minifig: "I’m not able to provide any detail on my work," she wrote via email, "given that it’s primarily rooted in research and design, which we don’t routinely discuss publicly." <br />
<br />
In any case, I am, of course, very happy with Bodin's little plastic doppelganger, and I can only hope the LEGO team decides to produce more like it. <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/9662665997/" target="_blank">The minifig that launched a thousand tweets</a>, purchased at <a href="http://stores.lego.com/en-us/stores/us/natick-collection/" target="_blank">LEGO Natick</a> on Series 11 release day. </i>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-7423686095573592282013-08-31T22:30:00.000-04:002013-09-01T00:49:34.908-04:00southwest snapshotsI spent 10 days in Arizona and New Mexico this summer, camera and tripod in hand. Here are a dozen of my favorite shots. (Click to enlarge. For more, see my Flickr sets, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157634933798392/" target="_blank">Tucson 13</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157634927479099/" target="_blank">New Mexico 13</a>.)<br />
<br />
<center><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU4o6H1N69NpCecFU2Lt3wYwt43jfGYIuwdHNxJFxbEEIuPgg7HwpCkanpxZtORndZ1DeK9uliw1D7d2rYY_69ZZrzn45Q0EgMkU6wFsVGvGtGILZzf-4KqIEY-Y32REzs9HynNg/s1600/DSC_0249_alt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU4o6H1N69NpCecFU2Lt3wYwt43jfGYIuwdHNxJFxbEEIuPgg7HwpCkanpxZtORndZ1DeK9uliw1D7d2rYY_69ZZrzn45Q0EgMkU6wFsVGvGtGILZzf-4KqIEY-Y32REzs9HynNg/s400/DSC_0249_alt.jpg" /></a></div>Undead nuclear missile. Titan Missile Museum. Green Valley, AZ.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpbZxS0BLsUmYSJe9gzT9S9gOzY9Bom-ONhWv5KauiGjX-BZc_AsuvfKYqui3sXxa41Yxvu1kvE5dwT7ej4VoUVMo2Hvr59RrjR9_UIsOUO7ORv0GGh4SGZvemhFeE3FglyPgIQ/s1600/DSC_0252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitpbZxS0BLsUmYSJe9gzT9S9gOzY9Bom-ONhWv5KauiGjX-BZc_AsuvfKYqui3sXxa41Yxvu1kvE5dwT7ej4VoUVMo2Hvr59RrjR9_UIsOUO7ORv0GGh4SGZvemhFeE3FglyPgIQ/s400/DSC_0252.jpg" /></a></div>Use caution. Tucson Missile Museum. Green Valley, AZ.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtFxSzI7w4IDqX2_PQfTZPCfZeBQxkORiIzNqHvNqBtah1sQQmGALOw-R6Y28c0V4gqxNbkPjbhzKu3iOLO0BExdHk5c-onrd-Va0yd1FG_tZ_FJiQUYXmLTgyyTcVvBgSF2JGA/s1600/DSC_0375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimtFxSzI7w4IDqX2_PQfTZPCfZeBQxkORiIzNqHvNqBtah1sQQmGALOw-R6Y28c0V4gqxNbkPjbhzKu3iOLO0BExdHk5c-onrd-Va0yd1FG_tZ_FJiQUYXmLTgyyTcVvBgSF2JGA/s400/DSC_0375.jpg" /></a></div>Saguaros. Tucson, AZ.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQcfUjxcU2Z8I3XcyH6V2EM77YwfLFFuMDO7trjw1tLeSIBoLrdZYCuFP8-UrdZD5KpS0vChZ4YfPLxsAQJMcWKku2_NH3ePWwg1k3p3DTifFCfosACjSHvxN4s3dAZOHigklyg/s1600/DSC_0275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuQcfUjxcU2Z8I3XcyH6V2EM77YwfLFFuMDO7trjw1tLeSIBoLrdZYCuFP8-UrdZD5KpS0vChZ4YfPLxsAQJMcWKku2_NH3ePWwg1k3p3DTifFCfosACjSHvxN4s3dAZOHigklyg/s400/DSC_0275.jpg" /></a></div>Snack time. Reid Park Zoo. Tucson, AZ.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheebkS6OWpuvGNfT-qzHDI-VJm5qZ5MJAnlD149EokSfHvkGLNsJv1O4PiIvuc81CsT1vBG-UmQXUNPq4lCT6K0EIgwIMkAzd3l_EzwbR2CdaYbjYws1-1R2GD7sc6u21PhEuvsA/s1600/DSC_0418.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheebkS6OWpuvGNfT-qzHDI-VJm5qZ5MJAnlD149EokSfHvkGLNsJv1O4PiIvuc81CsT1vBG-UmQXUNPq4lCT6K0EIgwIMkAzd3l_EzwbR2CdaYbjYws1-1R2GD7sc6u21PhEuvsA/s400/DSC_0418.jpg" /></a></div>Bookstore mural. Las Cruces, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9t8PK65nhF-zunJu6mMGrEtHDnQegid8iDpU_9OpqCh8-TQqTcK9RvVYSGDwV1THiG6AH4Hn_SaxhyphenhyphenOHcuwgwmrAL86KxiiI-jNqkG4zJpxGaV5lBKELwPEchAjnATdRuKU2kg/s1600/DSC_0459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9t8PK65nhF-zunJu6mMGrEtHDnQegid8iDpU_9OpqCh8-TQqTcK9RvVYSGDwV1THiG6AH4Hn_SaxhyphenhyphenOHcuwgwmrAL86KxiiI-jNqkG4zJpxGaV5lBKELwPEchAjnATdRuKU2kg/s400/DSC_0459.jpg" /></a></div>Slumps. White Sands National Monument. Alamogordo, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dLi4PAXHL2LKSanB-uH_Lt61YbWcrAzXOls5O4yMVLuO6xMtsUoAuzYu_YuH6XiuZS4xqI3ffA6-O4iGY0JQFXIHvk4p-Vfv6huEl5-I9t1ueoFBmC0lnyed-JBb3cN4Cv4bbw/s1600/DSC_0533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8dLi4PAXHL2LKSanB-uH_Lt61YbWcrAzXOls5O4yMVLuO6xMtsUoAuzYu_YuH6XiuZS4xqI3ffA6-O4iGY0JQFXIHvk4p-Vfv6huEl5-I9t1ueoFBmC0lnyed-JBb3cN4Cv4bbw/s400/DSC_0533.jpg" /></a></div>Tethered. Space Murals Museum. Organ, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMN6yOXfAOw5vppussIJGUfEFvo7EjcT3Z0Ut8WOmhVd8rgNCuAbmRKx9NWR_jHUaolyDsMVlePl0nO1t8Rw_rkKkUmZ4erxLAk3BDMl1F6OuqnNo7UZ0I9JMETUX2XsyU5tV6g/s1600/DSC_0540a_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjMN6yOXfAOw5vppussIJGUfEFvo7EjcT3Z0Ut8WOmhVd8rgNCuAbmRKx9NWR_jHUaolyDsMVlePl0nO1t8Rw_rkKkUmZ4erxLAk3BDMl1F6OuqnNo7UZ0I9JMETUX2XsyU5tV6g/s400/DSC_0540a_sm.jpg" /></a></div>Next stop: up. Spaceport. Sierra, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXqVX2R1FA-K3NQhg67wbAkK9BxX9P78w4bRyB6cmdah_UEg3uJ6rmZS2HjCnHuHUt3O816NbEbVlSDaqs5Fph2ENe6BYkwZZAVKF8mIg2cXBug2Oca6ZnJ9qCBLA8M__g5-92A/s1600/DSC_0602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXXqVX2R1FA-K3NQhg67wbAkK9BxX9P78w4bRyB6cmdah_UEg3uJ6rmZS2HjCnHuHUt3O816NbEbVlSDaqs5Fph2ENe6BYkwZZAVKF8mIg2cXBug2Oca6ZnJ9qCBLA8M__g5-92A/s400/DSC_0602.jpg" /></a></div>Open pit. Chino Mine. Santa Rita, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtQMVaNaUJZ-yI09TSVgZm-qL7qtOvCP3Gkz1MEqjxHllW3MkJErRwYO1TuBsXL5yjFrfUUVs4MoRjJ7PvLAMB4lmTjzjc9heqFfygqbSzoWAww1C3q8hAcfhyphenhyphen16HGaIWZm7-CA/s1600/DSC_0652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtQMVaNaUJZ-yI09TSVgZm-qL7qtOvCP3Gkz1MEqjxHllW3MkJErRwYO1TuBsXL5yjFrfUUVs4MoRjJ7PvLAMB4lmTjzjc9heqFfygqbSzoWAww1C3q8hAcfhyphenhyphen16HGaIWZm7-CA/s400/DSC_0652.jpg" /></a></div>Communing with the radio 'scopes. VLA. Socorro, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MFdimyAQUvtsWeRgx6ndQAOYeqBUp-DmG0SYvx4jx1Mj5JbXhtPenSwXabH83m7sOhFFkUKB2ZfLkGcwMgAKr4BeUfOuFk1mdUc64z5ZrI41ARWPDoH8fgCVPWaRQ_Aof-QHdQ/s1600/DSC_0722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MFdimyAQUvtsWeRgx6ndQAOYeqBUp-DmG0SYvx4jx1Mj5JbXhtPenSwXabH83m7sOhFFkUKB2ZfLkGcwMgAKr4BeUfOuFk1mdUc64z5ZrI41ARWPDoH8fgCVPWaRQ_Aof-QHdQ/s400/DSC_0722.jpg" /></a></div>Church. Santa Fe, NM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNK95Qj505CRZTwXhdc4JhmqDDyqSNr-wWvwx6fhuxZkZB6Ol21gbAiztf8kGNVFzhH8xYjtdaNV4Ei3kMXkC2Nd3QeEjXYm9L5EDhNBjCiS-J9pppmACVUSEEp_DhM1hDjAMZg/s1600/DSC_0749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNK95Qj505CRZTwXhdc4JhmqDDyqSNr-wWvwx6fhuxZkZB6Ol21gbAiztf8kGNVFzhH8xYjtdaNV4Ei3kMXkC2Nd3QeEjXYm9L5EDhNBjCiS-J9pppmACVUSEEp_DhM1hDjAMZg/s400/DSC_0749.jpg" /></a></div>Masks. Santa Fe, NM.</center>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-75073498722809059392013-08-12T10:58:00.000-04:002013-09-03T11:07:00.919-04:00victory! lady scientist lego minifig arrives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75LVwcQ0-nHlIjTh8E0x4kSn5nECjl7IwxHHhiuiMC4MPhVSK1jpq9PfheTVgSKas2Pa0gujvLFVRIavNDVHvW-33rBEuMGYHOd_3I784u6zzGK_Wf3V2Fycs-LFlI0iodwTKug/s1600/sci-minifig-official.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75LVwcQ0-nHlIjTh8E0x4kSn5nECjl7IwxHHhiuiMC4MPhVSK1jpq9PfheTVgSKas2Pa0gujvLFVRIavNDVHvW-33rBEuMGYHOd_3I784u6zzGK_Wf3V2Fycs-LFlI0iodwTKug/s1600/sci-minifig-official.jpg" /></a></div>After the pleas (<a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-dear-lego-you-are-part-of-problem.html">1</a>, <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/05/16/comparing-gender-in-lego-minif.html">2</a>, <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/06/female-lego-minifigures-need-your-vote.html">3</a>) and <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/04/do-right-thing.html">the tease</a>, we will finally have, beginning next month, an <a href="http://minifigures.lego.com/en-us/Bios/Scientist.aspx">official female scientist LEGO minifigure</a>! The "Scientist" fig will appear as part of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151591812168403.1073741841.6665038402&type=3">Series 11</a>, which is set to hit shelves on September 1st in the United States. <br />
<br />
Here is the description from the LEGO website:<br />
<blockquote>SCIENTIST: I wonder what will happen if I put THIS together with THAT... The brilliant Scientist’s specialty is finding new and interesting ways to combine things together. She’ll spend all night in her lab analyzing how to connect bricks of different sizes and shapes (she won the coveted Nobrick Prize for her discovery of the theoretical System/DUPLO® Interface!), or how to mix two colors in one element. Thanks to the Scientist’s tireless research, Minifigures that have misplaced their legs can now attach new pieces to let them swim like fish, slither like snakes, and stomp around like robots. Her studies of a certain outer dimension have even perfected a method for swapping body parts at will!</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTenLC24cPT5NfbVM-LwjJWoWlStfI5-HhHKm1pzparcyQFz_0xNySz9DncYsE4eK7LsUbNITw-9qzZMfRIQH7AGO09LKQOzioh1bNQyrLQl4r5Jg4iMLuNhLsrVMscqCkBHJEw/s1600/sci-minifig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTenLC24cPT5NfbVM-LwjJWoWlStfI5-HhHKm1pzparcyQFz_0xNySz9DncYsE4eK7LsUbNITw-9qzZMfRIQH7AGO09LKQOzioh1bNQyrLQl4r5Jg4iMLuNhLsrVMscqCkBHJEw/s400/sci-minifig.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Kudos to LEGO for making her official name "Scientist" instead of adding "Lady" or "Woman" as it has done for certain other female figures (for example, "Lady Robot" in the same series). I must admit, I'm a little disappointed with the stereotypical glasses... But suffice it to say, this fig is a major step in the right direction. <br />
<br />
In other female scientist minifig news, the <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/06/female-lego-minifigures-need-your-vote.html">CUUSOO Female Minifigure Set petition</a> has racked up the requisite 10,000 upvotes for an official review by the folks at LEGO. Fingers crossed that these mini-sets will also eventually see the light of day! <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/99156425@N03/">hermipad on Flickr</a></i>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-36436677530761678172013-08-08T12:04:00.000-04:002013-08-08T13:10:51.017-04:00rapping rosalind franklin<iframe width="400" height="225" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/35FwmiPE9tI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Love, love, love this new music video by 7th grade students in Oakland, who have crafted and played out <a href="http://sciencewithtom.com/2013/08/08/rosalind-franklin-vs-watson-crick-science-history-rap-battle/">a genius rap battle</a> to illustrate a bit of science history. In one corner: James Watson and Francis Crick. In the other: <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2010/11/rosalind-franklin-gets-her-closeup.html">Rosalind Franklin</a>. Can you guess who wins??<br />
<br />
"You showed my data behind my back.<br />
So it’s not just gonna happen like that.<br />
Let’s recognize Rosalind Franklin<br />
Nobel Prize for Rosalind Franklin.<br />
<br />
Oooh ooh... that’s my pic. That’s my pic.<br />
Oooh ooh... that’s my pic. That’s my pic.<br />
<br />
I heard that you were shown my pic<br />
And you didn’t think that I would find out.<br />
Then you wrote this nice little book getting everyone fired up.<br />
Well I’m back from the dead and I read what you said,<br />
And I’m here to set the record straight now.<br />
Now when you learn about the double he- you better also learn about me." <br />
<br />
Kudos to educator <a href="http://sciencewithtom.com/about/">Tom McFadden</a>, the mastermind behind the project, who hopes that teachers and students will "utilize, remix, and reinvent these videos while I teach 8th grade biology at The Nueva School next year."<br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-13860165532331148522013-06-04T23:04:00.000-04:002014-07-09T22:09:00.890-04:00lady minifigs need your vote<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiHzcsGH3XWNd5SLzmmsuqbVrVaPZeKgUI_cUwn_mMMbLBE6VIHU8XpMzy4cOv4iYX5LQc_0vcfvokZwhkH2X7iLEnLhn8Q0X1yTB54IqH2pIy3Trmu2C9oddRfyxCSeCrfe3tQ/s1600/cuusoo3.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXiHzcsGH3XWNd5SLzmmsuqbVrVaPZeKgUI_cUwn_mMMbLBE6VIHU8XpMzy4cOv4iYX5LQc_0vcfvokZwhkH2X7iLEnLhn8Q0X1yTB54IqH2pIy3Trmu2C9oddRfyxCSeCrfe3tQ/s400/cuusoo3.jpg" /></a><br />
As readers of this blog are well aware, I've been pushing for LEGO to ramp up its offerings of female minifigures in sets and the official minifig series. Last year, after the brouhaha surrounding the introduction of LEGO's Friends series, I noted the clear <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/05/16/comparing-gender-in-lego-minif.html" target="_blank">divide in male-female representation</a> within the company and <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-dear-lego-you-are-part-of-problem.html">gave some concrete suggestions</a> for the addition of female figures in stereotype-breaking careers. More recently, I lamented <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2013/04/do-right-thing.html">LEGO's changing course</a> on apparent plans for a female scientist fig (though the librarian that came out in the end is actually quite nice).<br />
<br />
I now want to share a wonderful proposal I discovered recently that conveys my vision completely—and which needs your support. The minifigures above and below were mocked up by Alatariel, a Dutch geochemist and LEGO fan, for <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/" target="_blank">Cuusoo</a>, an officially-sanctioned LEGO crowdsourcing project. Users on Cuusoo (which means "wish" in Japanese) submit their ideas and solicit upvotes for their projects. Proposals with more than 10,000 votes are reviewed by a team at LEGO and may ultimately be created for sale in limited editions. (Examples of winning designs so far include the <a href="http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Hayabusa-21101" target="_blank">Hayabusa spacecraft</a> and a <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/96" target="_blank">Back to the Future set</a> featuring Marty, Doc, and the DeLorean.) <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhAiXQkCBksafpdARLCq5Xelru_prI4j4mSIojdJpxyOvo6Qw5GY79c9qmf8UZnj-z1SlSB88r0evVxUPhE_4M5HNtGCAyRURHMeaC05OhWMoFg7r158BVdDmxLI0NSasusyhuQ/s1600/cuusoo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJhAiXQkCBksafpdARLCq5Xelru_prI4j4mSIojdJpxyOvo6Qw5GY79c9qmf8UZnj-z1SlSB88r0evVxUPhE_4M5HNtGCAyRURHMeaC05OhWMoFg7r158BVdDmxLI0NSasusyhuQ/s400/cuusoo1.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNp4die3VTc6i4gOxd9J579DpPIRIqg4FS6a-JnZcoCiWVzdPPfeLIoUq_vC9URm_n7lmyScVksZlxcvcwarND69_lVEeMFG7FRQ5i8O4p0xckwvZqz-5ubrojMptHiOC92Efng/s1600/cuusoo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNp4die3VTc6i4gOxd9J579DpPIRIqg4FS6a-JnZcoCiWVzdPPfeLIoUq_vC9URm_n7lmyScVksZlxcvcwarND69_lVEeMFG7FRQ5i8O4p0xckwvZqz-5ubrojMptHiOC92Efng/s400/cuusoo2.jpg" /></a><br />
Alatariel's full <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/15401" target="_blank">Female Minifigure Set</a> is beautiful, and exactly what the doctor ordered. It features 13 new minifigures, plus accessories, in roles that include engineer, court judge, chemist, firefighter, astronomer, and paleontologist. Explaining her motivation, Alatariel writes:<br />
<blockquote>Although recently LEGO® has started to design and add more female figures to their sets, they are still a minority. A small set of minifigures, which LEGO® has made in the past for different themes, would provide a great opportunity to add women to our LEGO® town or city communities. I have designed some professional female minifigures that also show that girls can become anything they want, including a fire fighter or a paleontologist (main picture). Being a geochemist myself the geologist and chemist figures are based on me:-) Due to the limitations of LDD the heads and hairstyles I used here are a bit limited. Ideally, Lego would produce some new face and hair designs, but at least I would like to see some 'rare' ones included.</blockquote>So far the minifig set is about a quarter of the way toward its 10,000-vote goal. Please <a href="http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/15401" target="_blank">add your support</a>! <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Post was corrected to fix the spelling of "Alatariel" and the fact that she is Dutch, not Swedish.</i><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-10587530719998838132013-04-15T15:51:00.002-04:002013-04-18T20:01:55.293-04:00women in stem @ science online teen<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-15bttn3rEQ5UFriNma4rRzuMzit1palp2_vWc7ateZsixovksxJgG5Fs2Zl2K3b_if1mdTbpo2FX8-Xmgljl14OU5DMiy9-dqhGMhsHMy_Eh46pRe7N4J_LNdsnCd0o7ZG1Ow/s1600/IMG_0578.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-15bttn3rEQ5UFriNma4rRzuMzit1palp2_vWc7ateZsixovksxJgG5Fs2Zl2K3b_if1mdTbpo2FX8-Xmgljl14OU5DMiy9-dqhGMhsHMy_Eh46pRe7N4J_LNdsnCd0o7ZG1Ow/s320/IMG_0578.png" /></a></center>On Saturday I attended the inaugural <a href="http://scienceonline.com/scienceonlineteen-2/">Science Online Teen</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23scioteen&src=typd">#scioteen</a>) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference">unconference</a> in New York City. An offshoot of the popular <a href="http://scienceonline.com/">Science Online</a>, the event’s aim was to get local teens talking about STEM education, STEM careers, and the ways in which STEM topics are communicated online. <br />
<br />
The women-in-STEM session I led was packed with teens and teachers wanting to learn more about pursuing science as a female. Joining me on our panel were six STEM professionals: <a href="https://twitter.com/hildabast">Hilda Bastian</a> (epidemiology); <a href="https://twitter.com/krystaldcosta">Krystal D’Costa</a> (anthropology); <a href="https://twitter.com/cynthia_duggan">Cynthia Duggan</a> (neuroscience); <a href="https://twitter.com/dogspies">Julie Hecht</a> (ethology); <a href="https://twitter.com/gabriellerab">Gabrielle Rabinowitz</a> (molecular biology); and <a href="http://raper.bioweb.hunter.cuny.edu/">Jayne Raper</a> (parasitology). (Mathematician and computer scientist <a href="https://wfs.gc.cuny.edu/DKahrobaei/www/">Delaram Kahrobaei</a> was also slated to attend, but had to bow out due to illness.) <br />
<br />
You can check out a full suite of tweets, posts, and photos from the session <a href="http://storify.com/20tauri/scioteen-women-in-stem-session">via Storify</a>. <br />
<br />
It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm in the room, and to hear not only from our distinguished panelists but from students and teachers who contributed their own unique experiences and questions, on topics ranging from single-sex education to STEM hiring biases to female representation at professional conferences. <br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRyF7XgV4-hdvd1eDUS1FRvKm4Fze0wLay1sZMMPTWlVYLYwPJtg4FVwCmcCrs7LW5x24wTMbJUgeGDM6xqcuojA90wVkoM-W98SNa94KHv8h6BpZqMQhDFtve1uSJJdmS3i5xQ/s1600/IMG_0577.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRyF7XgV4-hdvd1eDUS1FRvKm4Fze0wLay1sZMMPTWlVYLYwPJtg4FVwCmcCrs7LW5x24wTMbJUgeGDM6xqcuojA90wVkoM-W98SNa94KHv8h6BpZqMQhDFtve1uSJJdmS3i5xQ/s320/IMG_0577.png" /></a></center><br />
I also borrowed an activity that I’d seen at <a href="http://dc.adacamp.org/">AdaCamp</a> last year, in which participants wrote about positive and negative experiences related to being a female in science/tech. At ScioTeen, I asked session attendees to recount on sticky notes one experience in which they were discouraged from following some STEM-related activity, and one in which they were encouraged. We then posted the results on a board, noting the ages at which the experiences took place. Here’s a sampling of the results:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b><font color=1BE0D3>Positive:</font></b><br />
<br />
Mom and Dad told me never to “stop asking questions.” Age: 8<br />
<br />
Math/science teacher made it fun and applicable, assisted in tutoring for [state exams]. Age: ~12<br />
<br />
Teacher/mentor told me, “You’ve got what it takes.” Said I could be any kind of scientist I wanted to be. Age: 12<br />
<br />
In 9th grade my biology teacher encouraged me to join a STEM group at school. Age: 15<br />
<br />
Approached by math teacher junior year and asked to take a computer science class. Age: ~16<br />
<br />
Teacher said I was the best student he’d ever had, that I was very good at science. Age: 17<br />
<br />
Female physics teacher taught me calculus after class so I could take advanced physics. Age: 17<br />
<br />
“Follow your dreams and prove to yourself and to everyone that doesn’t bet on you that you can do it.” Age: 18<br />
<br />
<b><font color=1BE0D3>Negative:</font></b><br />
<br />
Someone told me it’s going to be hard to get a job in the science field because I’m a girl. Age: 12<br />
<br />
A male teacher told me I was smart but could never be a doctor because I’m a girl. Age: 13<br />
<br />
A female relative told me: “It’s okay if you’re struggling with math. Girls aren’t good at that.” Age 13<br />
<br />
Tech teacher had lower standards for girls and made it clear that he had lower expectations. Age 15<br />
<br />
Bio teacher from other class told me my dissection was bad and I should not be a doctor... Ended [doctor] plans immediately. Age: 15<br />
<br />
“You are a woman. You aren’t good enough.” 16 years old<br />
<br />
Seeing all the men in my college physics classes. Age: 19<br />
<br />
Female physics professor I admired and sought out as a mentor told me there is no glass ceiling and implied I was whining by bringing up gender. I left her office feeling discouraged instead of inspired. Related or not, I did end up leaving physics for biology. Age: 20<br />
<br />
Discouraged in graduate school in bio class by professor because I was struggling. Age: ~22<br />
<br />
"You’re pregnant? You just sabotaged your career!" Age: 27</blockquote><br />
::Sigh:: To me, the negative comments outweigh the positive ones here, simply because, while we all appreciate praise and encouragement, discouragement based solely on gender can be an extremely powerful disincentive for those who don't want to “buck the system” or engage in a prolonged struggle against social norms. Of course there’s no formula for this, but I would argue that even one discouraging experience can cancel out any number of encouraging ones. <br />
<br />
I should also mention that while our session was a great success, not one of the 30 or so self-selected participants was a male. Certainly we need to educate girls about what a future in STEM might look like, but we also need boys to understand and appreciate the discrimination that still exists on the road to a STEM career.<br />
<br />
To that end, it’s worth noting that STEM is a massive buzzword these days, and it might seem with a quick glance through the blogosphere and twitterverse that challenges related to women in these fields are all too well covered. The reality is, however, that the individuals most affected by recent studies and reports on these issues—i.e. teenage and pre-teen girls, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds—may not be plugged in to what’s going on. And so, it’s important to see physical gatherings like Science Online reaching out to the STEM professionals of tomorrow and helping to bring some of the hurdles they may face into direct focus. Let’s hope we can continue the conversation with more teens, in more places, in the months and years ahead. <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3L-MbJlx0Q-z-mWFDHzgQDogIf7FgoARzLcbOFSx0TsKZui8AKbKJxsnBe-1TB0JI2hbgmuNIoQWLqfYeJ3n_a0_ARhlcrvFP6Pdtc_n5LEtA_zlMQNRhxvQYALh9dTMwznIbg/s1600/IMG_0581.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3L-MbJlx0Q-z-mWFDHzgQDogIf7FgoARzLcbOFSx0TsKZui8AKbKJxsnBe-1TB0JI2hbgmuNIoQWLqfYeJ3n_a0_ARhlcrvFP6Pdtc_n5LEtA_zlMQNRhxvQYALh9dTMwznIbg/s320/IMG_0581.jpg" /></a></center>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-44061045302763810562013-04-06T01:42:00.000-04:002013-04-06T11:45:51.658-04:00do the right thingMy Dear Lego,<br />
<br />
Now you're just messing with me. A few months ago, prototype designs for the upcoming <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/92090133@N04/8513189646/sizes/l/" target="_blank">Series 10</a> minifigures were <strike>released</strike> leaked to the public. I was <a href="https://twitter.com/20tauri/status/291710877172912128" target="_blank">happy as a clam</a> to find out there would not only be a Maia-the-Bee lookalike but we'd also <i>finally</i> get a female scientist! All was right in Lego-land.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lq8_06UNweLulmSSS4FSCTVGOmBPFQBQjU5uaWRp950RJEJkdtkZBbTyEsyno5JY1ECwUD_jJH5VHPj6k2lpa_7obqBxSHFKFfZdnZrZgpzgmrWmGDqOkg7wN4YTefxw4k6SRQ/s1600/lego_femsci.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Lq8_06UNweLulmSSS4FSCTVGOmBPFQBQjU5uaWRp950RJEJkdtkZBbTyEsyno5JY1ECwUD_jJH5VHPj6k2lpa_7obqBxSHFKFfZdnZrZgpzgmrWmGDqOkg7wN4YTefxw4k6SRQ/s320/lego_femsci.jpg" /></a><br />
In the end, however, you turned the scientist into a librarian. To be sure, librarians are awesome. But............<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmj9LsDxDkjG33O8UdOHuAIUsXB8w7vneCTQqfT9cZT3Q6Qp-RevLlLLf0orI4nA6Fh4tGwC1_q1PmEr9HosVQmBfV41YnDZN4ZqjNty00TyXsdWTxISBioojq27CoPuUrJD-vw/s1600/lego_librarian.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFmj9LsDxDkjG33O8UdOHuAIUsXB8w7vneCTQqfT9cZT3Q6Qp-RevLlLLf0orI4nA6Fh4tGwC1_q1PmEr9HosVQmBfV41YnDZN4ZqjNty00TyXsdWTxISBioojq27CoPuUrJD-vw/s320/lego_librarian.jpg" /></a><br />
You *might* be able to redeem yourselves. <a href="http://www.bricksandbloks.com/lego-minifigures-series-11-lineup-list-revealed-for-summer-2013/" target="_blank">Numerous</a> <a href="http://www.thedailybrick.co.uk/blog/lego-news/lego-series-11-collectable-minifigures-list/" target="_blank">sources</a> suggest you will be releasing a scientist, for real, in Series 11. (Gender as yet unspecified.)<br />
<br />
For the love of the FSM, please <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-dear-lego-you-are-part-of-problem.html">do the right thing</a>.<br />
<br />
yours very truly,<br />
20tauriMaia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-36921901629158241432013-03-31T21:05:00.001-04:002013-04-02T00:09:24.200-04:00happy birthday, joan feynman<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xb6vDACwxWU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
Today is the <strike>85th</strike> 86th birthday of astrophysicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Feynman" target="_blank">Joan Feynman</a>.* If her name sounds familiar, it's because she has a very famous brother, the late Nobel prize-winning, Manhattan-project-building, quantum-electrodynamics-defining, O-ring-demonstrating, bongo-drum-playing physicist, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman" target="_blank">Richard Feynman</a>. Until this week, I had not known that Richard had a sister, nor that she was an accomplished physicist in her own right. I learned a bit about her, though, as I read the fantastic graphic novel, <i><a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781596432598-0" target="_blank">Feynman</a>,</i> which beautifully illustrates Richard's life and work. In the book, we meet Joan as a young girl in the early 1940s who revels in the scientific magic her older brother deftly demonstrates for her at home. We also learn, however, that Joan is actively discouraged from pursuing her scientific passions because her mother feels "women's brains are psychologically incapable of doing science."<br />
<br />
As you might imagine, my interest at this point was indubitably piqued. So I ambled on over to Wikipedia to see what it would tell me about Ms. Joan Feynman. There was a loud sigh of frustration as I discovered her article was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Stub" target="_blank">but a stub</a>, just a few sentences long with barely any detail about her life and accomplishments.<br />
<br />
After a little digging, I found that Feynman had indeed gone on to become a well-respected astrophysicist specializing in interactions between Earth and the solar wind. Among her biggest contributions to her field were key studies on the nature of coronal mass ejections, auroras, solar storms, and effects of the sun on climate change. Make sure to check out the wonderful clip above, by the way, of Joan explaining how she originally came to marvel at auroras...<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiey_vYGWMKMfuLqh3pt-U7Z9I7Rm9G6pWAYNCeCIdJxJxCWyz8Sh9MVO0E8tInrb5uC73aOi-0Rnb0YNwQ7GWgPPd2lWDM4Ndwnt3do4Kj04nHDzsUwS_Ey5oJiHEjbxx1mXLAxg/s1600/JoanRichardFeynman.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiey_vYGWMKMfuLqh3pt-U7Z9I7Rm9G6pWAYNCeCIdJxJxCWyz8Sh9MVO0E8tInrb5uC73aOi-0Rnb0YNwQ7GWgPPd2lWDM4Ndwnt3do4Kj04nHDzsUwS_Ey5oJiHEjbxx1mXLAxg/s320/JoanRichardFeynman.jpg" /></a><br />
<b>Joan and Richard at the beach</b></center><br />
I also read a compelling tale of how young Feynman drew strength from an astronomy book she'd received from her big brother. She could barely understand it at first, but with Richard's encouragement, she eventually made her way through. And when Feynman realized that one of the graphs in a later chapter was based on the work of pioneering astronomer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Payne-Gaposchkin" target="_blank">Cecilia Payne-Gaposhkin</a>, she gained new resolve in her dream of becoming a scientist herself.<br />
<br />
Feynman would go on to face plenty of discrimination on her way toward becoming a senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, from where she retired a decade ago. But she displayed steadfast determination, and in so doing, carved out an important spot in the history of astrophysics.<br />
<br />
After learning all of this, I decided a few days ago to beef up Joan Feynman's Wikipedia article. After all, just as she was once inspired by Cecilia Payne, so some other young budding scientist might be inspired by her story... After considerable expansion, the article has now been nominated for inclusion in the "Did You Know?" section on Wikipedia's main front page. So on this special occasion, I suggest you head on over to Feynman's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Feynman" target="_blank">shiny new Wiki</a> and read all about her! <br />
<br />
Happy birthday, Joan, and thanks so much for all you've done for science and for humanity.<br />
<br />
*<b>UPDATE:</b> Since publishing this piece last night, I've traded a few emails with the lovely Dr. Feynman, who is doing well. She was delighted about the new Wikipedia page, but also informed me that her birth date was a year off! And so, both the Wiki page and this here post are now up to speed. (Fear not, my fellow Wikimedians, I found <a href="http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gsfn=Joan&gsln=Feynman&gss=angs-g&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=7074485&db=1940usfedcen&indiv=1" target="_blank">a citation</a>!)<br />
<br />
<iframe width="400" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0nhH7s9Yq8M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-57298462755909102712013-02-23T12:41:00.000-05:002013-02-23T15:26:59.532-05:00oscar doc picks<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_Is4pRUHVk97Msc3qLTERBUphqXucQE1lh1NC0-PoTjvh0FgKBzrd4hQ7XXv8ukhVs7LPsHOKZm2-DgU2hhnNEDBEX9NGdFro0u7zJwdaw0fSP809ZeC2NFJDxxB8qFb4f8DbA/s1600/oscar13.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn_Is4pRUHVk97Msc3qLTERBUphqXucQE1lh1NC0-PoTjvh0FgKBzrd4hQ7XXv8ukhVs7LPsHOKZm2-DgU2hhnNEDBEX9NGdFro0u7zJwdaw0fSP809ZeC2NFJDxxB8qFb4f8DbA/s320/oscar13.jpg" /></a><br />
It's time once again for my annual foray into the world of Oscar. This year, I'm sad to say, I've missed out on many of the main live-action nominees. But I was able to catch most of the documentaries with a major assist from Netflix. Without further ado, I present my 2013 Oscar prognostications for the categories of feature-length documentary and documentary short.<br />
<br />
<b>FEATURE-LENGTH DOCUMENTARY</b><br />
<br />
<b>Should win: <i>5 Broken Cameras</i> -or- <i>The Invisible War</i> [tie]</b><br />
Although this year's candidates are all very strong, I find it impossible not to give special kudos to those movies for which lives were literally on the line during their making and/or subsequent promotion. Case in point is <a href="http://www.kinolorber.com/5brokencameras/"><i>5 Broken Cameras</i></a>, a maddening film about a Palestinian village in the West Bank that suffers relentless encroachment by Israeli settlements. While the main filmmaker, Emad Burnat, and his neighbors strive to protest these land-grabs in peace, the local Israelis do not respond in kind. Instead, they harass, threaten, arrest, and attack, often illegally and brutally. During four years of filming, Burnat burns through five video cameras, four of which are shot or otherwise destroyed, and one of which literally saves his life. <i>5 Broken Cameras</i> is the sort of film that could serve as a poster child for <a href="http://www.witness.org/" target="_blank">Witness</a>, a human rights organization with the motto "See it, film it, change it;" for that, I think it's well deserving of the Oscar.<br />
<br />
Risking one's life, or certainly one's reputation, is also apparent in my other top pick for this year's Oscar docs: <i><a href="http://invisiblewarmovie.com/">The Invisible War</a>,</i> a deeply moving, highly-charged account of sexual abuse in the U.S. military. Watching this film, I was brought to tears as, one by one, proud women (and one man) who wanted nothing more than to honorably serve their country recounted how they were coerced, harassed, beaten, and raped by their colleagues and superiors—and then ignored, belittled, and persecuted when they reported these events. Even more troubling were statistics about just how common such assaults in the military are today; by all accounts, at least 19,000 service members were sexually abused in 2010 alone. We also learn that prosecution of such cases cannot be handled effectively in the current system, since they are processed not through a federal court system but through the military chain of command, where serious conflicts of interests often lie. Of the five nominees, I feel this film has the most potential to create change as a result of its nomination, and it's heartening to know that even if it doesn't win, system reform <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/02/invisible-war-has-changed-the-conversation-on-rape-in-the-military.html">may already be on the horizon</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Will win: Searching for Sugar Man</b><br />
While it lacks the gravitas of the other four contenders, <a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/searchingforsugarman/"><i>Searching for Sugar Man</i></a> is the film to beat in this year's feature-length documentary category. It tells the improbable story of the search for a Dylanesque singer-songwriter named Sixto Rodriguez who all but disappeared after his 15 minutes of fame in the U.S. came and went in the early 1970s. It's a truly heartwarming tale, much akin to 2010's <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2010/07/all-hail-winnebago-man.html"><i>Winnebago Man</i></a>. The movie could probably win on buzz alone, but it doesn't hurt that there are two contenders on the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (which will likely split votes), plus a very hot-button challenger in <i>The Invisible War,</i> the topic of which some Academy voters may shy away from.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT</b><br />
<br />
<b>Should win: [Draw]</b><br />
I'm slightly handicapped in this category this year by the fact that I've only been able to watch three of the five nominees: <i><a href="http://www.kingspointmovie.com/">Kings Point</a>, <a href="http://mondaysatracine.com/">Mondays at Racine</a>,</i> and <i><a href="http://inocentedoc.com/">Inocente</a>.</i> Of these three, I thought the latter was the strongest, most unique, and most artfully told, and not just because its protagonist is a 15-year-old artist herself. The film's cinematography was well done, and the combination of themes—immigration, homelessness, abuse, and arts education—was a refreshing reminder of many of the contemporary social problems we Americans like to sweep under the rug. In comparison, while I was moved by both <i>Kings Point</i> and <i>Mondays at Racine,</i> I honestly don't think either one has what it takes to take home the golden statuette. Finally, I hesitate to comment on the other two nominees, <i><a href="http://openheartfilm.com/">Open Heart</a></i> and <i><a href="http://redemptiondoc.com/">Redemption</a>,</i> without having seen them, but I will say that their trailers lead me to believe they're both excellent films. So, I'm actually going to give this category a pass on final judgment, but if it were between the three I watched, my vote would be for <i>Inocente.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Will win: <i>Open Heart</i></b><br />
Call me crazy, but if you see a pattern in what the Oscar voters like, you stick with it. Two short documentaries that have won this category in recent years, <i><a href="http://www.smilepinki.com/">Smile Pinki</a></i> and <i><a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/02/picking-shorts.html">Saving Face</a>,</i> were about savior doctors helping poor citizens of developing countries with free medical procedures to fix crippling conditions—cleft palettes in the first case and facial disfigurement from acid attacks in the second. In this year's <i>Open Heart,</i> poor children from Rwanda are brought to the Sudan for potentially life-saving heart surgery. Sound familiar? Until the Academy proves me wrong, I'm picking this story line every time. <b>∞</b>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-52228130261374257272013-02-10T14:18:00.000-05:002013-02-10T14:41:53.903-05:00regarding nemo<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/59330193?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ff9900" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><br />
New England came to a halt this week with the passing of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2013_nor%27easter" target="_blank">Nemo megablizzard</a>. I decided to chronicle the storm's wrath with a little time-lapse film, which doubled as practice for the documentary editing class I'm currently taking. Of course, I had to shoot <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157632730381392/" target="_blank">some stills</a>, too! I think we're gonna be digging out from under this one for a while... <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NG9lQFPOljJ0PCXOryk6Axq2U5FG-H_JwntPOP4tPQ6t5euGnN58mIO0CtU7RG9TwVTmBbNvw-CuOBpuIyeQFNhagkBK2YB2XXF9wh7au4tvM4wyVdP3cJBxFOwV5XNYbx4YhA/s1600/DSC_0934.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0NG9lQFPOljJ0PCXOryk6Axq2U5FG-H_JwntPOP4tPQ6t5euGnN58mIO0CtU7RG9TwVTmBbNvw-CuOBpuIyeQFNhagkBK2YB2XXF9wh7au4tvM4wyVdP3cJBxFOwV5XNYbx4YhA/s400/DSC_0934.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFDXs02vJfV3TWfZwVS5Nw5KqGL0ZTzFPzRyTP8HUHgDhxn0UInrFCABehoCpKR1wlFmSy7MWqdVZ968bxmWE11ctNoutB_4CyQXQxEWMx4tWYll_l4iQ-yMaipZHf8QW6KoO4g/s1600/DSC_0967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibFDXs02vJfV3TWfZwVS5Nw5KqGL0ZTzFPzRyTP8HUHgDhxn0UInrFCABehoCpKR1wlFmSy7MWqdVZ968bxmWE11ctNoutB_4CyQXQxEWMx4tWYll_l4iQ-yMaipZHf8QW6KoO4g/s400/DSC_0967.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0C8E3OUGbLhMj8r48j6Etjb_Dx9HoPfuQBDmkgFLXbysx3jdTKPx-q90rJ47FH-Xs_EVM_fZ_eptEDu663Zvy3GGeHNeYtS4GeVGsms_OT28YB9OjVpatSbz87Aal0p5tX5t6RA/s1600/DSC_0986.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="265" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0C8E3OUGbLhMj8r48j6Etjb_Dx9HoPfuQBDmkgFLXbysx3jdTKPx-q90rJ47FH-Xs_EVM_fZ_eptEDu663Zvy3GGeHNeYtS4GeVGsms_OT28YB9OjVpatSbz87Aal0p5tX5t6RA/s400/DSC_0986.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhK3AwC9O7pDRjnDNKto805VpDun7sV_zyfd7wI2SMQznzaLe7b-2VxvBF1WR8n9PMNo-ggvjsJOvqOtnq3mFoLdiYZy_L1bVftZj7aBnxUmL8M92IXEeBH87e7lj4P6gt4YMoJA/s1600/DSC_1004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="266" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhK3AwC9O7pDRjnDNKto805VpDun7sV_zyfd7wI2SMQznzaLe7b-2VxvBF1WR8n9PMNo-ggvjsJOvqOtnq3mFoLdiYZy_L1bVftZj7aBnxUmL8M92IXEeBH87e7lj4P6gt4YMoJA/s400/DSC_1004.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-58333167625762361002013-02-01T14:01:00.000-05:002013-02-01T14:05:12.243-05:00remembering columbia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQCJ0ZkdB_LxpTGDmneRyOlANY9WsyPseq8-okuhnjYiTgiLqzcvJFK-JfCG9RLLraKX2SBYn5ZOcLIeaL1p5FcCJ24dlDmk4EdqQ58N2yZl0DygJP8cHdQQt5wyETW5-UVNxKmg/s1600/columbia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQCJ0ZkdB_LxpTGDmneRyOlANY9WsyPseq8-okuhnjYiTgiLqzcvJFK-JfCG9RLLraKX2SBYn5ZOcLIeaL1p5FcCJ24dlDmk4EdqQ58N2yZl0DygJP8cHdQQt5wyETW5-UVNxKmg/s400/columbia.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Ten years ago today, I was at home, still half asleep, when I received word of the space shuttle <i>Columbia</i> tragedy. My mom rang, but as I was wont to do in those days, I let the machine pick up. Clearly upset, she began to leave a message explaining the heartbreaking news. I eventually picked up and turned on the television... I could never bring myself to erase that message; it died along with my phone system in 2011. <br />
<br />
In the years since then, there have been plenty of remembrances, many of them artistic in nature. I remember walking in Brooklyn past a street mural, painted by school children, depicting the <i>Columbia</i> crew. There is, of course, a memorial at the Kennedy Space Center, which I visited a few years ago. More recently, I discovered a lovely, if haunting, song called "<a href="http://astrotunes.tumblr.com/post/42023397094/the-commander-thinks-aloud-the-long-winters">The Commander Thinks Aloud</a>," by the Long Winters... <br />
<br />
Just three days before the accident, John Lennon's "Imagine" was the <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2010/04/tunes-to-start-your-dayin-space.html">wake-up song</a> for the <i>Columbia</i> crew. I recommend you <a href="http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/audio/shuttle/sts-107/wave/fd15blue.wav">listen to the clip</a> in its entirety, as it includes not only the song as it was played in low earth orbit that day, but the inspirational, timeless, and, at least to me, tear-inducing comments of astronauts Willie McCool and Ilan Ramon. <br />
<br />
RIP to the <i>Columbia</i> seven. You will not be forgotten. <b>∞</b>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-789276972509324022013-01-05T02:11:00.000-05:002013-01-07T18:26:27.601-05:00seeing is believing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFNZj0YRKjtJLP6eGYy1fezkNb-1nf2GNHE3Es7GyLyrArFzg1aImoaeEWgxBS9AgeX5GbI2PboatYQjP4w0xkBvEa-VIxZtAGP0kRheE8ill5ugKUx_zJzTmJl4cgvnitsoEgA/s1600/chasing_ice3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPFNZj0YRKjtJLP6eGYy1fezkNb-1nf2GNHE3Es7GyLyrArFzg1aImoaeEWgxBS9AgeX5GbI2PboatYQjP4w0xkBvEa-VIxZtAGP0kRheE8ill5ugKUx_zJzTmJl4cgvnitsoEgA/s400/chasing_ice3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
"I watch Bill O'Reilly every day. I love Bill O'Reilly. I'm proud to be an American. But I saw this movie, <i>Chasing Ice,</i> today. And it hasn't just changed me about global warming. It has changed me as a person."<br />
<br />
And that's where I'll begin my review of the marvelous new <i><a href="http://www.chasingice.com/" target="_blank">Chasing Ice</a>,</i> a feature-length documentary from director Jeff Orlowski about a scientist-cum-environmental photographer who's out to change the world, one snapshot at a time. The quote is from an anonymous woman caught in the iPhone crosshairs of one <a href="https://twitter.com/justin_kanew" target="_blank">Justin Kanew</a>, a reality-TV star who recently walked out of a screening alongside this visibly moved mystery lady...<br />
<br />
"I did not believe in global warming," she explains. "Every time someone mentioned global warming to me, I told them if they wanted to remain in my home they needed to step out. I said it was bullshit. I didn't believe it. And that is because I listened and I—this is the truth—I believed Bill O'Reilly. And I saw this movie, and I apologize to anyone I ever talked into believing there was no global warming. I have talked every friend, every person I know into believing there was no global warming. And now I have to undo my damage. And I will."<br />
<br />
I recommend you take a moment to watch the rest of her soliloquy below. <br />
<br />
<iframe width="400" height="225" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Xzw1dZNWiL8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
To be sure, many global warming deniers are so deeply <del>brainwashed</del> entrenched on this issue that nothing save an abrupt about-face by the Faux News pundits would allow them consider otherwise. And of course, there are plenty of climate change skeptics who don't deny the <i>existence</i> of global warming or its effects, but who refuse to believe that the current warming trend is human-caused or that there's anything we can or should do about it. For a more comprehensive look at this cohort, you'd be better served watching <i><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/climate-of-doubt/" target="_blank">Climate of Doubt</a>,</i> a recent Frontline documentary that deals head-on with the modern politics of climate change. In that film, viewers come to understand the anatomy of one of the biggest scientific smear campaigns of our time. It's at once eye-opening and maddening, but not surprising in the least; as with many things in life, just follow the money...<br />
<br />
<i>Chasing Ice</i> takes an entirely different—and, in many ways, more powerful—appeal-to-your-gut approach. It does little to communicate the nuts-and-bolts science of our planet's rapid warming, other than to borrow a key graph from 2006's <i>An Inconvenient Truth</i>—the one with a carbon spike at the present day that leaves previous "natural cyclical rhythms" of atmospheric CO2 in the dust. Perhaps this is because the film's lead subject, <a href="http://earthvisiontrust.org/james-balog/" target="_blank">James Balog</a>, admits that he, too, was once skeptical about climate change's human origins...until he began to see things for himself.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyM1PCucK-1n6aA6UVOMo3TokVuvUW-ix371VF1xT1UomuSNKQP8MBehpy3c-FcinJDDg76TwXH8BeCviz1RgpVvAWg7GKEEiXM5tRNB5ceokQQIe0u91FM6h160gNJFwSBajcsA/s1600/chasing_ice2" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="266" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyM1PCucK-1n6aA6UVOMo3TokVuvUW-ix371VF1xT1UomuSNKQP8MBehpy3c-FcinJDDg76TwXH8BeCviz1RgpVvAWg7GKEEiXM5tRNB5ceokQQIe0u91FM6h160gNJFwSBajcsA/s400/chasing_ice2" /></a></div>At its heart, <i>Changing Ice</i> is a love story. It projects the passion and dedication of a small army of scientists and engineers with Balog's <a href="http://extremeicesurvey.org/" target="_blank">Extreme Ice Survey</a>, an "arts meets science" project aimed at conveying the reality of global climate change with cold, hard, breathtaking visual evidence. The painstaking lengths this team goes to to mount and check their time-lapse cameras, to fight the often blistering elements, and to overcome severe technical and personal challenges hints at the urgency of the tale Balog and his colleagues are trying to tell.<br />
<br />
And then there's the imagery. Jaw-dropping deep blue crevasses that seem to lead straight into the center of the Earth. A bright green aurora dancing wildly in the starry night sky above a stunningly beautiful icy scene below. A gigantic ice slab, miles long and hundreds of feet high, eviscerated in an instant as it calves off and crashes thunderously into the choppy Arctic sea. <br />
<br />
All of which led me to ponder a familiar phrase: If a tree falls in the forest and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound? The old adage kept popping into my mind as these incredible scenes filled the screen before me. It is clearly Balog's mission to make sure someone is present to witness and record for humanity what is happening in these glacial forests. And now, thanks to his work, a once doubting woman is starting to hear the reverberating din that these disappearing ice sheets have begun to make.<br />
<br />
"There must be something I can do to help this, to help our children, to help my grandkids," she says, almost pleadingly, to Kanew and the phone camera in his hand. "I don't know what I can do ... But I'm gonna change it, because this movie was fantastic. Every human being in this world should watch this movie. Every one."<br />
<br />
I could not agree more. <b>∞<br />
<br />
CHASING ICE: OFFICIAL TRAILER</b><br />
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/48966552?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ff9900" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-56878921327026775852012-12-09T12:36:00.000-05:002012-12-09T13:02:45.391-05:00honoring tip<iframe width="400" height="300" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8jNeLBS8ZTs?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
For much of the past year, Cambridge has been awash in banners celebrating 100 years since the birth of the late Democratic congressman and former speaker of the House, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_O%27Neill" target="_blank">Thomas "Tip" O'Neill</a>, who was born and raised in the northwest part of the city. Tip was an extremely influential politician who served more than 30 years in the United States Congress. He began his career campaigning for FDR and ended up as the second-longest-serving House speaker in history!<br />
<br />
Cambridge is holding <a href="http://www.cambridgema.gov/citynewsandpublications/news/2012/09/tiponeillcentennialcelebration2012events.aspx" target="_blank">a number of events</a> to honor Tip's 100th birthday today, but I'll be marking the occasion in my own way. In 2008, a bakery called <a href="http://www.vernaspastry.com/" target="_blank">Verna's</a> renamed one of their most popular donuts after Tip, as he had grown up just blocks away and was apparently fond of the local establishment. So of course I'll be ordering half a dozen of their Honey "Tip" Donuts in his honor. Happy birthday, Congressman!Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-87378374241499043142012-12-08T23:42:00.000-05:002012-12-09T03:17:21.483-05:00alt-indie holiday tunes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSeWPZZ2lOvT9qe-UdCa7Ub_VKCnOVCiPO_2wOzIMLG8Gjmr-8_gaZFNOmvjbLUlOGFmA3A4x9UOUBkEpL0qnLHZBpq2tBUpWYmd4T17gJPlB-zw4_0jXoN34fWygiY14djH2dw/s1600/cambridge_red.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="291" width="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSeWPZZ2lOvT9qe-UdCa7Ub_VKCnOVCiPO_2wOzIMLG8Gjmr-8_gaZFNOmvjbLUlOGFmA3A4x9UOUBkEpL0qnLHZBpq2tBUpWYmd4T17gJPlB-zw4_0jXoN34fWygiY14djH2dw/s400/cambridge_red.png" /></a></div>'Tis the holiday season once again, and as per recent tradition, that means a new mix! As usual, I've tried to include a collection of oddities and oldies that you probably won't get to enjoy as you go about your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa in-store shopping... If you like what you hear, check out my <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/search/label/holiday%20mix">previous holiday mixes</a>, or plug in the <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/20tauri/playlist/34MC5R32oH6vcZb7KqcQTq" target="_blank">full five-year playlist</a> (of available songs) on Spotify. <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<b>Cambridge Holiday mix | <a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/20tauri/playlist/1wYnQWlbJYaItonG2iN4g6" target="_blank">Listen on Spotify</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp" target="_blank">YouTube Playlist</a></b><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL_O_ywujSQ&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=1" target="_blank">Christmas is Coming Soon!</a> - Blitzen Trapper<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wS-k66MKgs&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=2" target="_blank">Christmas Treat (I Wish It Was Christmas Today)</a> - Julian Casablancas<br />
<a href="http://open.spotify.com/track/2S6wQvTuGwdOKixQb7IcHA" target="_blank">It Must Be Hannukah</a> - Jason Fickel <br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_cPQn6vOdo&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=3" target="_blank">Christmas Unicorn</a> - Sufjan Stevens<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQZlUEyObhc&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=4" target="_blank">Frosty the Snowman</a> - Cocteau Twins<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DurNzCqdde4&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=5" target="_blank">Gee Whiz, It's Christmas</a> - Carla Thomas<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYm7AZUPKVM&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=6" target="_blank">The First Noel</a> - Weezer<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD2qZRrSAw8&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=7" target="_blank">Green Grows The Holly</a> - Calexico<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2-HqFyhW1g&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=8" target="_blank">All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue</a> - Over The Rhine<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqvQOvE0vA&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=9" target="_blank">My First Christmas (As A Woman)</a> - Vandals<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEBpH0CnfWY&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=10" target="_blank">Space Christmas</a> - Allo Darlin'<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3H0-L-SzRE&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=11" target="_blank">Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas</a> - Eels<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Its-Christmas-Time-Sammy-Timberg/dp/B000V8H4V4" target="_blank">It's Christmas Time</a> - Sammy Timberg<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Santas-Drunk/dp/B009WIZHE0" target="_blank">Santa's Drunk</a> - Fathead<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF0FAxI7W3k&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=12" target="_blank">Christmas For Cowboys</a> - John Denver<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6tS2-KX9Rc&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=13" target="_blank">Drummer Boy</a> - Matthew Bryan Beck<br />
<a href="http://open.spotify.com/track/2Ua2oF9reZW6TpAejWjATP" target="_blank">Christmas Song</a> - Stars<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ1-duv_zNk&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=14" target="_blank">Someday At Christmas</a> - Stevie Wonder<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVo5mjK4eg&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=15" target="_blank">Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis</a> - Tom Waits<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot1JGR1BESQ&list=PL_bKA0ThsAeE3cpXYDqiGoBaZ7O1WJRdp&index=16" target="_blank">Auld Lang Syne</a> - Andrew BirdMaia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17049736.post-17481623069967542462012-12-06T00:46:00.000-05:002012-12-07T00:32:00.754-05:00not even playing one on tv<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jrHLdhdlKPk0wSSPmx0flafW09mfQNHXDSdjDO3VUfI8wheEcGoFzllBtgxvml404KCybJ0-dN9u6lTwoPf4OAJ6yYmECduDoHvUi2VPIsELGxgwPeINFm7fqyfjGDv-GFjCzw/s1600/geena.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="375" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2jrHLdhdlKPk0wSSPmx0flafW09mfQNHXDSdjDO3VUfI8wheEcGoFzllBtgxvml404KCybJ0-dN9u6lTwoPf4OAJ6yYmECduDoHvUi2VPIsELGxgwPeINFm7fqyfjGDv-GFjCzw/s400/geena.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Since 2004, the <a href="http://seejane.org/" target="_blank">Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media</a> has worked tirelessly to study issues of gender in children's entertainment, and to spread their knowledge so that others might use it to affect change. This week, the Institute issued a <a href="http://seejane.org/downloads/KeyFindings_GenderRoles.pdf" target="_blank">sobering new report</a> [PDF] on the state of gender in today's family programming. Consistent with past studies, the new research found that girls and women are vastly underrepresented; stereotyped; and sexualized in popular entertainment aimed at pre-teens. But this paper hit me particularly hard because it expanded on some unsettling trends in Hollywood's portrayal of women in various high-powered, high-valued careers, including those in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields" target="_blank">STEM fields</a>.<br />
<br />
In a section titled, "Females Still Slam Into a Glass Ceiling," study authors Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, Ashley Prescott, and Katherine Pieper reported that in their survey of recent family programming, female characters were portrayed in positions of power at alarmingly low rates. For example, of 129 family films rated G, PG, or PG-13, female politicians were all but nonexistant. "[N]ot one speaking character plays a powerful American female political figure across 5,839 speaking characters in 129 family films," the authors write. "Men, however, hold over 45 different prestigious U.S. political positions."<br />
<br />
Here are the sad stats for surveyed family films:<br />
<br />
<b><font color='78c7c7'>Employed Characters Within Sector By Highest Clout Position</font></b><br />
<br />
<b><u>Industry: Males / Females</u></b><br />
Corporate executives: 96.6% / 3.4%<br />
Investors, developers: 100% / 0%<br />
High-level politicians: 95.5% / 4.5%<br />
Chief justices, DA's: 100% / 0%<br />
Doctors, healthcare managers: 78.1% / 21.9%<br />
Editors in chief: 100% / 0%<br />
Academic administrators: 61.5 / 38.5<br />
Media content creators: 65.8 / 34.2<br />
<br />
The analogous numbers for female characters working in the STEM fields were similarly problematic: <blockquote>"Males and females are most likely to be depicted working in the life/physical sciences than in other STEM careers in family films ... Yet computer science and mathematics comprise the largest percentage of the U.S. STEM workforce. Even though female characters infiltrate the life/physical sciences, males are almost four times as likely as females to be shown on screen in this line of work in family films. ... Summing across computer science and engineering, the ratio of males to females in these arenas is 14.25 to 1."</blockquote><b><font color='78c7c7'>STEM Characters by Gender and Job Type</font></b><br />
<br />
<b><u>Industry: Males / Females</u></b><br />
All STEM fields: 83.8% / 16.3%<br />
Life/physical sciences: 49.3% / 65.4%<br />
Computer sciences: 23.1% / 7.7%<br />
Engineering: 19.4% / 7.7%<br />
Other STEM jobs: 8.2% / 19.2%<br />
<br />
As I've <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-dear-lego-you-are-part-of-problem.html">written previously</a>, it's just about impossible these days for girls and boys not to be bombarded with sometimes subtle, oftentimes blatant cues about stereotypical gender norms. Unfortunately, it's becoming ever more clear that even before children enter school, they're being exposed to imagery that reflects the idea that certain jobs or careers are for men and not for women. If there's a bright note here, it's that the Geena Davis Institute continues to push for education about just how badly the entertainment industry as a whole is doing on this front. <b>∞</b><br />
<br />
<i>Source for all stats: Smith, Stacy L. et al. "<a href="http://seejane.org/downloads/KeyFindings_GenderRoles.pdf">Gender Roles & Occupations:<br />
A Look at Character Attributes and Job-Related Aspirations in Film and Television. 2012.</a>"</i><br />
<br />
Maia / 20Taurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354581450672577927noreply@blogger.com0