tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/stem-role-models-34205/articles
STEM role models – The Conversation
2021-10-08T12:27:11Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169493
2021-10-08T12:27:11Z
2021-10-08T12:27:11Z
None of the 2021 science Nobel laureates are women – here’s why men still dominate STEM award winning
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425281/original/file-20211007-18946-pf7buf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1223%2C321%2C7020%2C5166&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Frances Arnold received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nobelprize.qbank.se/mb/?h=7f34a741c65f2309fcc548afd9fd944e&_ga=2.87363736.1458753097.1633524725-438278705.1633524725">© Nobel Media. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>All of the 2021 Nobel Prizes in science were awarded to men. </p>
<p>That’s a return to business as usual after a couple of good years for female laureates. In 2020, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/charpentier/facts/">Emmanuelle Charpentier</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2020/doudna/facts/">Jennifer Doudna</a> won the chemistry prize for their work on the CRISPR gene editing system, and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2020/ghez/facts/">Andrea Ghez</a> shared in the physics prize for her discovery of a supermassive black hole.</p>
<p>2019 was another year of all male laureates, after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/arnold/facts/">biochemical engineer Frances Arnold</a> won in 2018 for chemistry and Donna Strickland received the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/strickland/facts/">2018 Nobel Prize in physics</a>. </p>
<p>Strickland and Ghez were only the third and fourth female physicists to get a Nobel, following <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/facts/">Marie Curie in 1903</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/facts/">Maria Goeppert-Mayer 60 years later</a>. When asked how that felt, Strickland noted that at first it was surprising to realize so few women had won the award: “But, I mean, I do live in a world of mostly men, so seeing mostly men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653779921/donna-strickland-becomes-first-woman-in-more-than-50-years-to-win-physics-nobel-">doesn’t really ever surprise me either</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-10-09/only-20-nobels-sciences-have-gone-women-why">rarity of female Nobel laureates</a> raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science and the <a href="https://thebestschools.org/magazine/brilliant-woman-greedy-men/">undervaluing of women’s contributions on science teams</a>. Women researchers have come a long way over the past century, but there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Studies have shown that those women who persist in these careers face explicit and implicit barriers to advancement. Bias is most intense in fields that are dominated by men, where women lack a critical mass of representation and are often viewed as tokens or outsiders. This bias is even more intense for transgender women and nonbinary individuals.</p>
<p>As things are getting better in terms of equal representation, what still holds women back in the lab, in leadership and as award winners?</p>
<h2>Good news at the start of the pipeline</h2>
<p>Traditional stereotypes hold that women “don’t like math” and “aren’t good at science.” Both <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/both-genders-think-women-are-bad-basic-math">men and women report these viewpoints</a>, but researchers have <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/share.aspx">empirically disputed them</a>. Studies show that girls and women avoid STEM education not because of cognitive inability, but because of early exposure and experience with STEM, educational policy, cultural context, stereotypes and a lack of exposure to role models. </p>
<p>For the past several decades, efforts to improve the representation of women in STEM fields have focused on countering these stereotypes with <a href="http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/igen/">educational reforms</a> and <a href="https://girlswhocode.com/">individual</a> <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383">programs</a> that can increase the number of girls entering and staying in what’s been called the STEM pipeline – the path from K-12 to college and postgraduate training.</p>
<p><iframe id="qE27X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qE27X/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These approaches are working. Women are increasingly likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012002908">express an interest in STEM careers and pursue STEM majors</a> in college. Women now make up half or more of workers in psychology and social sciences and are increasingly represented in the scientific workforce, though computer and mathematical sciences are an exception. </p>
<p>According to the American Institute of Physics, women earn about 20% of bachelor’s degrees and 18% of Ph.D.s in physics, <a href="https://www.aip.org/taxonomy/term/155">an increase from 1975</a> when women earned 10% of bachelor’s degrees and 5% of Ph.D.s in physics.</p>
<p>More women are graduating with STEM Ph.D.s and earning faculty positions. But they encounter glass cliffs and ceilings as they advance through their academic careers.</p>
<h2>What’s not working for women</h2>
<p>Women face a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">structural and institutional barriers</a> in academic STEM careers.</p>
<p>In addition to issues related to the gender pay gap, the structure of academic science often makes it difficult for women to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135943974">get ahead in the workplace</a> and to balance work and life commitments. Bench science can require years of dedicated time in a laboratory. The strictures of the tenure-track process can make maintaining work-life balance, responding to family obligations and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-todays-long-stem-postdoc-positions-are-effectively-anti-mother-51550">having children</a> or taking family leave difficult, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711417730">if not impossible</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, working in male-dominated workplaces can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">leave women feeling isolated</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777808">perceived as tokens</a> and susceptible to <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic">harassment</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010344929577">Women often are excluded</a> from networking opportunities and social events, left to feel they’re outside the culture of the lab, the academic department and the field.</p>
<p>When women lack a critical mass in a workplace – making up about 15% or more of workers – they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2884712">less empowered to advocate for themselves</a> and more likely to be perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08353.x">a minority group and an exception</a>. When in this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9454-2">take on extra service</a> as tokens on committees or <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ghost-Advising/242729">mentors to female graduate students</a>.</p>
<p>With fewer female colleagues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917735900">women are less likely</a> to build relationships with female collaborators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0256-y">support and advice networks</a>. This isolation can be exacerbated when women are unable to participate in work events or <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/02/07/conferences-should-be-more-family-friendly-women-scholars-children-opinion">attend conferences because of family or child care</a> responsibilities, and because of an inability to use research funds to reimburse child care.</p>
<p>Universities, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/10000/Increasing_Women_s_Leadership_in_Academic.23.aspx">professional associations</a> and federal funders have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20225">worked to address a variety</a> of these structural barriers. Efforts include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary reporting, enforcing Title IX protections, providing mentoring and support programs for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement. These programs have had mixed results. </p>
<p>For example, research indicates that family-friendly policies such as leave and onsite child care <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006">can exacerbate gender inequity</a>, resulting in increased research productivity for men and increased teaching and service obligations for women.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People haven’t really updated their mental images of what a scientist looks like since Wilhelm Roentgen won the first physics Nobel in 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sftaf5z8">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Implicit biases about who does science</h2>
<p>All of us – the general public, the media, university employees, students and professors – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">ideas of what a scientist</a> and a Nobel Prize winner look like. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13039">That image</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">predominantly male, white and older</a> – which makes sense given 96% of the science Nobel Prize winners have been men.</p>
<p>This is an example of an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/">implicit bias</a>: one of the unconscious, involuntary, natural, unavoidable assumptions that all of us – men and women – form about the world. People make decisions <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">based on subconscious assumptions, preferences and stereotypes</a> – sometimes even when they are counter to their explicitly held beliefs.</p>
<p>Research shows that an implicit bias against women <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-scientist-looks-like/">as experts and academic scientists</a> is pervasive. It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship. </p>
<p>Implicit bias can work against women’s hiring, advancement and recognition of their work. For instance, women seeking academic jobs are more likely to be viewed and judged based on <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2018/preliminary/paper/nZ24K7b2">personal information and physical appearance</a>. Letters of recommendation for women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1">more likely to raise doubts</a> and use language that results in negative career outcomes.</p>
<p>Implicit bias can affect women’s ability to publish research findings and gain recognition for that work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903">Men cite their own papers 56% more</a> than women do. Known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">Matilda Effect</a>,” there is a gender gap in recognition, award-winning and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations">citations</a>. </p>
<p>Women’s research is less likely to be cited by others, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R7AQT1">ideas are more likely to be attributed to men</a>. Women’s solo-authored research takes <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/20/study-finds-women-economics-write-papers-are-more-readable-face-longer-publication">twice as long</a> to move through the review process. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06678-6">Women are underrepresented</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12950">journal editorships</a>, as senior scholars and lead authors, and as peer reviewers. This marginalization in research gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.</p>
<p>When a woman becomes a world-class scientist, implicit bias works <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00739-17">against the likelihood</a> that she will be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/women-are-invited-to-give-fewer-talks-than-men-at-top-us-universities/548657/">invited as a keynote or guest speaker</a> to share her research findings, thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198">lowering both her visibility in the field</a> and the likelihood that she will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">nominated for awards</a>. This gender imbalance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517000580">notable in how infrequently</a> <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2017/11/17/we-need-more-womens-voices-in-the-news.html">women experts</a> are <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/lack-female-sources-ny-times-front-page-stories-highlights-need-change">quoted in news stories</a> on most topics.</p>
<p>Women scientists are afforded less of the respect and recognition that should come with their accomplishments. Research shows that when people talk about male scientists and experts, they’re more likely to use their surnames and more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805284115">refer to women by their first names</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this matter? Because experiments show that individuals referred to by their surnames are more likely to be viewed as famous and eminent. In fact, one study found that calling scientists by their last names led people to consider them 14% more deserving of a National Science Foundation career award.</p>
<p>Seeing men as prize winners has been the history of science, but it’s not all bad news. Recent research finds that in the biomedical sciences, women are making significant gains in winning more awards, though on average these awards are typically <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/02/research-women-are-winning-more-scientific-prizes-but-men-still-win-the-most-prestigious-ones">less prestigious and have lower monetary value</a>.</p>
<p>Addressing structural and implicit bias in STEM will hopefully prevent another half-century wait before the next woman is acknowledged with a Nobel Prize for her contribution to physics. I look forward to the day when a woman receiving the most prestigious award in science is newsworthy only for her science and not her gender.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-more-women-dont-win-science-nobels-104370">an article originally published</a> on Oct. 5, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169493/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary K. Feeney is Program Director for the National Science Foundation's Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact (SoS:DCI) program.</span></em></p>
Science fields are improving at being more inclusive. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Mary K. Feeney, Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/164054
2021-07-13T12:28:19Z
2021-07-13T12:28:19Z
John Glenn’s fan mail shows many girls dreamed of the stars – but sexism in the early space program thwarted their ambitions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410471/original/file-20210708-13-wpft69.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C496%2C398&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Glenn, in the NASA mailroom, received letters from fans of all ages.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/50581">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pioneering spacefarer John Herschel Glenn Jr. would have turned 100 on July 18, 2021. </p>
<p>When Glenn died in 2016, the famed astronaut was lauded as “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/opinion/john-glenn-the-last-american-hero.html">the last genuine American hero</a>.” <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/806960800669794305">NASA</a>, the <a href="https://twitter.com/USMC/status/806962798446211073">U.S. Marine Corps</a>, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/08/statement-president-passing-john-glenn">President Barack Obama</a> and many others <a href="https://www.facebook.com/potus/photos/a.428389484017564.1073741830.424207551102424/573534829503028/?type=3&theater">posted tributes on social media</a>. </p>
<p>Hundreds of nostalgic fans testified to Glenn’s impact on their own senses of youthful possibility. One woman recalled being a fifth grader in February 1962, listening to coverage of Glenn’s orbital flight at school on a transistor radio: “This was the definition of the future … I wanted to do hard math with slide rules and learn hard languages and solve mysteries. I wanted to be like John Glenn.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Word cloud made from readers’ comments on The New York Times obituary, Dec. 8-9, 2016.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Glenn’s <a href="http://johnandannieglennmuseum.org/">life and legacy</a> continue to be widely celebrated. Yet recent <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324003243">scholarship</a> on the early Space Age has reawakened questions about the ways <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674237391">gender, race, ethnicity and class</a> shaped the human space flight program in the U.S.</p>
<p>Was America’s first starman really everybody’s hero? </p>
<h2>‘Even though I am a girl…’</h2>
<p>As a historian undertaking a major research project called “<a href="https://youtu.be/2bmax47C4fQ?t=2590">A Sky Full of Stars: Girls and Space-Age Cultures in Cold War America and the Soviet Union</a>,” I have analyzed hundreds of fan mail letters written by girls in the U.S. and USSR to the spacefarers Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn and Valentina Tereshkova. I set out to discover how young people experienced the early triumphs of human space flight, and how the dramatic events they witnessed influenced their own senses of what they could aspire to and achieve.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schoolgirls in New York, 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My research in the <a href="https://library.osu.edu/oca/glenn-archives">John H. Glenn Archives</a> at The Ohio State University revealed that the majority of American girls’ letters to Glenn conformed to established gender conventions.</p>
<p>Girls frequently congratulated the astronaut on stereotypically masculine characteristics – strength and bravery – while denying that they themselves possessed those qualities. Some were openly flirtatious, offering admiring personal comments on Glenn’s appearance, physique and sex appeal. Some also wrote to request an autograph or glossy photo, embracing a well-established culture of celebrity and fandom that was pervasive among American girls of the era. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High school yearbook picture of one letter writer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ancestry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The letters that interest me most are from girls who were so inspired by Glenn’s accomplishment that they envisioned for themselves a place in the STEM world of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Some wrote to Glenn to report about their science fair projects or rocket design clubs and to ask for technical advice. Some expressed the desire to follow their hero into careers in aviation and astronautics, even as they expressed skepticism that such a path would be open to them. </p>
<p>The formulation “even though I am a girl I hope to be just like you” in various manifestations appeared as a steady refrain in girls’ letters.</p>
<p>Diane A. of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, wrote, “I would very much like to become an astronaut, but since I am a 15-year-old girl I guess that would be impossible.”</p>
<p>Suzanne K. from Fairfax, Virginia, was more defiant: “I hope I go to the moon sometime when I’m older. I’m a girl but if men can go in space so can women.”</p>
<p>Carol C. of Glendale, New York, wrote to ask “this one simple question concerning a woman’s place in space. Will she only be needed around Cape Canaveral or will she eventually accompany an astronaut into space? If so I sure wish I were she.”</p>
<p>The news that “the Russians” had sent a woman into space in June 1963 emboldened some girls to ask Glenn more pointed questions.</p>
<p>Ella H., an African American girl from segregated Meridian, Mississippi, wrote on behalf of her junior high school class to inquire, “What were our male astronauts’ reactions when Russia’s female astronaut made more orbits than they? … Do you seven male astronauts think that a woman will go into space within the next two years?” </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Patricia A. of Newport News, Virginia, asked Glenn outright, “Do you think that sending women into space is a very good idea?”</p>
<h2>Glenn and the ‘problem’ of ‘lady astronauts’</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although Jerrie Cobb never flew in space, she and 24 other women (including Wally Funk) underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an astronaut trainee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JerrieCobb_MercuryCapsule.jpg">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While few of his replies to letter writers were preserved in the archive, those that exist suggest Glenn avoided encouraging girls’ dreams of flight and space exploration.</p>
<p>Fourteen-year-old Carol S. in Brooklyn wrote to her “idol” to share her “strong desire to be an astronaut” and seek Glenn’s advice on how to overcome the obstacle of being a girl, “a slight problem it seems.” Glenn replied four months later to thank Carol for her letter, but rather than answering her query directly he enclosed “some literature which I hope will answer your questions.”</p>
<p>A girl named “Pudge” from Springfield, Illinois sent a long enthusiastic letter sharing her plans to join the Air Force and her “thrill at the sight or sound of jets, helicopters (especially the H-37A ‘Mojave’) rockets or anything connected with space, the Air Force or flying.” Glenn sent a friendly reply including “some literature about the space program which I hope you will enjoy,” but said nothing about the viability of the girl’s aspirations. </p>
<p>Hard evidence of Glenn’s position on the question of “lady astronauts” came in the form of his congressional testimony in July 1962. A Special Subcommittee on the Selection of Astronauts of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics was formed in response to the quashing of the privately funded “<a href="http://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/flats.html">woman in space</a>” program and related allegations of sex discrimination at NASA.</p>
<p>A March 1962 <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/nasa%E2%80%99s-early-stand-women-astronauts-%E2%80%9Cno-present-plans-include-women-space-flights%E2%80%9D">letter from the director of NASA’s Office of Public Services and Information</a> to a young girl who had written to President John F. Kennedy to ask if she could become an astronaut stated that “we have no present plans to employ women on space flights because of the degree of scientific and flight training, and the physical characteristics, which are required.”</p>
<p>Glenn’s testimony before the subcommittee echoed that position. In his opinion, the best-qualified astronauts were those who had experience as military pilots, a career path that was closed to women. In a <a href="https://scholarlypress.si.edu/store/air-space/spacefarers-images-astronauts-and-cosmonauts/">much-quoted statement</a>, Glenn asserted that “the men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.” The <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Qualifications_for_Astronauts/xGIVAAAAIAAJ?hl=en">subcommittee’s final report</a> concurred, effectively barring female applicants from consideration for the Apollo missions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="smiling girl stands in front of a John Glenn space mural" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410803/original/file-20210712-70680-vk5s0w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photo included in letter to John Glenn, February 2000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Girls in space</h2>
<p>The relationship between Glenn and his young female fans was complicated by the male-dominated cultures of mid-20th-century America. Prevailing gender stereotypes, limited opportunities, sexism and a lack of STEM role models all stood between girls’ dreams and the stars.</p>
<p>Glenn’s position on the “lady astronaut” problem evolved in a more egalitarian direction after he left NASA. As historian <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/integrating-women-astronaut-corps">Amy E. Foster noted</a>, a May 1965 Miami Herald article headlined “Glenn Sees Place for Girls In Space” quoted the astronaut as saying that NASA’s plans to develop a new “scientist-astronaut” program should “offer a serious chance for space women.”</p>
<p>Glenn’s prediction was on the mark. The “social order” that Glenn discussed in July 1962 has shifted dramatically in the intervening decades. NASA’s space shuttle program opened the door for Sally Ride’s voyage in 1983, <a href="https://theconversation.com/astronaut-sally-k-rides-legacy-encouraging-young-women-to-embrace-science-and-engineering-97371">establishing her as a powerful inspiration for girls</a>. While cultural obstacles remain, NASA has <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-giant-leap-for-humankind-future-moon-missions-will-include-diverse-astronauts-and-more-partners-117064">diversified the astronaut corps</a> significantly and has taken conscious <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/final_di_plan_8-15-16_tagged.pdf">steps to make the agency more inclusive overall</a>.</p>
<p>A much wider spectrum of positive STEM role models exists for girls today. The book and film “<a href="http://margotleeshetterly.com/hidden-figures-nasas-african-american-computers">Hidden Figures</a>” celebrated the accomplishments of <a href="https://theconversation.com/7-lessons-from-hidden-figures-nasa-mathematician-katherine-johnsons-life-and-career-132481">Katherine Johnson</a>, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn – three Black women of NASA who helped make Glenn’s success possible. <a href="https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/oct/10/makers-season-two-women-space/">Documentaries</a> and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/whm-recent-female-astronauts">websites</a> record the stories of pioneering female spacefarers. Television series including “<a href="https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7">For All Mankind</a>” and “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80214512">Away</a>” imagine a past and future where female astronauts are central to American ambitions in space. </p>
<p>Women’s opportunities in the real world are expanding as well. Two of <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/virgin-galactic-launch-the-age-of-space-tourism-is-here-we-talked-to-the-first-two-women-on-board">Virgin Galactic’s first flown astronauts</a> are women. At 82, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/07/jeff-bezos-wally-funk-blue-origin/619344/">Mercury 13 alumna Wally Funk</a> is poised to break <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/john-glenns-return-space-discovery">Glenn’s record</a> as the oldest human in space when <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/07/09/1014309461/wally-funk-space-bezos-blue-origin">she flies with Blue Origins on July 20, 2021</a>. </p>
<p>As barriers continue to fall, NASA has grand plans for the revival of human spaceflight. Prompted in part by <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-are-less-supportive-of-space-exploration-getting-a-woman-on-the-moon-might-change-that-118986">women’s tepid support</a> for high-stakes missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA is taking unprecedented steps to showcase the talents and ambitions of female astronauts. After an <a href="https://theconversation.com/female-astronauts-how-performance-products-like-space-suits-and-bras-are-designed-to-pave-the-way-for-womens-accomplishments-114346">initial misstep</a>, the first <a href="https://theconversation.com/female-astronauts-how-performance-products-like-space-suits-and-bras-are-designed-to-pave-the-way-for-womens-accomplishments-114346">all-female spacewalk</a> took place in October 2019. More importantly, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-team/">Project Artemis</a> promises to land a woman on the Moon in 2024.</p>
<p>Fan mail letters to John Glenn offer a potent reminder that astronaut heroics can have a powerful <a href="https://rocket-women.com/category/inspirational-women/">impact on young people’s attitudes and aspirations</a>. A woman on the Moon is sure to inspire a new generation of girls to reach for the stars. NASA is banking on just that.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/even-though-i-am-a-girl-john-glenns-fan-mail-and-sexism-in-the-early-space-program-70252">an article</a> originally published on Dec. 12, 2016.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Get our best science, health and technology stories.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-best">Sign up for The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164054/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roshanna P. Sylvester received funding for this research from the American Philosophical Society, the Spencer Foundation, the Kennan Institute, and DePaul University.</span></em></p>
John Glenn would have turned 100 on July 18, 2021. Today’s space program is a giant leap more inclusive than when he made his pioneering orbit of the Earth in 1962.
Roshanna P. Sylvester, Associate Professor of Critical Media Practices and Digital Humanities, University of Colorado Boulder
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145799
2020-09-29T17:29:51Z
2020-09-29T17:29:51Z
Nobel Prizes have a diversity problem even worse than the scientific fields they honor
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360384/original/file-20200928-20-7mjeh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=255%2C166%2C2523%2C1823&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mostly male, white faces up on stage at the Nobel Prize award ceremony.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/press#/image-details/5df22f2814ad00100009440f/552bd85dccc8e20c00e7f979">© Nobel Media/Alexander Mahmoud</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2007, I served as a consultant for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ deliberations about the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As a result, I was invited to attend the Nobel ceremonies. Staying at the Grand Hotel with all the awardees, I got to see how scientists – excellent but largely unknown outside their fields – suddenly became superstars.</p>
<p>As soon as they’re announced annually in early October, Nobel laureates become role models who are invited to give seminars all around the world. In Stockholm for the awards, these scientists were interviewed on radio and television and hobnobbed with Swedish royalty. Swedish television aired the events of Nobel week live.</p>
<p>As a chemist who has also <a href="http://prometheusbooks.com/books/9781633886407">investigated how science is done</a>, seeing scientists and their research jump to the top of the public’s consciousness thanks to all the Nobel hoopla is gratifying. But in the 119 years since the Nobel Prizes were first given out, only 3% of the science awardees have been women and <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-black-scientist-has-ever-won-a-nobel-thats-bad-for-science-and-bad-for-society-104456">zero of the 617 science laureates have been Black</a>. The vast majority of those now-famous role model scientists are white men.</p>
<p>This is a problem much larger than simply bias on the part of the Nobel selection committees – it’s systemic.</p>
<h2>Nobels still reflect another time</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="seated portrait of Nobel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=806&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360587/original/file-20200929-14-o0tngt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1013&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alfred Nobel established the prizes to honor those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlfredNobel_adjusted.jpg">Gösta Florman/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Five Nobel Prizes were established according to inventor <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/">Alfred Nobel’s will</a>. The first prizes in chemistry, literature, physics and medicine were awarded in 1901. Each prize can be awarded to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fair-is-it-for-just-three-people-to-receive-the-nobel-prize-in-physics-85161">no more than three people</a>, and prizes may not be awarded posthumously.</p>
<p>Just as with the Oscars for the movie industry, there is pre-Nobel buzz. Scientists try to predict who will be awarded the year’s chemistry, physics and medicine prizes. In the days and weeks following the announcement of the awards, there is a thorough analysis of the winners and their research, as well as sympathizing with those who were overlooked.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take a very detailed investigation to see that women and Black scientists are not proportionally represented among the laureates, that the United States is home to more winners than most countries and that China has surprisingly few science Nobel laureates.</p>
<p>Nomination to receive a Nobel Prize in science or medicine is by invitation only, and information about the nomination and selection process cannot be revealed until 50 years have passed. Despite this confidentiality, based on the list of laureates it’s clear that nominations tend to favor scientists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_university_affiliation#Top_20_universities_worldwide_since_2000">working at elite research institutions</a>, famous scientists who are good at self-promotion and those well known to their peers. Predictably, these tend to be older, established white men.</p>
<p>The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute are in charge of selecting the Nobel winners for chemistry and physics, and for medicine, respectively. They’re aware that they have a “white male problem,” and starting with the 2019 nominations have asked <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02988-5">nominators to consider diversity in gender, geography and topic</a>. One year in, it hasn’t yet been reflected on the dais. There were no Black or female award recipients in physics, chemistry or medicine at the December 2019 Nobel ceremonies.</p>
<p>So what’s going on? Why does the list of Nobel laureates seem to mirror the scientists of Alfred Nobel’s day more than the world in 2020?</p>
<h2>STEM is more diverse than Nobels, but….</h2>
<p>A 2017 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics report shows that while white men make up only one-third of the U.S. population, they constitute <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_303.70.asp">at least half of all scientists</a>.</p>
<p>There’s no good reason students from underrepresented groups wouldn’t start out aspiring to careers in science, technology, engineering and math fields at the same rates as their nonminority peers. But minorities, who comprise 30% of the U.S. population, make up <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/static/downloads/%20nsf17310-digest.pdf">only 14% of master’s students and just 6% of all Ph.D. candidates</a>. In 2017, there were more than a dozen areas in which not a single Ph.D. was awarded to a Black person, and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/lack-of-black-doctoral-students/587413/">these are primarily within the STEM fields</a>. Only 1.6% of chemistry professors at the top 50 U.S. schools are Black. This gap hasn’t changed much in the <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19304/">last 15 years</a>. There are not enough Black full professors in the sciences at elite universities where the networks and reputations critical for winning a Nobel are made.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three tweens work together in a robotics competition" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360625/original/file-20200929-22-1bsku98.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Supporting the STEM interests of students from all demographics will help plug the ‘leaky pipeline’ from school to science career.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/aurora-frontier-p-8-team-members-order-of-the-silver-wings-news-photo/614903410">Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are many reasons for these dismal numbers: <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633886407/The-State-of-Science-What-the-Future-Holds-and-the-Scientists-Making-It-Happen">poverty, sub-par preparation in largely minority-serving schools of all levels</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2012.0055">scarcity of role models and mentors</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146487">Stereotype threat</a>, in which negative stereotypes lead to academic underperformance, can kick in, as can impostor syndrome, when a person feels inadequate despite evident success. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02175-y">Blatant discrimination</a> and numerous <a href="https://theconversation.com/microaggressions-arent-just-innocent-blunders-new-research-links-them-with-racial-bias-145894">microaggressions</a> can also prevent scientists from minority groups from performing to their potential.</p>
<p>Though women make up more than half of the general population, they too count as an <a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/cwsem/women-in-science-and-engineering-statistics">underrepresented group in many STEM disciplines</a>. Just three women out of 213 physics Nobel laureates is obviously a disproportionately low number. Only five women have won in chemistry, and 12 in medicine. It’s hard not to think that many distinguished and immensely qualified female scientists must have been overlooked over more than a century of prizes.</p>
<p>The list of STEM Nobel laureates since 1901 sends the wrong message to young people, funding agencies, editorial boards and others about who does noteworthy science. Perhaps much more important, it is indicative of many biases and inequities that plague women and minorities in science. Colleges and universities host <a href="https://www.insightintodiversity.com/heres-the-full-list-of-2019-inspiring-programs-in-stem-award-winners/">programs to support underrepresented groups in the sciences</a>, but they are just Band-Aids on much bigger systemic issues in society. Without economic equity and educational parity, it will be hard to achieve Nobel diversity.</p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc Zimmer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
With 3% of science Nobels going to women and zero going to Black people, these awards are an extreme example of how certain demographics are underrepresented in STEM fields.
Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/125096
2019-10-10T23:32:58Z
2019-10-10T23:32:58Z
Why don’t more women win science Nobels?
<p>All of the 2019 Nobel Prizes in science were awarded to men. </p>
<p>That’s a return to business as usual, after <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2018/arnold/facts/">biochemical engineer Frances Arnold</a> won in 2018, for chemistry, and Donna Strickland received the <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2018/strickland/facts/">2018 Nobel Prize in physics</a>. </p>
<p>Strickland was only the third female physicist to get a Nobel, following <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1903/marie-curie/facts/">Marie Curie in 1903</a> and <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/facts/">Maria Goeppert-Mayer 60 years later</a>. When asked how that felt, she noted that at first it was surprising to realize so few women had won the award: “But, I mean, I do live in a world of mostly men, so seeing mostly men <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653779921/donna-strickland-becomes-first-woman-in-more-than-50-years-to-win-physics-nobel-">doesn’t really ever surprise me either</a>.”</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-10-09/only-20-nobels-sciences-have-gone-women-why">rarity of female Nobel laureates</a> raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science. Female researchers have come a long way over the past century. But there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.</p>
<p>Studies have shown those who persist in these careers face explicit and implicit barriers to advancement. Bias is most intense in fields that are predominantly male, where women lack a critical mass of representation and are often viewed as tokens or outsiders.</p>
<p>When women achieve at the highest levels of sports, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2508.2006.00402.x">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1002790/">medicine</a> and science, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2011.607313">serve as role models</a> for everyone – especially for girls and other women. </p>
<p>As things are getting better in terms of equal representation, what still holds women back in the lab, in leadership and as award winners?</p>
<h2>Good news at the start of the pipeline</h2>
<p>Traditional stereotypes hold that women “don’t like math” and “aren’t good at science.” Both <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/03/both-genders-think-women-are-bad-basic-math">men and women report these viewpoints</a>, but researchers have <a href="https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/share.aspx">empirically disputed them</a>. Studies show that girls and women avoid STEM education not because of cognitive inability, but because of early exposure and experience with STEM, educational policy, cultural context, stereotypes and a lack of exposure to role models. </p>
<p>For the past several decades, efforts to improve the representation of women in STEM fields have focused on countering these stereotypes with <a href="http://www.apsbridgeprogram.org/igen/">educational reforms</a> and <a href="https://girlswhocode.com/">individual</a> <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5383">programs</a> that can increase the number of girls entering and staying in what’s been called the STEM pipeline – the path from K-12 to college to postgraduate training.</p>
<p><iframe id="qE27X" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qE27X/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>These approaches are working. Women are increasingly likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1615/JWomenMinorScienEng.2012002908">express an interest in STEM careers and pursue STEM majors</a> in college. Women now make up half or more of workers in psychology and social sciences and are increasingly represented in the scientific workforce, though computer and mathematical sciences are an exception. </p>
<p>According to the American Institute of Physics, women earn about 20% of bachelor’s degrees and 18% of Ph.D.s in physics, <a href="https://www.aip.org/taxonomy/term/155">an increase from 1975</a> when women earned 10% of bachelor’s degrees and 5% of Ph.D.s in physics.</p>
<p>More women are graduating with STEM Ph.D.s and earning faculty positions. But they encounter glass cliffs and ceilings as they advance through their academic careers.</p>
<h2>What’s not working for women</h2>
<p>Women face a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">structural and institutional barriers</a> in academic STEM careers.</p>
<p>In addition to issues related to the gender pay gap, the structure of academic science often makes it difficult for women to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135943974">get ahead in the workplace</a> and to balance work and life commitments. Bench science can require years of dedicated time in a laboratory. The strictures of the tenure-track process can make maintaining work-life balance, responding to family obligations and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-todays-long-stem-postdoc-positions-are-effectively-anti-mother-51550">having children</a> or taking family leave difficult, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711417730">if not impossible</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, working in male-dominated workplaces can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.21.080195.000401">leave women feeling isolated</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2777808">perceived as tokens</a> and susceptible to <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24994/sexual-harassment-of-women-climate-culture-and-consequences-in-academic">harassment</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010344929577">Women often are excluded</a> from networking opportunities and social events, left to feel they’re outside the culture of the lab, the academic department and the field.</p>
<p>When women lack a critical mass in a workplace – making up about 15% or more of workers – they are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2884712">less empowered to advocate for themselves</a> and more likely to be perceived as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08353.x">a minority group and an exception</a>. When in this minority position, women are more likely to be pressured to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9454-2">take on extra service</a> as tokens on committees or <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ghost-Advising/242729">mentors to female graduate students</a>.</p>
<p>With fewer female colleagues, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917735900">women are less likely</a> to build relationships with female collaborators and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-010-0256-y">support and advice networks</a>. This isolation can be exacerbated when women are unable to participate in work events or <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2018/02/07/conferences-should-be-more-family-friendly-women-scholars-children-opinion">attend conferences because of family or child care</a> responsibilities and an inability to use research funds to reimburse child care.</p>
<p>Universities, <a href="https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/Fulltext/2002/10000/Increasing_Women_s_Leadership_in_Academic.23.aspx">professional associations</a> and federal funders have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.20225">worked to address a variety</a> of these structural barriers. Efforts include creating family-friendly policies, increasing transparency in salary reporting, enforcing Title IX protections, providing mentoring and support programs for women scientists, protecting research time for women scientists and targeting women for hiring, research support and advancement. These programs have mixed results. </p>
<p>For example, research indicates that family-friendly policies such as leave and onsite child care <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scu006">can exacerbate gender inequity</a>, resulting in increased research productivity for men and increased teaching and service obligations for women.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/239534/original/file-20181005-72103-13n5zz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People haven’t really updated their mental images of what a scientist looks like since Wilhelm Roentgen won the first physics Nobel in 1901.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/sftaf5z8">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Implicit biases about who does science</h2>
<p>All of us – the general public, the media, university employees, students and professors – have <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">ideas of what a scientist</a> and a Nobel Prize winner looks like. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13039">That image</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">predominantly male, white and older</a> – which makes sense given 97% of the science Nobel Prize winners have been men.</p>
<p>This is an example of an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-implicit-bias-peanut-butter-jelly-and-racism/">implicit bias</a>: one of the unconscious, involuntary, natural, unavoidable assumptions that all of us – men and women – form about the world. People make decisions <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">based on subconscious assumptions, preferences and stereotypes</a> – sometimes even when they are counter to their explicitly held beliefs.</p>
<p>Research shows that an implicit bias against women <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-a-scientist-looks-like/">as experts and academic scientists</a> is pervasive. It manifests itself by valuing, acknowledging and rewarding men’s scholarship over women’s scholarship. </p>
<p>Implicit bias can work against women’s hiring, advancement and recognition of their work. For instance, women seeking academic jobs are more likely to be viewed and judged based on <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/conference/2018/preliminary/paper/nZ24K7b2">personal information and physical appearance</a>. Letters of recommendation for women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9541-1">more likely to raise doubts</a> and use language that results in negative career outcomes.</p>
<p>Implicit bias can affect women’s ability to publish research findings and gain recognition for that work. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023117738903">Men cite their own papers 56% more</a> than women do. Known as the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">Matilda Effect</a>,” there is a gender gap in recognition, award-winning and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/16/new-research-shows-extent-gender-gap-citations">citations</a>. </p>
<p>Women’s research is less likely to be cited by others, and their <a href="https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/R7AQT1">ideas are more likely to be attributed to men</a>. Women’s solo-authored research takes <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/20/study-finds-women-economics-write-papers-are-more-readable-face-longer-publication">twice as long</a> to move through the review process. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06678-6">Women are underrepresented</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12950">journal editorships</a>, as senior scholars and lead authors and as peer reviewers. This marginalization in research gatekeeping positions works against the promotion of women’s research.</p>
<p>When a woman becomes a world-class scientist, implicit bias works <a href="https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00739-17">against the likelihood</a> that she will be <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/women-are-invited-to-give-fewer-talks-than-men-at-top-us-universities/548657/">invited as a keynote or guest speaker</a> to share her research findings, thus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12198">lowering her visibility in the field</a> and the likelihood that she will be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312711435830">nominated for awards</a>. This gender imbalance is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096517000580">notable in how infrequently</a> <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2017/11/17/we-need-more-womens-voices-in-the-news.html">women experts</a> are <a href="https://www.poynter.org/news/lack-female-sources-ny-times-front-page-stories-highlights-need-change">quoted in news stories</a> on most topics.</p>
<p>Women scientists are afforded less of the respect and recognition that should come with their accomplishments. Research shows that when people talk about male scientists and experts, they’re more likely to use their surnames and more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805284115">refer to women by their first names</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this matter? Because experiments show that individuals referred to by their surnames are more likely to be viewed as famous and eminent. In fact, one study found that calling scientists by their last names led people to consider them 14% more deserving of a National Science Foundation career award.</p>
<p>Seeing mostly men has been the history of science. Addressing structural and implicit bias in STEM will hopefully prevent another half-century wait before the next woman is acknowledged with a Nobel Prize for her contribution to physics. I look forward to the day when a woman receiving the most prestigious award in science is newsworthy only for her science and not her gender.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-more-women-dont-win-science-nobels-104370">an article originally published</a> on Oct. 5, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary K. Feeney receives research funding from the National Science Foundation and the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, ASU.</span></em></p>
Progress has been made toward gender parity in science fields. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Mary K. Feeney, Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs and Associate Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/117233
2019-05-17T00:32:29Z
2019-05-17T00:32:29Z
‘The Big Bang Theory’ finale: Sheldon and Amy’s fictional physics parallels real science
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274985/original/file-20190516-69189-xi009a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C75%2C840%2C767&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cast made it through 279 episodes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://plexmx.info/2019/05/16/despues-de-12-temporadas-hoy-termina-the-big-bang-theory-en-cbs/">CBS</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 12 successful seasons, “<a href="https://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/">The Big Bang Theory</a>” has finally come to a fulfilling end, concluding its <a href="https://ew.com/tv/2019/03/28/big-bang-theory-longest-running-sitcom-276-episodes-cbs/">reign as the longest running</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-camera_setup">multicamera sitcom</a> on TV.</p>
<p>If you’re one of the few who haven’t seen the show, this CBS series centers around a group of young scientists defined by essentially every possible stereotype about nerds and geeks. The main character, Sheldon (Jim Parsons), is a theoretical physicist. He is exceptionally intelligent, but also socially unconventional, egocentric, envious and ultra-competitive. His best friend, Leonard (Johnny Galecki), is an experimental physicist who, although more balanced, also shows more fluency with quantum physics than with ordinary social situations.</p>
<p>Their steadfast friends are an aerospace engineer and an astrophysicist. The story revolves around the contrast between their intellect; obsession with comic books, video games, science fiction and fantasy; and struggles with the basics of human interactions, including those with their female counterparts.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275013/original/file-20190516-69178-1hk1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Physicist David Saltzberg makes sure the show’s science hits the target.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://magazine.ucla.edu/depts/quicktakes/physicist-to-the-stars/">Warner Bros. Studios</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Science, especially physics, is a recurring theme in the show and the scientific authenticity and contemporaneity are noteworthy. Part of the credit for that goes to <a href="http://www.physics.ucla.edu/%7Esaltzberg/index.html">David Saltzberg</a>, a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA who <a href="https://www.wired.com/2011/09/tv-fact-checker-big-bang-theory/">served as a technical adviser for the series</a>.</p>
<p>Even though it is not intended to educate, “The Big Bang Theory” frequently refers to real science. Many science communicators and distinguished scientists have made guest appearances, from <a href="https://youtu.be/LtU4uUlGsb8">Bill Nye</a> to <a href="https://youtu.be/wlrOKpQ6UBI">Stephen Hawking</a>. But perhaps nothing is more recurrent in the show than the use of the “scientist” trope as the punchline of joke after joke.</p>
<p>So how would <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F5TciCcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a physicist like me</a> get interested in this show? Not only is it the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Bang_Theory">most popular sitcom</a> on American television, but it’s also a pop culture bridge to science. While it is not the first time science has been represented in mainstream media, “The Big Bang Theory” is currently its most visible representation. In addition, it just happens that the fictional research in the show makes contact with my own real research. </p>
<h2>A science-y setting on a popular show</h2>
<p>I was first exposed to “The Big Bang Theory” through interactions with people from outside academia, who would often refer to it as soon as they pegged me as a physicist. Reports that their teenage kids loved the show were common.</p>
<p>But what really got my attention was a Guardian article in 2011 that suggested, albeit anecdotally, that the show was helping <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/nov/06/big-bang-theory-physics-boom">increase the enrollment of physics majors</a>. Why? Possibly by bringing the attention of a broad audience to the subject or by making physics look cool. Now that I am familiar with the show, I believe “The Big Bang Theory” is to physics <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-157773261/the-csi-effect">what “CSI” was to forensics</a>. It has brought physics, and especially the people doing physics, to a young audience of prospective science students.</p>
<p>As a physics professor and educator, I have a vested interest in attracting and nurturing talents in physics – and even in 2019, television can influence choices people make. While only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05260-4">good physics teaching and mentoring</a> can convert interested students into talented scientists, a TV show like “The Big Bang Theory” can be what gets them into the classroom in the first place.</p>
<p>The show’s somewhat stereotypical image of physicists also has weaknesses, of which the most significant are the use of misogyny as a point of humor and a lack of diversity in the main cast. The perpetuation of stereotypes can reinforce the perception that certain groups don’t belong in physics. An entertainment show is not obligated to mirror real life, but this is a sensitive issue because physics still suffers from a lack of diversity and the <a href="https://physicsworld.com/a/isolated-female-students-more-likely-to-drop-out-of-phd-programmes/">dropout rates are high among certain underrepresented groups</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274987/original/file-20190516-69192-3x9nfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The show underwrites scholarships at UCLA for STEM students, including Kemeka Corry, on set here with actress Mayim Bialik, who herself holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/the-big-bang-theory-to-support-twice-as-many-students">Mike Yarish/©2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Notwithstanding, as the show developed, leading female characters took the stage: an attractive, down-to-earth neighbor, a successful microbiologist, and finally, there was the intelligent, accomplished Amy (Mayim Bialik), a neurobiologist selected through an online dating site as Sheldon’s perfect match. They married in the finale of the 11th season.</p>
<p>The same episode also marks one of the most celebrated moments of the series: Sheldon and Amy’s serendipitous discovery that put them on track for a Nobel Prize in Physics.</p>
<h2>A fictional theory worthy of a Nobel</h2>
<p>It all starts with groom Sheldon’s difficulty straightening out his bow tie. Amy tells him “I don’t think it is supposed to be even. Sometimes a little asymmetry looks good. In the Renaissance, they called it ‘sprezzatura.‘”</p>
<p>When later he explains to his mom why he’s leaving it a bit off kilter, she says, “Sometimes it’s the imperfect stuff that makes things perfect.” It’s one of the best lines of the entire show, and the one that gave Sheldon the <a href="https://the-big-bang-theory.com/quotes/episode/1124/The-Bow-Tie-Asymmetry/">final clue to their scientific breakthrough</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sheldon: My equations have been trying to describe an imperfect world, and the only way to do that is to introduce imperfection into the underlying theory.</p>
<p>Amy: So, instead of supersymmetry, it would be super asymmetry?!</p>
<p>Sheldon: Super asymmetry! That’s it!!</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/274974/original/file-20190516-69209-4ipwwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When the light bulb turns on, Sheldon scribbles out equations in lipstick on a mirror.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://tvline.com/gallery/big-bang-theory-best-sheldon-and-amy-wedding-moments/#!3/the-bow-tie-asymmetry-5/">CBS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The entire last season gravitates around the merits of “super asymmetry” and the threats of a competing group getting credit for it. In reality, no theory with this name exists, but the name was clearly inspired by <a href="https://home.cern/science/physics/supersymmetry">supersymmetry</a>, which does.</p>
<p>Supersymmetry concerns subatomic particles from which everything else is made. It proposes that every subatomic particle in the current <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-standard-model-of-particle-physics-the-absolutely-amazing-theory-of-almost-everything-94700">standard model of particle physics</a> has a so-called supersymmetric partner – essentially extra particles that exist in tandem with the already identified ones. This means that the underlying equations would remain unchanged under certain transformations, which has deep predictive implications. Supersymmetry has not yet been proved experimentally.</p>
<p>Now, how plausible is Amy and Sheldon’s super asymmetry as a physical theory? Depending on how you interpret what’s described in the show, it is either not sound or somewhat trivial in the subatomic world. However, it is highly nontrivial for collective behavior, which just happens to be my topic of research.</p>
<h2>The real physics of asymmetry</h2>
<p>I am an interdisciplinary physicist studying collective behavior in natural and engineered systems. Think of heart cells beating together, a power grid operating as a single system, shoals of fish schooling together, genes in a cell coordinating their activities and so on.</p>
<p>For a number of years, I’ve been working to understand why such systems can exhibit what we call behavioral symmetry – or homogeneity – even though the systems themselves are not symmetric – or homogeneous – at all. For example, your circadian clock can be well synchronized with the 24-hour cycle despite the fact that the individual neurons in the circadian system <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.01.022">are quite different from each other</a>. They exhibit the same period only when interacting with each other. </p>
<p>And here is how my research relates to Amy and Sheldon’s hypothetical theory. It’s generally assumed that individual entities are more likely to exhibit the same behavior <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-2789(00)00094-4">if they are equal or similar to each other</a>. Imagine lasers pulsing together, birds singing the same notes, and agents trying to reach consensus. My research shows that this assumption is in fact generally false when the entities interact with each other. Being equal doesn’t mean they’ll sync up. Since individual differences are ubiquitous and often unavoidable in real systems, such asymmetry (or imperfection) can be the unexpected source of behavioral symmetry. </p>
<p>There are instances in which the observed behavior of the system can be symmetric only when the system itself is not. <a href="http://northwestern.academia.edu/TakashiNishikawa">My collaborator</a> and I called this effect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.114101">asymmetry-induced symmetry</a>, but could have referred to it as a form of super asymmetry since it epitomizes the notion that imperfections make things perfect. Asymmetry-induced symmetry exposes scenarios in physical and biophysical systems in which we observe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6544/aa8fe7">consensus because of – not despite – differences</a>, thus adding a new dimension to the advantage of diversity.</p>
<p>“The Big Bang Theory” ends, but the message from the most gifted couple on television remains: We do live in a “perfectly imperfect universe.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adilson Motter receives funding from ARO, ARPA-E and Northwestern University.</span></em></p>
A physicist reflects on the show’s made-up Nobel Prize-winning theory of ‘super asymmetry’ along with how the series showcased authentic science and role models for future STEM students.
Adilson Motter, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/112268
2019-02-21T19:01:31Z
2019-02-21T19:01:31Z
‘Black Panther’ and its science role models inspire more than just movie awards
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260249/original/file-20190221-195873-1czfcxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=122%2C77%2C1252%2C694&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">King of a technologically advanced country, Black Panther is a scientific genius.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/mediaviewer/rm2447322112">© 2017 – Disney/Marvel Studios</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It has been said many times that the Marvel movie “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>” is an important landmark. I’m not referring to its deserved critical and box office success worldwide, the many awards it has won, or the fact that it is the first film in the superhero genre to be <a href="https://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019">nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, I’m focusing on a key aspect of its cultural impact that is less frequently discussed. Finally a feature film starring a black superhero character became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a successful run of intertwined movies that began with “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/">Iron Man</a>” in 2008. While there have been other superhero movies with a black lead character – “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/">Hancock</a>” (2008), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/">Blade</a>” (1998), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/">Spawn</a>” (1997) or even “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107563/">The Meteor Man</a>” (1993) – this film is significant because of the <a href="https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-rise-of-superhero-films/">recent remarkable rise of the superhero film</a> from the nerdish fringe to part of mainstream culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=marvel2017b.htm">Huge audiences</a> saw a black lead character – not a sidekick or part of a team – in a superhero movie by a major studio, with a black director (Ryan Coogler), black writers and a majority black cast. This is a significant step toward diversifying our culture by improving the <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/Dr_Stacy_L_Smith-Inequality_in_900_Popular_Films.pdf">lackluster representation</a> of minorities in our major media. It’s also a <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">filmmaking landmark because black creators</a> have been given access to the resources and platforms needed to bring different storytelling perspectives into our mainstream culture.</p>
<p>2017’s “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">Wonder Woman</a>” forged a similar path. In that case, a major studio finally decided to commit resources to a superhero film headlined by a female character and directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. Female directors are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/inclusion-directors-chair">a minority in the movie industry</a>. Jenkins brought a new perspective to this kind of action movie, and there was a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/05/31/why-women-are-crying-when-they-watch-wonder-woman-fight/102328772/">huge positive response from audiences</a> in theaters worldwide.</p>
<p>And beyond all this, “Black Panther” also broke additional ground in a way most people may not realize: In the comics, the character is actually a scientist and engineer. Moreover, in the inevitable (and somewhat ridiculous) ranking of scientific prowess that happens in the comic book world, he’s been portrayed as at least the equal of the two most famous “top scientists” in the Marvel universe: Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). A black headlining superhero character written and directed by black artists is rare enough from a major studio. But making him – and his sister Shuri – successful scientists and engineers as well is another level of rarity.</p>
<h2>Scientists on screen</h2>
<p>I’m a scientist who cares about increased engagement with science by the general public. I’ve worked as <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/film/physicist-dr-clifford-v-johnson-is-a-consultant-on-superhero-movies-8232890">a science adviser on many film and TV projects</a> (though not “Black Panther”). When the opportunity arises, I’ve <a href="https://creativefuture.org/science-advisor-conversation-dr-clifford-johnson/">helped broaden the diversity of scientist characters</a> portrayed onscreen.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Wilkes is a black scientist on ‘Agent Carter,’ whose character emerged from the author’s talks with the show’s writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC Television</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panels from ‘The Dialogues,’ including a black female scientist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'The Dialogues,' by Clifford V. Johnson (MIT Press 2017)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’ve also recently published a <a href="http://thedialoguesbook.com/">nonfiction graphic book</a> for general audiences called “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-0">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a>.” Its characters include male and female black scientists, discussing aspects of my own field of theoretical physics – where black scientists are <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/data.cfm">unfortunately very rare</a>. So the opportunity that the “Black Panther” movie presents to inform and inspire vast audiences is of great interest to me.</p>
<p>The history and evolution of the Black Panther character and his scientific back story is a fascinating example of turning a problematic past into a positive opportunity.</p>
<p>Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he’s the first black superhero character in mainstream comics, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fantastic-four-52-introducing-the-sensational-blac/4000-8666/">originally appearing as a guest</a> in a “Fantastic Four” Marvel comic. As a black character created and initially written by nonblack authors, guest-starring in the pages of a book headlined by white characters, he had many of the classic attributes of what is now sometimes controversially known as the “<a href="https://www.salon.com/2010/09/14/magical_negro_trope/">magical negro</a>” in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934707307831">American cultural criticism</a>: He ranked extremely highly in every sphere that mattered, to the point of being almost too unreal even for the comics of the time.</p>
<p>Black Panther is T’Challa, king of the fictional African country Wakanda, which is fathomlessly wealthy and remarkably advanced, scientifically and technologically. Even Marvel’s legendary master scientist – Reed Richards of the superhero team Fantastic Four – is befuddled by and full of admiration for Wakanda’s scientific capabilities. T’Challa himself is portrayed as an extraordinary “genius” in physics and other scientific fields, a peerless tactician, a remarkable athlete and a master of numerous forms of martial arts. And he is noble to a fault. Of course, he grows to become a powerful ally of the Fantastic Four and other Marvel superheroes over many adventures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While likening Black Panther to a ‘refugee from a Tarzan movie,’ the Fantastic Four marveled at his technological innovations in ‘Introducing the Sensational Black Panther.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The key point here is that the superlative scientific ability of our hero, and that of his country, has its origins in the well-meaning, but problematic, practice of inventing near or beyond perfect black characters to support stories starring primarily white protagonists. But this is a lemons-to-lemonade story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Fantastic Four were amazed by the scientific ingenuity of Wakanda in ‘Whosoever Finds The Evil Eye.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #54 (September 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Black Panther eventually got to star in his own series of comics. He was turned into a nuanced and complex character, moving well away from the tropes of his beginnings. Writer Don McGregor’s work started this development as early as 1973, but Black Panther’s journey to the multilayered character you see on screen was greatly advanced by the efforts of several writers with diverse perspectives. Perhaps most notably, in the context of the film, these include Christopher Priest (late 1990s) and Ta-Nehisi Coates (starting in 2016), along with Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey, writing in “World of Wakanda” (2016). Coates and Gay, already best-selling literary writers before coming to the character, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/books/black-panther-marvel-comics-roxane-gay-ta-nehisi-coates-wakanda.html?_r=0">helped bring him to wider attention</a> beyond normal comic book fandom, partly paving the way for the movie.</p>
<p>Through all of the improved writing of T'Challa and his world, his spectacular scientific ability has remained prominent. Wakanda continues to be a successful African nation with astonishing science and technology. Furthermore, and very importantly, T'Challa is not portrayed as an anomaly among his people in this regard. There are many great scientists and engineers in the Wakanda of the comics, including his sister Shuri. In some accounts, she (in the continued scientist-ranking business of comics) is an even greater intellect than he is. In the movie, T’Challa’s science and engineering abilities are referred to, but it is his sister Shuri who takes center stage in this role, having taken over to design the new tools and weapons he uses in the field. She also uses Wakandan science to heal wounds that would have been fatal elsewhere in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Panther isn’t an isolated genius – his half-sister Shuri is a technological wiz herself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collider.com/black-panther-things-to-know/">Marvel Studios</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If they can do it, then why not me?</h2>
<p>As a scientist who cares about inspiring more people – including underrepresented minorities and women – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ways-scientists-can-help-put-science-back-into-popular-culture-84955">to engage with science</a>, I think that showing a little of this scientific landscape in “Black Panther” potentially amplifies the movie’s cultural impact.</p>
<p>Vast audiences see black heroes – both men and women – using their scientific ability to solve problems and make their way in the world, at an unrivaled level. <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/daphna-oyserman/identity/">Research has shown</a> that such representation can have a positive effect on the interests, outlook and career trajectories of viewers.</p>
<p>Improving science education for all is a core endeavor in a nation’s competitiveness and overall health, but outcomes are limited if people aren’t inspired to take an interest in science in the first place. There simply are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">not enough images of black scientists</a> – male or female – in our media and entertainment to help inspire. Many people from underrepresented groups end up genuinely believing that scientific investigation is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">not a career path open to them</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, many people still see the dedication and study needed to excel in science as “nerdy.” A cultural injection of Black Panther heroics helps continue to erode the crumbling tropes that science is <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">only for white men</a> or reserved for <a href="https://theconversation.com/beliefs-about-innate-talent-may-dissuade-students-from-stem-42967">people with a special “science gene.”</a></p>
<p>The huge widespread success of the “Black Panther” movie, showcasing T'Challa, Shuri and other Wakandans as highly accomplished scientists, remains one of the most significant boosts for science engagement in recent times.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an updated version of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-superpower-of-black-panther-scientist-role-models-91042">an article originally published</a> on Feb. 8, 2018.</em></p>
<p>
<section class="inline-content">
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248895/original/file-20181204-133100-t34yqm.png?w=128&h=128">
<div>
<header>Clifford V. Johnson is the author of:</header>
<p><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-1">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a></p>
<footer>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</footer>
</div>
</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>MIT Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</span></em></p>
The film wowed critics and fans. But its hidden power may be black lead characters who are accomplished scientists – just the thing to help inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps.
Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/104606
2018-10-11T10:31:26Z
2018-10-11T10:31:26Z
Nobel Prize should be just the start of making women scientists more visible
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240080/original/file-20181010-72100-15vbbdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chinese-asian-female-medical-scientific-researcher-88351879">Darren Baker/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Until this year, <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/nobel-prize-awarded-women-3/">only 19 women</a> had won a Nobel Prize for science – just 3% of the total winners. But the Nobel Committee’s decision to recognise <a href="https://theconversation.com/and-then-there-were-three-finally-another-woman-awarded-a-nobel-prize-in-physics-104323">Donna Strickland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-winners-of-the-nobel-prize-in-chemistry-have-transformed-research-and-saved-lives-104351">Frances Arnold</a>, respectively, with the 2018 chemistry and physics prizes, suggests this imbalance is finally being addressed.</p>
<p>The Nobel recognises outstanding contributions to humankind, so it should go without saying that the outstanding women working in the fields of science and medicine should be recognised for their contributions. And there are many who deserve to be seen through awards and media representations. But perhaps more importantly, the image we see of women in science from things like the Nobel Prizes can make a difference to what happens within the field.</p>
<p>Women laureates are grossly underrepresented in all of the Nobel Prize categories, especially when you consider their participation in these areas today. Globally, women still represent <a href="http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/fs51-women-in-science-2018-en.pdf">less than a third</a> of the science workforce, but that’s far more than the 3% recognised by the Nobels.</p>
<p>Even in the last few years, as more women have entered scientific fields, they have been notably absent among Nobel prize winners. The last woman to win the chemistry prize was <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2009/yonath/auto-biography/">Ada Yonath</a> in 2009. And before Donna Strickland there hadn’t been a female physics laureate since <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1963/mayer/auto-biography/">Maria Goeppert Mayer</a> in 1963. The Nobel Committee has said it is taking steps to improve its record on women but that it would likely be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/nobel-prize-winners-men-no-women-committee-response-years-a7991406.html">five to ten years</a> before we see a significant change in distribution.</p>
<p>The reality is that women are still under- and misrepresented in almost every facet of science. The numbers start with a lower proportion of female science students at secondary level and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/jun/13/how-well-are-women-represented-in-uk-science">gradually decline</a> at every stage of education and leadership. For example, women <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/bibliometrics-global-gender-disparities-in-science-1.14321">are underrepresented</a> as first authors of scientific research papers and their papers are much less likely to be cited by others. By the time it gets to candidates for the Nobel Prize, there are very few women left to choose from.</p>
<p>You can add to that the persistence of outdated ideas around gender differences within science. Just recently, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/01/physics-was-built-by-men-cern-scientist-alessandro-strumia-remark-sparks-fury">CERN professor</a> was suspended for sexist comments linked to <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/2018/10/defending-sexist-cern-lecture-you-re-endorsing-bad-science-not-freedom-speech">debunked science</a> made to a room full of women scientists. In many ways, it made Strickland’s winning of the physics Nobel all the more sweet but demonstrates the lingering mischaracterisation of women in science both inside and outside of the profession.</p>
<h2>Representation matters</h2>
<p>With all this mind, it’s important to remember that media representation matters. It gives women and girls opportunities to <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/09/18/improved-representation-of-female-scientists-in-the-media-can-show-future-generations-of-women-that-they-belong">literally see themselves</a>, in this case, as scientists. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2372732214549471">We know</a> <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/en-gb/2018/04/25/62509/">from research</a> that female role models can make a difference to women’s decisions about whether or not to start a scientific career. And more generally, media representations help us to understand ourselves and others. So, if images of successful women are missing from the picture girls and women have of science through the media, it can limit the extent to which they will see themselves as scientists. </p>
<p>We need to normalise the representation of all women in science. More women winning the Nobel Prize, and more news articles celebrating those women’s achievements, are just the start. Changing how women scientists are seen can also be achieved through film and television representations, news articles, Wikipedia entries and so on. </p>
<p>Globally, for example, women <a href="http://cdn.agilitycms.com/who-makes-the-news/Imported/reports_2015/global/gmmp_global_report_en.pdf">made up only 19% of experts</a> appearing in television, radio and print news reports. When women scientists are made less visible in this way, they are, in the words of feminist thinker <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/493636?journalCode=signs">Gaye Tuchman</a>, “symbolically annihilated”. In other words, they are effectively omitted, trivialised and condemned by the mass media.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240085/original/file-20181010-133328-19wzjph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women scientists are moving to the centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chief-project-engineer-holds-briefing-team-741648175">Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While there are many examples of women scientists in film and television, they’re now starting to appear <a href="https://theconversation.com/women-scientists-are-more-than-capable-of-leading-blockbuster-storylines-93779">more often as lead characters</a> rather than as sidekicks to men – for example, Sandra Bullock’s Ryan Stone in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468/">Gravity</a>. Recent films such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Hidden Figures</a> and the reboot of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289401/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Ghostbusters</a> have made the female leads’ role as scientists a key focus and driver of the storylines. This kind of change is important for moving women scientists from, as feminist critic bell hooks puts it, the “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10130950.1987.9674676?journalCode=ragn20">margins to the centre</a>”.</p>
<p>Even the number and content of Wikipedia entries about women scientists is important, as the crowd-edited encyclopedia helps document what society values and exposes people to cultural heritage. But research shows that Wikipedia has a poor record on gender equality in terms of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444818779080">including women’s biographies</a>.</p>
<p>This was highlighted when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/03/donna-strickland-nobel-physics-prize-wikipedia-denied">it emerged that</a>, before her Nobel win, Strickland’s contributions to science had been deemed not significant enough to warrant her own Wikipedia page. Such examples underline the importance of efforts like those of <a href="https://twitter.com/jesswade?ref_src=twsrc%255Egoogle%257Ctwcamp%255Eserp%257Ctwgr%255Eauthor">Jessica Wade</a> to increase the number of Wikipedia entries about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jul/24/academic-writes-270-wikipedia-pages-year-female-scientists-noticed">women scientists’ contributions</a>.</p>
<p>Changing all these media representations together can help more people to see women as scientists and to value the contributions that they make. This will empower women scientists today and inspire more girls to join the next generation. Perhaps then, a Nobel Prize winner being female won’t be such big news and the focus will be on their science rather than their gender.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelley Thompson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Female role models can inspire the next generation through many different media.
Shelley Thompson, Head of School of Journalism, English & Communication, Bournemouth University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/98314
2018-06-21T18:49:04Z
2018-06-21T18:49:04Z
Why I joined #500queerscientists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224147/original/file-20180621-137741-6xci8v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">LGBTQ+ scientists feel like they have to come out over and over again. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/FiVAb5tJn-s">Jon Tyson on Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I recently joined an online initiative called <a href="https://www.500queerscientists.com/">500 Queer Scientists</a>. </p>
<p>At 500 Queer Scientists, LGBTQ+ people are encouraged to post their picture online along with a short summary describing themselves and their work in science. LGBTQ+ is an acronym referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and includes all other gender or sexual minorities as well as their allies.</p>
<p>My profile says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am gay and I am a plant-insect ecologist.</p>
<p>I completed my PhD at Western Sydney University studying how silicon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi alter plant-insect herbivore interactions. My post doc is a fellowship at Charles Sturt University in regional Australia, where I am continuing my research on how silicon alters plant-insect relationships and plant stress resistance.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The stated goals of 500 Queer Scientists are:</p>
<ol>
<li>ensure the next STEM generation has LGBTQ+ role models</li>
<li>help the current generation recognise they’re not alone</li>
<li>create opportunities for community connections and greater visibility within STEM.</li>
</ol>
<p>Diversity in science is critical to fostering creativity and innovation. Forming fresh hypotheses about the workings of the natural world, or finding new solutions to problems are fundamental to scientific and technological advancement. </p>
<p>It’s vital that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and others are a part of increasing diversity in the sciences. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-city-gaybourhoods-where-they-come-from-and-why-they-still-matter-93956">Big city gaybourhoods: where they come from and why they still matter</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Diversity in science</h2>
<p>The classic archetype of a scientist was once a middle-aged, heterosexual, white male. How much have we progressed from this?</p>
<p>There is broadening acknowledgement of the current under representation of women and racial minorities within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Recognising this inequality is the first step in meeting the challenge of increasing diversity in STEM. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1008259687458865152"}"></div></p>
<p>Yet there remains a relative lack of discussion around increasing participation of LGBTQ+ people. As a gay man, I have personally become increasingly aware of this disparity, and the need to promote the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in STEM. </p>
<p>I am starkly aware of the lack of LGBTQ+ role models and mentors within my own field. This doesn’t mean they don’t exist. It indicates that, like me, most of them don’t overtly disclose their sexual, or gender, identities, which is often a hidden characteristic. An important part of our lives is kept quiet. This only perpetuates the invisibility of the LGBTQ+ community in STEM, decreasing diversity and inclusion. It also reduces the likelihood of attracting and retaining talented young scientists, who may happen to be LBGTQ+.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-data-based-checklist-to-help-boost-women-in-science-leadership-97373">A new, data-based checklist to help boost women in science leadership</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Time for change</h2>
<p>In their <a href="https://www.500queerscientists.com/resources">press release</a>, 500 Queer Scientists quote one of their founders, Dr Lauren Esposito. Esposito highlights the isolation of working in STEM, the “awkwardness of coming out over and over again”, and that most workers in STEM don’t know any other LBGTQ+ people in their discipline. She said, “it’s time for that to change.” </p>
<p>This statement resonates strongly with my own experiences. Until recently I had not explicitly considered my sexual identity to be relevant to my career in science. To a degree, I had adhered to the thinking that science is not political, that it operates in a space outside of the personal. This is partially true. </p>
<p>However science is not only about cold facts. It is also about interpretation of data, reaching conclusions, and deciding how findings can be applied. Moreover, the state of scientific research is strongly influenced by the political climate, by funding availability and research strategies handed down by political powers. </p>
<p>Therefore, in many ways, science can be as much about the people doing it, as the science itself. That is important. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-memo-to-google-firing-employees-with-conservative-views-is-anti-diversity-82318">A memo to Google – firing employees with conservative views is anti-diversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Inclusive culture matters</h2>
<p>It is quite surprising that the scientific community has been lacklustre in their active inclusion of sexual and gender minorities. It could be argued that science is a progressive enterprise, which has historically challenged assumptions, working outside the realms of conservative social conformity. </p>
<p>Yet hetero-normative assumptions remain in STEM that pressure LGBTQ+ individuals to somehow conform.</p>
<p>Recent studies have identified some alarming statistics. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2015.1078632">2013 survey</a> found more than 40% of LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM are not out to most of their colleagues. Another <a href="http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/3/eaao6373">study</a> found the retention rate of undergraduate students in STEM is significantly lower for sexual minorities compared to heterosexuals. </p>
<p>A key factor in retaining sexual minority students in STEM is the availability of mentoring and support from academics and researchers, and the existence of LGBTQ+ role models in science.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/design-thinking-can-make-kids-see-science-and-themselves-differently-90407">Design thinking can make kids see science - and themselves - differently</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Initiatives such as 500 Queer Scientists promote visibility and express to the STEM community (and beyond) that a scientist is not only a middle aged, white, straight male. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1003667946604879875"}"></div></p>
<p>This helps to provide role models in STEM, especially for individuals excelling in their discipline who are LGBTQ+. It promotes diversity in science, and shows LGBTQ+ individuals that their sexual or gender identities can be accepted as the part of “the norm”. </p>
<p>STEM workplaces should recognise the importance of creating a culture inclusive of sexual and gender minorities if they are to reap the benefits of diversity in science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98314/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Frew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In many ways, science can be as much about the people doing it as the science itself. A new online initiative is addressing the invisibility of LGBTQ+ people in science.
Adam Frew, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Charles Sturt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96955
2018-05-27T10:54:55Z
2018-05-27T10:54:55Z
White men’s voices still dominate public science. Here’s how to change this
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220488/original/file-20180525-90281-d7eol.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A diversity of voices is important in science communication.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael D Brown/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visibility in the mass media matters for scientists. It gets funders’ attention. It attracts top students. It can be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/4681032a">a pathway</a> to policy influence. Media coverage may even boost the number of times a piece of research <a href="https://asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/publications/building-buzz-scientists-communicating-science-in-new-media-envir">is cited</a> in scientific literature.</p>
<p>There are imbalances all over the world, and white men tend to get the lion’s share of visibility. For example, a study <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1075547010378658">in Switzerland</a> showed that journalists prefer to interview senior, male scientists while a 2015 book about celebrities in science featuring eight scientists who had <a href="https://www.amazon.com/New-Celebrity-Scientists-into-Limelight/dp/1442233427">achieved global fame</a> included only one woman (neuroscientist Susan Greenfield) and one black scientist (Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist).</p>
<p>In South Africa, too, there are major racial, gender and institutional imbalances in terms of which scientists are publicly visible. Although <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0302/P03022014.pdf">only 8%</a> of South Africans are white, nearly 80% of the country’s visible scientists are white. And 63% of this group of visible scientists are men. Black women made up only 8% of the group. This is according to <a href="https://www.sajs.co.za/article/view/3873">a 2017 study</a> which I co-authored and which was published in the South African Journal of Science.</p>
<p>Scientists can be powerful influencers and role models. So there’s reason for concern when the same names and faces dominate coverage and visibility. </p>
<p>There are several role players in this situation, including individual journalists or news organisations; universities and research organisations and scientists themselves. </p>
<p>Journalists working under enormous time pressure may often find it easier to reach out to experts they already know rather than developing new relationships. Similarly, young scientists may find it hard to become recognised as experts worthy of being quoted in the media since journalists typically want to speak to research leaders. They may not have media experience or training.</p>
<p>Women may also find it harder than men to become recognised as experts on the public stage. For example researchers have shown that public engagement could <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0036240">hinder female scientists’ academic progress</a>.</p>
<p>To diversify visibility, journalists should seek out fresh perspectives and expert voices that reflect society. Universities and other research organisations need to equip young, black and female scientists with the skills and confidence to engage with the mass media. Scientists must realise the value of being visible – and then make time for journalists and provide easily understandable explanations that demonstrate the relevance of their work. </p>
<h2>Visibility feeds visibility</h2>
<p>I contacted science journalists and science communicators who work as knowledge brokers between science and society in research organisations, asking them to list up to 10 scientists they considered to be visible in the public sphere.</p>
<p>Jointly, the 45 respondents identified 211 visible scientists. This represents less than 1% of the country’s total scientific workforce. According to <a href="http://www.dst.gov.za/images/SA-RD-SURVEY-STATISTICAL-REPORT-201415-WEB-Main.pdf">government statistics</a>, South Africa has 25 300 scientists at higher education institutions, not counting postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students.</p>
<p>The three most visible scientists in South Africa were fossil hunter Lee Berger, banting advocate Tim Noakes and Medical Research Council President Glenda Gray. </p>
<p>The country’s most prominent black scientists were the HIV expert Salim Abdool-Karim at the University of KwaZulu-Natal; dinosaur biology expert at the University of Cape Town, Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan; Wits University population geneticist Himla Soodyal; and health researchers Tebello Nyokong (Rhodes University) and Bongani Mayosi and Kelly Chibale, both at the University of Cape Town.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=636%2C834%2C4667%2C2139&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=636%2C834%2C4667%2C2139&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/220429/original/file-20180525-51102-3zg0gd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Practical experience in front of the camera during media training can help young scientists to build confidence in sharing their work via the mass media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marina Joubert</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is difficult to pin down exactly why these researchers became so prominent but, based on my <a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/103268">PhD research</a>, they have a few things in common. They are all acutely aware of the value of a high public profile, passionate about sharing their science with public audiences, and willing to walk the extra mile for journalists.</p>
<h2>Shifting the narrative</h2>
<p>So whose role is it to improve the visibility of scientists who are not white men?</p>
<p>I found that journalists have different opinions about their role in correcting racial, gender and age-related imbalances in terms of the scientists they feature.</p>
<p>“The journalist in me wants to write about the most newsworthy and credible science, independently of who did the research,” said Elsabe Brits, specialist science journalist at the Afrikaans language multimedia platform ‘Netwerk24’. “It is not my role to be an activist for women in science, but there are top women scientists who are doing incredible work and they are featured in the media.” </p>
<p>Brits believes that it is up to research organisations to promote their research champions, and that scientists themselves need to be more proactive in terms of sharing their work with the public.</p>
<p>Others feel it’s up to them to create more space for different voices. Munyaradzi Makoni, a freelance science writer based in Cape Town, said: “I try to interview at least one woman scientist for every story I write.” </p>
<p>Other role players can help to diversify the public science space. For instance, universities can promote women and black scientists to the media by featuring them in <a href="http://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/research-news/2018/2018-05/making-massive-leaps-in-electronics-at-nano-scale-1.html">press releases</a> and ensuring they appear in <a href="http://www.wits.ac.za/news/for-the-media/contact-an-expert/">online expert lists</a>.</p>
<p>Young, black women in science can also gain visibility via popular science events such as <a href="http://www.science.uct.ac.za/news/pint-science-uct">Pint of Science</a> and <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org.za/famelab">Famelab</a>. </p>
<p>It is also up to women scientists to become proactive users of social media. Stellenbosch University botanist Nox Makunga, also one of the “visible scientists” in my study, is among those <a href="https://twitter.com/noxthelion">using Twitter</a> to share her research. </p>
<p>Women in science may also find value in networking via organisations such as <a href="http://www.sawise.uct.ac.za/">SA WISE</a> and writing for blogs like <a href="https://womeninsciencehub.wordpress.com/">Women in Science Hub</a>.</p>
<p>In my own experience of researching science communication, most scientists – particularly black women – embrace opportunities to be featured on the public stage. They are aware of the need to change science’s public image. </p>
<p>One of the black women scientists who was named among the “most visible” in our study was Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan of the University of Cape Town. She is a dinosaur palaeobiologist who studies dinosaur bones to understand more about their biology and way of life. Chinsamy-Turan agreed with Makunga’s assessment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now that we have more black scientists, they must also become more publicly visible. We need to showcase science in communities where people hardly ever see a scientist so that young people can grasp the possibilities of a science career.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Joubert receives funding from the South African Research Chair in Science Communication at Stellenbosch University, an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, funded via the National Research Foundation.</span></em></p>
Scientists can be powerful influencers and role models. So there’s reason for concern when the same names and faces dominate coverage and visibility.
Marina Joubert, Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/94378
2018-05-15T10:26:19Z
2018-05-15T10:26:19Z
Maria Agnesi, the greatest female mathematician you’ve never heard of
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218462/original/file-20180510-34038-s8x19d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Agnesi was the first woman to write a mathematics textbook.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AlexeyMaltsev/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The outmoded gender stereotype that women lack mathematical ability suffered a major blow in 2014, when <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2017/07/15/maryam-mirzakhani-stanford-mathematician-and-fields-medal-winner-dies/">Maryam Mirzakhani</a> became the first woman to receive the Fields Medal, math’s most prestigious award.</p>
<p>An equally important blow was struck by an Italian mathematician <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/world-maria-gaetana-agnesi-mathematician-god">Maria Gaetana Agnesi</a> in the 18th century. Agnesi was the first woman to write a mathematics textbook and to be appointed to a university chair in math, yet her life was marked by paradox.</p>
<p>Though brilliant, rich and famous, she eventually opted for a life of poverty and service to the poor. Her remarkable story serves as a source for mathematical inspiration even today.</p>
<h2>Early years</h2>
<p>Born May 16, 1718 in Milan, Agnesi was the eldest of her wealthy silk merchant father’s 21 children. By age 5 she could speak French, and by 11 she was known to Milanese society as the “seven-tongued orator” for her mastery of modern and classical languages. In part to give Agensi the best education possible, her father invited leading intellectuals of the day to the family’s home, where his daughter’s gifts shone.</p>
<p>When Agnesi was 9, she recited from memory a <a href="http://chicago.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7208/chicago/9780226010564.001.0001/upso-9780226010540-chapter-6">Latin oration</a>, likely composed by one of her tutors. The oration decried the widespread prejudice against educating women in the arts and sciences, which had been grounded in the view that a life of managing a household would require no such learning. Agnesi presented a clear and convincing argument that women should be free to pursue any kind of knowledge available to men. </p>
<p>Agnesi eventually became tired of displaying her intellect and expressed a desire to enter a convent. When her father’s second wife died, however, she assumed responsibility for his household and the education of her many younger siblings. </p>
<p>Through this role, she recognized that teachers and students needed a comprehensive mathematics textbook to introduce Italian students to the many recent Enlightenment-era mathematical discoveries. </p>
<h2>Agnesi’s textbook</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218459/original/file-20180510-184630-1b2owug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Maria Agnesi by an unknown artist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Gaetana_Agnesi.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Agnesi found a special appeal in mathematics. Most knowledge derived from experience, she believed, is fallible and open to dispute. From mathematics, however, come truths that are wholly certain, the contemplation of which brings particularly great joy. In <a href="http://users.metu.edu.tr/e128415/project/maria.htm">writing her textbook</a>, she was not only teaching a useful skill, but opening to her students the door to such contemplation.</p>
<p>Published in two volumes in 1748, Agnesi’s work was entitled the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=o54AAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR3#v=onepage&q&f=false">Basic Principles of Analysis</a>.” It was composed not in Latin, as was the custom for great mathematicians such as Newton and Euler, but Italian vernacular, to make it more accessible to students.</p>
<p>Hers represented one of the first textbooks in the relatively new field of calculus. It helped to shape the education of mathematics students for several generations that followed. Beyond Italy, <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Agnesi,_Maria_Gaetana">contemporary scholars</a> in Paris and Cambridge translated the textbook for use in their university classrooms. </p>
<p>Agnesi’s textbook was praised in 1749 by the <a href="http://home.adelphi.edu/%7Ebradley/HOMSIGMAA/agnesi.pdf">French Academy</a>: “It took much skill and sagacity to reduce to almost uniform methods discoveries scattered among the works of many mathematicians very different from each other. Order, clarity, and precision reign in all parts of this work. … We regard it as the most complete and best made treatise.”</p>
<p>In offering similarly fine words of praise, another contemporary mathematician, <a href="http://web.calstatela.edu/sgray/Agnesi/Nun/Nun.html">Jean-Etienne Montucla</a>, also revealed some of the mathematical sexism that persists down to the present day. He wrote: “We cannot but behold with the greatest astonishment how a person of a sex that seems so little fitted to tread the thorny paths of these abstract sciences penetrates so deeply as she has done into all the branches of algebra.”</p>
<p>Agnesi dedicated the “Basic Principles” to Empress <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/what-made-austrias-maria-theresa-a-one-of-a-kind-ruler/a-37935974">Maria Theresa of Austria</a>, who acknowledged the favor with a letter of thanks and a diamond-bearing box and ring. Pope Benedict XIV praised the work and predicted that it would enhance the reputation of the Italians. He also appointed her to the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna, though she never traveled there to accept it.</p>
<h2>A life of service</h2>
<p>A passionate advocate for the education of women and the poor, Agnesi believed that the natural sciences and math should play an important role in an educational curriculum. As a person of deep religious faith, however, she also believed that scientific and mathematical studies must be viewed in the larger context of God’s plan for creation.</p>
<p>When Maria’s father died in 1752, she was free to answer a religious calling and devote herself to her other great passion: service to the poor, sick and homeless. She began by founding a small hospital in her home. She eventually gave away her wealth, including the gifts she had received from the empress. When she died at age 80, she was buried in a <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/world-maria-gaetana-agnesi-mathematician-god">pauper’s grave</a>. </p>
<p>To this day, some mathematicians express surprise at Maria’s apparent turn from learning and mathematics to a religious vocation. To her, however, it made perfect sense. In her view, human beings are capable of both knowing and loving, and while it is important for the mind to marvel at many truths, it’s ultimately even more important for the heart to be moved by love.</p>
<p>“Man always acts to achieve goals; the goal of the Christian is the glory of God,” she <a href="http://www.vofoundation.org/faith-and-science/maria-gaetana-agnesi-mathematics-making-catholic-enlightenment/">wrote</a>. “I hope my studies have brought glory to God, as there were useful to others, and derived from obedience, because that was my father’s will. Now I have found better ways and means to serve God, and to be useful to others.”</p>
<p>Though few remember Agnesi today, her pioneering role in the history of mathematics serves as an inspiring story of triumph over gender stereotypes. She helped to blaze a trail for women in math and science for generations to follow. Agnesi excelled at math, but she also loved it, perceiving in its mastery an opportunity to serve both her fellow human beings and a higher order.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94378/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
May 16 marks the 300th anniversary of the first woman to write a mathematics textbook.
Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
David Gunderman, Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellow, Purdue University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/92249
2018-03-12T10:48:58Z
2018-03-12T10:48:58Z
Celebrating Marion Walter – and other unsung female mathematicians
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209790/original/file-20180310-30986-yhwoa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Searching for role models in the math world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rear-view-thoughtful-woman-who-tries-297702716">ImageFlow/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I was teaching mathematics in the 90s, before the internet, I had a book of “women mathematicians.” This was helpful for sharing inspirational stories with my middle school students, but there were just six women in this short book. </p>
<p>These days, we have the internet – and more stories about women in mathematics. For example, the 2016 blockbuster movie “Hidden Figures,” based on the book by <a href="http://margotleeshetterly.com/">Margot Lee Shetterley</a>, introduced the world to African-American women mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Christine Darden. The world recently lost <a href="https://theconversation.com/maryam-mirzakhani-was-a-role-model-for-more-than-just-her-mathematics-81143">Maryam Mirzakhani</a>, the first woman to win a Fields Medal (sort of like the Nobel Prize, but in mathematics). </p>
<p>But we still need more stories about women in mathematics. While many mathematicians know of my colleague Marion Walter, she isn’t known well outside her field. And she should be, for her own story and the lessons she brings to our understanding of mathematics. </p>
<h2>Meeting Marion Walter</h2>
<p>Marion Walter turned 90 years old in July 2018, but when you ask her about growing up, she’ll tell you she hasn’t yet. </p>
<p>She was born in 1928 to a Jewish family in Berlin. She and her sister, Ellen, attended a Jewish boarding school 390 miles away, in Herrlingen, Germany. </p>
<p>In 1939, Marion and Ellen left Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport, the rescue operation that evacuated thousands of Jewish children to England before the outbreak of World War II. When the war began, her school – like many others on the south coast – was evacuated to the English countryside. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209610/original/file-20180308-30954-1r9mi3d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marion Walter is professor emerita of mathematics at the University of Oregon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/wmnmath/People/Biographies/MarionWalter.html">Marion Walter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At Christmastime in 1944, the headmistress of Marion’s secondary school called her to ask if she knew yet what her plans were now that she had graduated. It was the middle of the winter, in the middle of the war, and the math teacher had just quit unexpectedly. So the headmistress offered Marion the position, for the salary of 10 shillings per week. This was enough for Marion to purchase fish and chips in the neighboring village, if she biked there. </p>
<p>Though Marion still had to sleep in the dormitory with her students, she was pleased to have access to the teachers’ lounge. At age 16, Marion taught math to students aged 5 to 16, and says that her graduating students all passed their school certificate examination. </p>
<h2>Learning and helping others learn</h2>
<p>Marion taught for two terms before moving on to her next adventure: academic studies in mathematics and education.</p>
<p>She arrived in London in the fall of 1945, where she began her formal study of mathematics at the Regent Street Polytechnic. After she attained her intermediate Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, she moved with her family to New York City. While there, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and education from Hunter College, then a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University. </p>
<p>She studied at night because she did computing work during the day. Marion worked on computations for research professors at New York University, using a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwSmwNF9XY">Marchant calculator</a>. This mechanical computing machine required the user to physically move a cylinder over when adding numbers with multiple digits. </p>
<p>Marion went on to earn her doctorate in mathematics education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and was hired to teach at Simmons College. While in Massachusetts, she founded the <a href="https://www.bostonareamathspecialists.org/">Boston Area Mathematics Specialists</a>, a group focused on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics for school children. In 1977, she moved to the University of Oregon. I met her there in 2016. </p>
<p>Marion’s major mathematical line of study has been problem posing – the art of asking and refining mathematical questions. </p>
<p>Her most significant book is likely <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/7839630/the-art-of-problem-posing">“The Art of Problem Solving”</a>, co-authored with mathematics educator Stephen Brown. She has also written several articles and children’s books about mathematics. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/209832/original/file-20180311-30975-1c7co7l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=568&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A visual depiction of Marion Walter’s Theorem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jennifer Ruef</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Marion is also one of few people to have a <a href="https://girlsangle.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/marion-walters-theorem-via-mass-points/">theorem</a> named after her, based on <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/27968561">the following question</a>: If the sides of a triangle are trisected, what is the resulting area of the hexagon that’s created? </p>
<p>Like Marion, we can benefit from cultivating a sense of wonder. Wonder at how people make sense of mathematics, and wonder at how mathematics can describe the world. Wonder keeps us learning and growing.</p>
<h2>Representing math</h2>
<p>I asked Marion, who retired in 1993, if she had any advice to share. She was adamant on two counts. First, adults should never tell children, “I was not good at math.” And second, they should not tell children that they are wrong.</p>
<p>Research supports both claims. Telling students we’re not good at mathematics sends the <a href="https://www.youcubed.org/resources/parents-beliefs-math-change-childrens-achievement/">message</a> that they might not be either. And when children think they are not good at math, it hurts their ability to engage with it. On the second count, when someone has a “wrong” answer in mathematics, it’s often because they are thinking about a <a href="https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/78024">different problem</a>, or the same problem in a different way. </p>
<p>That said, sometimes there are mathematically incorrect answers. So what do we say? Marion suggests asking, “How are you thinking about the problem?” When children are partners in problem-solving, they are invited into an <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/You-re-all-math-people-you-just-12236409.php">apprenticeship</a> as mathematicians.</p>
<p>The next time you have a reason to think about mathematicians, I hope you will remember Marion Walter. Women and girls have been told, in many ways, that there is no room in math and science for them. Representations matter. The more powerful women we see in mathematics, the more evidence we have that mathematics is for all people. Children who are learning about the world, and their potential place in it, benefit from visions of who they might become – perhaps a woman in mathematics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Ruef does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Women’s History Month is a time to recognize female role models. In mathematics, when we think of powerful women, we should think of Marion Walter.
Jennifer Ruef, Assistant Professor of Education Studies, University of Oregon
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91042
2018-02-08T14:41:44Z
2018-02-08T14:41:44Z
The hidden superpower of ‘Black Panther’: Scientist role models
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205384/original/file-20180207-74473-zbs0ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=435%2C4%2C2290%2C1679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">King of a technologically advanced country, Black Panther is a scientific genius.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hdqwalls.com/download/3840x2400/black-panther-2018-4k">Marvel Studios</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’m not the first to say that the upcoming Marvel movie “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/">Black Panther</a>” will be an important landmark. Finally a feature film starring a black superhero character will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – a successful run of intertwined movies that began with “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371746/">Iron Man</a>” in 2008. While there have been other superhero movies with a black lead character – “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/">Hancock</a>” (2008), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120611/">Blade</a>” (1998), “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/">Spawn</a>” (1997) or even “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107563/">The Meteor Man</a>” (1993) – this film is significant because of the <a href="https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/the-rise-of-superhero-films/">recent remarkable rise of the superhero film</a> from the nerdish fringe to part of mainstream culture. </p>
<p>Huge audiences will see a black lead character – not a sidekick or part of a team – in a superhero movie by a major studio, with a black director (Ryan Coogler), black writers and a majority black cast. This is a significant step toward diversifying our culture by improving the <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/Dr_Stacy_L_Smith-Inequality_in_900_Popular_Films.pdf">lackluster representation</a> of minorities in our major media. It’s also a <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">filmmaking landmark because black creators</a> have been given access to the resources and platforms needed to bring different storytelling perspectives into our mainstream culture.</p>
<p>Last year’s “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451279/">Wonder Woman</a>” forged a similar path. In that case, a major studio finally decided to commit resources to a superhero film headlined by a female character and directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins. Female directors are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/inclusion-directors-chair">a minority in the movie industry</a>. Jenkins brought a new perspective to this kind of action movie, and there was a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/05/31/why-women-are-crying-when-they-watch-wonder-woman-fight/102328772/">huge positive response from audiences</a> in theaters worldwide. </p>
<p>Above and beyond all this, “Black Panther” also has the potential to break additional ground in a way most people may not realize: In the comics, the character is actually a scientist. Moreover, in the inevitable (and somewhat ridiculous) ranking of scientific prowess that happens in the comic book world, he’s been portrayed as at least the equal of the two most famous “top scientists” in the Marvel universe: Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic). A black headlining superhero character written and directed by black artists is rare enough from a major studio, but having him be a successful scientist as well is another level of rarity.</p>
<h2>Scientists on screen</h2>
<p>I’m a scientist who cares about increased engagement with science by the general public. I’ve worked as <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/film/physicist-dr-clifford-v-johnson-is-a-consultant-on-superhero-movies-8232890">a science adviser on many film and TV projects</a> (though not “Black Panther”). When the opportunity arises, I’ve <a href="https://creativefuture.org/science-advisor-conversation-dr-clifford-johnson/">helped broaden the diversity of scientist characters</a> portrayed onscreen.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205377/original/file-20180207-74512-hw1u6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jason Wilkes is a black scientist on ‘Agent Carter,’ whose character emerged from the author’s talks with the show’s writers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC Television</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205375/original/file-20180207-74512-zdpjdm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panels from ‘The Dialogues,’ including a black female scientist.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'The Dialogues,' by Clifford V. Johnson (MIT Press 2017)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I’ve also recently published a <a href="http://thedialoguesbook.com">nonfiction graphic book</a> for general audiences called “<a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/dialogues-0">The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe</a>.” Its characters include male and female black scientists, discussing aspects of my own field of theoretical physics – where black scientists are <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/data.cfm">unfortunately very rare</a>. So the opportunity that the “Black Panther” movie presents to inform and inspire vast audiences is of great interest to me.</p>
<p>The history and evolution of the Black Panther character and his scientific back story is a fascinating example of turning a problematic past into a positive opportunity.</p>
<p>Created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, he’s the first black superhero character in mainstream comics, <a href="https://comicvine.gamespot.com/fantastic-four-52-introducing-the-sensational-blac/4000-8666/">originally appearing as a guest</a> in a “Fantastic Four” Marvel comic. As a black character created and initially written by nonblack authors, guest-starring in the pages of a book headlined by white characters, he had many of the classic attributes of what is now sometimes controversially known as the “<a href="https://www.salon.com/2010/09/14/magical_negro_trope/">magical negro</a>” in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934707307831">American cultural criticism</a>: He ranked extremely highly in every sphere that mattered, to the point of being almost too unreal even for the comics of the time.</p>
<p>Black Panther is T’Challa, king of the fictional African country Wakanda, which is fathomlessly wealthy and remarkably advanced, scientifically and technologically. Even Marvel’s legendary master scientist - Reed Richards of the superhero team Fantastic Four - is befuddled by and full of admiration for Wakanda’s scientific capabilities. T’Challa himself is portrayed as an extraordinary “genius” in physics and other scientific fields, a peerless tactician, a remarkable athlete and a master of numerous forms of martial arts. And he is noble to a fault. Of course, he grows to become a powerful ally of the Fantastic Four and other Marvel superheroes over many adventures.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=333&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205406/original/file-20180207-74473-hjn59z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">While likening Black Panther to a ‘refugee from a Tarzan movie,’ the Fantastic Four marveled at his technological innovations in ‘Introducing the Sensational Black Panther.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The key point here is that the superlative scientific ability of our hero, and that of his country, has its origins in the well-meaning, but problematic, practice of inventing near or beyond perfect black characters to support stories starring primarily white protagonists. But this is a lemons-to-lemonade story.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205407/original/file-20180207-74476-yuoi9u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Fantastic Four were amazed by the scientific ingenuity of Wakanda in ‘Whosoever Finds The Evil Eye.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fantastic Four #54 (September 1966). [Marvel Comics]</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Black Panther (T’Challa) eventually gets to star in his own series of comics. He is turned into a nuanced and complex character, moving well away from the tropes of his beginnings. Writer Don McGregor’s work started this development as early as 1973, but Black Panther’s journey to the multilayered character we’ll see on screen was greatly advanced by the efforts of several writers with diverse perspectives. Perhaps most notably, in the context of the film, these include Christopher Priest (late 1990s) and Ta-Nehisi Coates (starting in 2016), along with Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey, writing in “World of Wakanda” (2016). Coates and Gay, already best-selling literary writers before coming to the character, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/books/black-panther-marvel-comics-roxane-gay-ta-nehisi-coates-wakanda.html?_r=0">helped bring him to wider attention</a> beyond normal comic book fandom, partly paving the way for the movie.</p>
<p>Through all of the improved writing of T'Challa and his world, his spectacular scientific ability has remained prominent. Wakanda continues to be a successful African nation with astonishing science and technology. Furthermore, and very importantly, T'Challa is not portrayed as an anomaly among his people in this regard. There are many great scientists and engineers in Wakanda, including his half-sister Shuri. In some accounts, she (in the continued scientist-ranking business of comics) is an even greater intellect than he is.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/205385/original/file-20180207-74506-voxz8z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Panther isn’t an isolated genius – his half-sister Shuri is a technological wiz herself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collider.com/black-panther-things-to-know/">Marvel Studios</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>If they can do it, then why not me?</h2>
<p>As a scientist who cares about inspiring more people – including underrepresented minorities and women – <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ways-scientists-can-help-put-science-back-into-popular-culture-84955">to engage with science</a>, I think that if a significant portion of this scientific landscape appears in “Black Panther” it could amplify the movie’s cultural impact.</p>
<p>Vast audiences will see black heroes of both genders using their scientific ability to solve problems and make their way in the world, at an unrivaled level. <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/daphna-oyserman/identity/">Research has shown</a> that such representation can have a positive effect on the interests, outlook and career trajectories of viewers.</p>
<p>Improving science education for all is a core endeavor in a nation’s competitiveness and overall health, but outcomes are limited if people aren’t inspired to take an interest in science in the first place. There simply are <a href="http://annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii/research/raceethnicity">not enough images of black scientists</a> – male or female – in our media and entertainment to help inspire. Many people from underrepresented groups end up genuinely believing that scientific investigation is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1949-8594.2002.tb18217.x">not a career path open to them</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, many people still see the dedication and study needed to excel in science as “nerdy.” A cultural injection of Black Panther heroics could help continue to erode the crumbling tropes that science is <a href="https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-man-when-they-think-scientist-how-can-we-kill-the-stereotype-42393">only for white men</a> or reserved for <a href="https://theconversation.com/beliefs-about-innate-talent-may-dissuade-students-from-stem-42967">people with a special “science gene.”</a></p>
<p>Given the widespread anticipation for the upcoming “Black Panther” movie, if it showcases T'Challa and other Wakandans as highly accomplished scientists, it should give science engagement a significant boost worldwide.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clifford Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Seeing black lead characters who are accomplished scientists could be just the thing to help inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps.
Clifford Johnson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/87513
2017-11-28T19:08:10Z
2017-11-28T19:08:10Z
Want to solve our STEM skills problem? Bring in the professionals
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195541/original/file-20171120-18561-11wsp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Career changers are intrinsically motivated and tend to be more committed to teaching, having changed careers later in life.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The role of technology, the changing nature of the work force and the effects of globalisation means citizens and governments are playing catch up to make sure our future generations are capable and competent to perform the jobs of tomorrow. </p>
<p>Recent Australian <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/STEM_AustraliasFuture_Sept2014_Web.pdf">studies</a> show there’s a decline in student participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in high school. <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisa-2015-results-in-focus.pdf">OECD</a> data also shows we’re lagging behind high-performing countries like Singapore and Taiwan in literacy and numeracy.</p>
<p>We want more of our students to take up STEM in schools and universities so we have a steady stream of graduates skilled in these areas for the future.</p>
<p>Teachers can have a strong influence on students’ engagement and interest in STEM subjects, and on how they view maths and science in terms of future careers. <a href="https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=research_conference_2003">Research</a> has shown students are more likely to be motivated and interested in their studies if they’re taught by effective and inspiring teachers. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ways-to-boost-science-performance-in-australian-schools-69770">Three ways to boost science performance in Australian schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Appropriate knowledge and experience</h2>
<p>Teachers have to be STEM literate and confident to teach competently and bring a real-world application of expertise to the classroom. </p>
<p>Currently, there’s a <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/STEM_AustraliasFuture_Sept2014_Web.pdf">shortage of qualified maths and science teachers</a> in secondary schools. Often, teachers who are qualified lack the knowledge or experience of how these disciplines are used and valued outside of school. Those coming to teach straight from university don’t have the capability to link theory with practice. Nor can they see the connection between STEM subjects taught in schools and their applications in the real world.</p>
<p>This means students don’t get the full appreciation and knowledge of science and mathematics teaching in practice. This can lead to disinterest and disengagement, resulting in fewer students taking up STEM subjects in senior years and in university.</p>
<h2>Career changers bring real-life experience</h2>
<p>Teachers who have been STEM professionals prior to becoming teachers bring invaluable work and life experience skills to the classroom. </p>
<p>People who have worked in STEM areas outside of the teaching profession, such as mathematicians, technologists, engineers or scientists, have current knowledge and experience of the discipline. This enables them to effectively demonstrate the link between content knowledge in maths and science, and its diverse uses in real workplaces. </p>
<p>They can act as role models and are able to engage students by helping them to develop a broader understanding and interest in STEM areas and opportunities. Science and maths become more interesting and relevant to students when they’re able to see the connection between key concepts and its practical application. Bringing the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1007/s10972-011-9260-1">field experience</a> into the classroom sparks passion and interest. </p>
<p><a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/49551/3/27FA07FF-C6EC-43B5-9460-05D84519278E%20am.pdf">Research</a> reveals this mature-age cohort also exhibit self-confidence, creativity and passion. Skills such as these fall under the scope of “inspirational teaching and inspired learning”, as indicated in the Chief Scientist’s 2014 report <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/STEM_AustraliasFuture_Sept2014_Web.pdf">Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: Australia’s Future</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196649/original/file-20171128-2038-j4bz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers who inspire, like career changers with real-life experience, can get kids interested in a career in STEM.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Career changers are intrinsically motivated and tend to be more committed to teaching. While there are several factors influencing their choice to change careers, <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/29255">research</a> indicates their commitment stems from making a conscious decision to become a teacher. </p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/handle/10453/29255">research</a> conducted among career-change student teachers has shown there’s a growing number of career changers, including scientists and mathematicians, who join the teaching profession. </p>
<p>STEM career changers can make science relevant to students by using examples from their own lives. They can help students see the value of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1007/s10972-011-9260-1">reasoning and attention to models</a> embedded in scientific practice. We need more of these experts if we’re to build the capabilities of STEM-skilled graduates for <a href="http://www.science.gov.au/scienceGov/news/Documents/VisionForAScienceNationRespondingToSTEMAustraliasFuture.pdf">Australia’s future workforce</a>. </p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>While we know career changers in general are highly motivated and bring invaluable skills to the classroom, little academic research exists on STEM professionals who are teachers. A closer look at this group of teachers is required to understand their motivations and contributions, teaching style and classroom approaches, and their ways of linking theory and practice. </p>
<p>It’s also imperative we understand the various barriers and enablers they face as STEM teachers. <a href="https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/49551/3/27FA07FF-C6EC-43B5-9460-05D84519278E%20am.pdf">Research</a> on career changers indicates some of the barriers relate to a lack of recognition of their experiences by school staff. They also face challenges associated with translating some of their STEM skills to classrooms. Appropriate support systems to ease their career transition and a better awareness of their strengths could go a long way.</p>
<p>We need to talk to these teachers so we know what factors contribute to their success (or failure) in the classroom. This will enable us to take the necessary steps to make the teaching profession more attractive to professionals from STEM fields.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Meera Varadharajan has received funding from Australian Teacher Education Association to conduct research on career change student teachers in Australian Universities. </span></em></p>
STEM professionals who change careers to become teachers are often intrinsically motivated, and can help engage kids in STEM subjects with their real-world experience.
Meera Varadharajan, Research Associate, University of Technology Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81143
2017-07-17T23:56:59Z
2017-07-17T23:56:59Z
Maryam Mirzakhani was a role model for more than just her mathematics
<p>On July 14, 2017, Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford professor of mathematics and the only female winner of the prestigious Fields Medal in Mathematics, died at the age of 40. </p>
<p>In just a few hours, her name, both in her native Farsi (#مریم میرزاخانی) and English (#maryammirzakhani), was trending on Twitter and Facebook. <a href="http://ifpnews.com/exclusive/iran-newspaper-front-page-july-16-2017/">Most major news agencies</a> were <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40617094">covering the news</a> of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead.html">her death</a> as well as recounting <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/2017/07/15/maryam-mirzakhani-stanford-mathematician-and-fields-medal-winner-dies/">her many achievements</a>.</p>
<p>The grief was especially hard-hitting for a generation of younger academics like me who have always held Maryam as a role model whose example is helping redefine women’s status in science and especially mathematics. </p>
<p>The irony was that Maryam always tried to avoid the media’s spotlight. Her modesty and simplicity despite being the only woman to gain such high status in the world of mathematics – winning what’s often called the “Nobel Prize of math” – stood out to those who knew her.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to meet Maryam personally. But like many of my Iranian peers in academia, I looked to her example as proof that the world would welcome us and our scientific contributions no matter our skin color, nationality or religion. </p>
<p>As people around the globe grieve the loss of this talented mathematician, Maryam’s life stands as an inspiration for young girls and boys from all walks of life the world over.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/swLWqlKMl5M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Maryam Mirzakhani in her own words in a video by the Simons Foundation and the International Mathematical Union.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Steady advances of a hardworking genius</h2>
<p>Despite her calm expression and warm smile, Maryam was a warrior. She and her family, alongside many other Iranians, lived through the hard economic and social transformations after the Iran revolution in 1979 and also survived the eight years of the Iran-Iraq war a few years after that.</p>
<p>Maryam originally wanted to be a writer, a passion of hers that never faded away even during her postgraduate studies. However, she found an even greater joy in how rewarding it felt to solve mathematical problems. As a student, she was the first female member of Iran’s national team to participate in the International Math Olympiad, and she <a href="https://www.imo-official.org/participant_r.aspx?id=926">won two gold medals</a> in two consecutive years – still a record.</p>
<p>She received her bachelor’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in Iran and later a doctorate from Harvard. In 2014, Maryam was <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-winners-of-the-fields-medal-the-nobel-prize-of-maths-30411">recognized with the Fields Medal</a>, the highest-ranking award in mathematics, for her efforts in what’s known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/corals-crochet-and-the-cosmos-how-hyperbolic-geometry-pervades-the-universe-53382">hyperbolic geometry</a>. Her work focused on curved surfaces – such as spheres or donut shapes – and how to understand their properties. Her achievements have applications in other fields of science including quantum field theory, engineering and material science, and could even influence theories around how our universe was born.</p>
<p>Maryam was a “hall of fame” all by herself. She modestly attributed her own success to her perseverance, hard work and patience. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/13/interview-maryam-mirzakhani-fields-medal-winner-mathematician">As she put it</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately, when she was honored with the Fields Medal, she was already tackling her last challenge, the breast cancer that eventually killed her.</p>
<h2>Who she was, not just what she did, matters</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/maryam-mirzakhanis-success-showed-us-the-challenges-women-in-maths-still-face-81193">Maryam’s contributions</a> to the field of mathematics will long be remembered. But just as important is her legacy as a role model. </p>
<p>Maryam was an Iranian, a woman and an immigrant to the United States. Unfortunately, these three words together raise red flags for some in Western countries, particularly in the U.S., in the time of <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/trump-travel-ban-35583">Trump’s proposed travel ban</a>. </p>
<p>Against all odds, Maryam’s talent was nurtured in Iran and later flourished in the U.S. Her successes discredit the xenophobic stereotypes that are encouraged by a politics of fear. Maryam defied expectations and rose above all the labels that make it easy to judge others who are not like “us.”</p>
<p>Maryam’s legend may continue to grow after her early death. Still only 20 percent of full-time math faculty at U.S. universities are women, <a href="http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/demographics">according to a 2015 demographic survey</a> of 213 departments by the American Mathematical Society. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684312459328">stereotyped role models can influence</a> whether people “see themselves” in certain STEM careers. The example of a woman who rose to the top of this still very male field may help inspire math’s next generation. </p>
<p>In the same way people think of Marie Curie or Jane Goodall as scientific pioneers, Maryam Mirzakhani will go down in history as a trailblazer as well as a mathematical genius.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mehrdokht (Medo) Pournader does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Mirzakhani blazed to the top of her field due to her talent. But who she was and where she came from also make her a role model for those from underrepresented demographics in the world of math.
Mehrdokht (Medo) Pournader, Senior lecturer at The University of Melbourne, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/76854
2017-05-01T20:05:01Z
2017-05-01T20:05:01Z
The hunt for the Superstars of STEM to engage more women in science
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167137/original/file-20170428-15121-15r80yf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new Superstar in STEM ambassador Lisa Harvey-Smith at the Australian Astronomical Observatory’s 3.9m Anglo-Australia Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/">Superstars of STEM</a> is a new program by Science and Technology Australia that aims to smash the stereotypical portrait of people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).</p>
<p>The plan is to identify 30 superstar women currently in STEM, and work with them to create role models for young women and girls, and thus move towards equal representation in the media of men and women in STEM.</p>
<p>As the new ambassador and a mentor for Superstars of STEM, my role is to encourage broad participation, which we hope will elevate the visibility of women STEM professionals in public life.</p>
<h2>Encouraging more women in STEM</h2>
<p>There are already some programs that support female scientists and technologists in a bid to break down systemic obstacles. These include the <a href="https://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au">Science in Australia Gender Equity</a> program. Others aim to inspire women to study STEM subjects, such as <a href="https://codelikeagirl.org">Code like a Girl</a> or to help young women build their techno-confidence, such as <a href="http://www.sheflies.com.au">SheFlies</a> and <a href="http://robogals.org">Robogals</a>.</p>
<p>Adding to this picture, Superstars of STEM aims to address public perception and is founded on the principle that <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science-and-politics/article/gender-equality-in-the-ivory-tower-and-how-best-to-achieve-it/AFA743CD689C4BE594627C24F49E807E">visibility matters</a> in achieving equality.</p>
<p>Rather than simply attempting to shoehorn women into the public eye, this new program will work with 30 women in STEM to equip them with the skills, confidence and opportunities to become role models. This approach will build on the work being done to address systemic issues facing female scientists and technologists.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/europe/features/dont-european-girls-like-science-technology/">European study by Microsoft</a> found that most girls became interested in STEM at around the age of 11, but their interest began to wane at 15. This is an important age, as girls are starting to make decisions that will set the trajectory of their academic life.</p>
<p>The lack of role models in STEM was identified as the key factor that influenced the girls in the study, as well as a lack of practical experience with STEM subjects at school. On Twitter, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/09/top-50-science-stars-twitter">92% of the most followed</a> scientists are male. When women scientists are mentioned in the media, they often tend to be <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0963662508098580">described by their appearance</a> rather than their achievements.</p>
<p>The need for more female STEM role models has also been echoed in similar reports and programs in <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/girls-in-tech-stem-study">Asia</a>, the <a href="http://www.information-age.com/stem-boys-survey-exposes-how-negatively-young-girls-perceive-stem-subjects-123460224/">UK</a>, <a href="http://waawfoundation.org/">Africa</a> and the <a href="http://www.ncgs.org/Pdfs/Resources/Role%20Models.pdf">United States</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, more than half of all undergraduates and half of PhD students are female. Almost 60% of <a href="https://womeninscienceaust.org/2014/06/15/women-in-the-scientific-research-workforce-identifying-and-sustaining-the-diversity-advantage/">junior science lecturers are women</a>. But women comprise <a href="http://www.sciencegenderequity.org.au/gender-equity-in-stem/">just 16%</a> of top-level science and technology researchers, professors and professionals.</p>
<h2>Role models</h2>
<p>As a young kid gazing at the stars, my role models were pioneering astronauts like <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/neil-armstrong-9188943">Neil Armstrong</a> and <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/buzz-aldrin-9179894">Buzz Aldrin</a>, and eccentric types such as the late, great astronomy broadcaster <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-20657939">Sir Patrick Moore</a>. </p>
<p>I thought that was enough for me, until as a 16-year-old I met Britain’s first astronaut, <a href="http://www.helensharman.com/">Helen Sharman</a>, at <a href="http://spaceschool.co.uk/S_Spaceschool/-about-us">Space School UK</a>. At that moment I suddenly realised that every one of my role models in the fields of astronomy and space science had been male. </p>
<p>Meeting this real-life STEM superstar had a transformational influence on me. It even spurred me on to apply for the European Astronaut Program in 2009. </p>
<p>As someone who is passionate about astrophysics and science education I have inadvertently become a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/eureka-prizes-lisa-harveysmiths-vision-for-astronomy-lands-her-award-for-promoting-australian-research-20160831-gr5cxx.html">role model myself</a>.</p>
<p>But the continued lack of diverse role models in STEM makes me wonder how many missed opportunities and how much unrealised potential continues to be lost. Have our young, modern-day <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1903/marie-curie-bio.html">Marie Curies</a>, <a href="http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/snapshots/find-of-the-month/2009-march.aspx">Ruby Payne-Scotts</a>, <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/ada-lovelace-20825323">Ada Lovelaces</a> and <a href="https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/history/interviews-australian-scientists/dr-isobel-bennett-1909-2008">Isobel Bennetts</a> passed up on science as a subject in favour of more conventional choices?</p>
<h2>The new superstars</h2>
<p>In its first year, Superstars of STEM is placing 30 women in the public eye, by equipping them with advanced communication skills. This will include media training, meetings with decision-makers, and opportunities to showcase their work.</p>
<p>Participants will also be supported to speak with girls directly at local high schools and public events, along with establishing a public profile online.</p>
<p>There are too few transformational and brilliant women in the public eye. Every success in science and technology in Australia is built on the work and contributions of people across the genders. For the sake of our girls,we need to celebrate these outstanding scientists and their work.</p>
<p>I imagine a time when we ask children to draw a scientist and they draw somebody who looks like mathematician <a href="http://highered.amsi.org.au/professor-nalini-joshi-a-woman-of-influence/">Nalini Joshi</a>, molecular biologist <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/boyerlectures/series/2014-boyer-lectures/6481612">Suzanne Cory</a>, or astronomer <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/trailblazer-karlie-noon-reaches-for-stars-in-indigenous-knowledge/news-story/342fbe8b2c54bcfa0a91054b1e1ea0a8">Karlie Noon</a>.</p>
<p>The measure of the success of Superstars of STEM will be whether young Australian women can turn on the television, read a newspaper or engage with social media and see women experts presenting STEM as an exciting and viable career. I can’t wait to witness the opportunities this change will bring.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-authored with Kylie Walker, Chief Executive Officer of Science and Technology Australia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76854/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Harvey-Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
More young women and girls could be encouraged to look to a career in science thanks to the new Superstars in STEM project.
Lisa Harvey-Smith, Group Leader - Australia Telescope National Facility Science, CSIRO
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/70252
2016-12-13T03:55:48Z
2016-12-13T03:55:48Z
‘Even though I am a girl…’: John Glenn’s fan mail and sexism in the early space program
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149565/original/image-20161212-31402-1h3qx45.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">John Glenn stands in the NASA mailroom surrounded by thousands of letters sent to him.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.handle.net/1811/50581">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>News of the death of John Glenn – “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/opinion/john-glenn-the-last-american-hero.html">the last genuine American hero</a>” – ricocheted across the internet on Dec. 8, 2016, in less time than it had taken the famed astronaut to complete his first Earth orbit. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"806960800669794305"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/806960800669794305">NASA</a>, the <a href="https://twitter.com/USMC/status/806962798446211073">U.S. Marine Corps</a>, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/12/08/statement-president-passing-john-glenn">President Barack Obama</a> and many others quickly <a href="https://www.facebook.com/potus/photos/a.428389484017564.1073741830.424207551102424/573534829503028/?type=3&theater">posted laudatory tributes on social media</a>. In the first 48 hours after it was published, The New York Times’ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/john-glenn-dies.html">obituary</a> garnered more than 500 online comments from readers sharing their sentiments and personal memories, many laced with nostalgia.</p>
<p>One commenter, “Mom,” wrote about being a fifth grader, listening at school to a transistor radio on the morning of John Glenn’s flight. “This was the definition of the future,” Mom wrote. “I wanted to do hard math with slide rules and learn hard languages and solve mysteries. I wanted to be like John Glenn.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149557/original/image-20161212-31402-1taa3rl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Word cloud made from readers’ comments on The New York Times obituary, Dec. 8-9, 2016.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But was the pioneering starman really everybody’s hero? </p>
<p>At least in the early days after his flight, the relationship between John Glenn and his young female fans was complicated by the male-dominated cultures of 1960s America and the U.S. space program. Prevailing gender role stereotypes, limited opportunities, sexism and a lack of female role models in the world of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) all stood between girls’ dreams and the stars.</p>
<h2>‘Even though I am a girl…’</h2>
<p>Recollections of Glenn are of particular interest to me as a historian <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Into-Cosmos-Exploration-Culture-European/dp/082296161X">undertaking a major</a> <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230274358#otherversion=9780230307049">research project</a> called “A Sky Full of Stars: Girls and Space-Age Cultures in Cold War America and the Soviet Union.” At the heart of the study is my analysis of hundreds of fan mail letters written by girls in the U.S. and USSR to three pioneers of human space flight – Yuri Gagarin, John Glenn and Valentina Tereshkova – whose respective orbital voyages around the Earth in 1961, 1962 and 1963 unleashed the imaginations of a generation of children swept up in the “space craze.”</p>
<p>I set out to discover how girls in both countries understood their life possibilities at the dawn of the space age and how science and technology fit into their equations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149890/original/image-20161213-1594-hwjfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schoolgirls in New York, 1962.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Based on my research in the <a href="https://library.osu.edu/find/collections/ohio-congressional-archives/john-h-glenn-archives/">John H. Glenn Archives</a> at The Ohio State University, the majority of American girls’ letters to Glenn conformed to established gender conventions. Girls frequently congratulated the astronaut on stereotypically masculine characteristics – strength and bravery – while denying that they themselves possessed those qualities. Some were openly flirtatious, offering admiring personal comments on Glenn’s appearance, physique and sex appeal. Some also wrote to request an autograph or glossy photo, embracing a well-established culture of celebrity and fandom that was pervasive among American girls of the era. </p>
<p>The letters that interest me most are from girls who were so inspired by Glenn’s accomplishment that they envisioned for themselves a place in the STEM sphere. Some wrote to Glenn to report about their science fair projects or rocket design clubs and to ask for technical advice. Some expressed the desire to follow their hero into careers in aviation and astronautics, even as they expressed skepticism that such a path would be open to them. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149585/original/image-20161212-31396-1m6sgzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High school yearbook picture of one letter writer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ancestry</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The formulation “even though I am a girl I hope to be just like you” in various manifestations appeared as a steady refrain in girls’ letters. Diane A. of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, wrote, “I would very much like to become an astronaut, but since I am a 15-year-old girl I guess that would be impossible.” Suzanne K. from Fairfax, Virginia, was more defiant: “I hope I go to the moon sometime when I’m older. I’m a girl but if men can go in space so can women.” Carol C. of Glendale, New York, wrote to ask “this one simple question concerning a woman’s place in space. Will she only be needed around Cape Canaveral or will she eventually accompany an astronaut into space? If so I sure wish I were she.”</p>
<p>The news that “the Russians” had sent a woman into space in June 1963 emboldened some girls to ask Glenn more pointed questions. Ella H. of Meridian, Mississippi, wrote on behalf of her junior high school class to inquire, “What were our male astronauts’ reactions when Russia’s female astronaut made more orbits than they? …Do you seven male astronauts think that a women will go into space within the next two years?” Meanwhile, Patricia A. of Newport News, Virginia, asked Glenn outright, “Do you think that sending women into space is a very good idea?”</p>
<h2>Glenn and the ‘problem’ of ‘lady astronauts’</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149588/original/image-20161212-31402-1nw11rf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Although Jerrie Cobb never flew in space, she and 24 other women underwent physical tests similar to those taken by the Mercury astronauts with the belief that she might become an astronaut trainee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JerrieCobb_MercuryCapsule.jpg">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While few of his replies to letter writers were preserved in the archive, those that exist suggest Glenn avoided encouraging girls’ dreams of flight and space exploration.</p>
<p>Fourteen-year-old Carol S. in Brooklyn wrote to her “idol” to share her “strong desire to be an astronaut” and seek Glenn’s advice on how to overcome the obstacle of being a girl, “a slight problem it seems.” Glenn replied four months later to thank Carol for her letter, but rather than answering her query directly he enclosed “some literature which I hope will answer your questions.”</p>
<p>A girl named “Pudge” from Springfield, Illinois sent a long enthusiastic letter sharing her plans to join the Air Force and her “thrill at the sight or sound of jets, helicopters (especially the H-37A ‘Mojave’) rockets or anything connected with space, the Air Force or flying.” Glenn sent a friendly reply including “some literature about the space program which I hope you will enjoy,” but said nothing about the viability of the girl’s aspirations. </p>
<p>Hard evidence of Glenn’s position on the question of “lady astronauts” came in the form of his congressional testimony in July 1962. A Special Subcommittee on the Selection of Astronauts of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics was formed in response to the quashing of the privately funded “<a href="http://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/flats.html">woman in space</a>” program and related allegations of sexual discrimination at NASA.</p>
<p>A March 1962 <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/nasa%E2%80%99s-early-stand-women-astronauts-%E2%80%9Cno-present-plans-include-women-space-flights%E2%80%9D">letter from the director of NASA’s Office of Public Services and Information</a> to a young girl who had written to President John F. Kennedy to ask if she could become an astronaut stated that “we have no present plans to employ women on space flights because of the degree of scientific and flight training, and the physical characteristics, which are required.”</p>
<p>Glenn’s testimony before the subcommittee echoed that position. In his opinion, the best-qualified astronauts were those who had experience as military pilots, a career path that was closed to women. In a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=X6xqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT316&lpg=PT316&dq=%22The+men+go+off+and+fight+the+wars+and+fly+the+airplanes%22&source=bl&ots=GpKWzlrnxD&sig=MarEmQU6DKhjoag3oC4_VDQ3bEw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJrrKG-ezQAhVKh1QKHQwIA0gQ6AEIMTAF#v=onepage&q=%22The%20men%20go%20off%20and%20fight%20the%20wars%20and%20fly%20the%20airplanes%22&f=false">much-quoted statement</a>, Glenn asserted that “the men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes and come back and help design and build and test them. The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order.” The <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Qualifications_for_Astronauts.html?id=xGIVAAAAIAAJ">subcommittee’s final report</a> concurred, effectively barring female applicants from consideration for the Apollo missions.</p>
<p>Crucially, Glenn’s position soon evolved in a more egalitarian direction. As historian <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Integrating-Women-into-Astronaut-Corps/dp/1421401959">Amy E. Foster</a> noted, a May 1965 Miami Herald article headlined “Glenn Sees Place for Girls In Space” quoted the astronaut as saying that NASA’s plans to develop a new “scientist-astronaut” program should “offer a serious chance for space women.”</p>
<h2>Not looking like John Glenn</h2>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149605/original/image-20161212-31383-lztcqw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Glenn, circa 1923.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://hdl.handle.net/1811/50535">John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While much of the commentary about Glenn since his death has been highly celebratory, a subtle line of critique has reawakened questions about the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity and class have been inscribed in the history of America’s space program. A woman identified as “Hope” was the lone voice in The New York Times comments to urge people to remember that the first astronauts “knew they were there because they were men, and were white, and were chosen above others who may have been just as fit but didn’t look like John Glenn.”</p>
<p>In fact, Glenn’s death has helped bring welcome attention to the accomplishments of some of the U.S. space program’s unsung heroes, individuals who did not look like the famed astronaut but who helped make his voyage possible. Mentions of the much-anticipated feature film “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846340/">Hidden Figures</a>,” set for debut in early January, are especially noticeable. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"807004211640578048"}"></div></p>
<p>The movie focuses on Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn – three African-American women of NASA who helped make John Glenn’s flight around the Earth possible. As writer and social critic Rebecca Carroll put it in a tweet, Glenn became “the first American to orbit the earth bc he trusted a black woman to do the math.” As of this writing, it was retweeted more than any other #johnglenn item in recent days.</p>
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<p>President Obama wrote in his statement on Glenn’s death that “John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond – not just to visit, but to stay.” The quest to broaden that group to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/women">include people who don’t look like Glenn</a>, but who aspire to his highest goals has become a national priority. NASA has <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Diversity_in_Space.html">diversified the astronaut corps</a> significantly since the heyday of Projects Mercury and Apollo, and has taken conscious <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/SSC-2014-DI-Survey-Report.pdf">steps to make the agency more inclusive overall</a>. Meanwhile, a much wider spectrum of positive STEM role models exists today both in real life and mass culture. </p>
<p>The excitement of a Mars mission featuring a diverse set of heroes might be just the ticket America needs to inspire a new generation of children to reach for the stars. Fill out your application <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/be-an-astronaut-nasa-accepting-applications-for-future-explorers">here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roshanna Sylvester received funding for this research from the American Philosophical Society, the Spencer Foundation, the Kennan Institute, and DePaul University. </span></em></p>
Letters from would-be girl astronauts in the 1960s tell part of the complicated story of sexism – in both NASA and the US at large – at the dawn of the space age.
Roshanna P. Sylvester, Associate Professor of History, DePaul University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.