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.
One criticism of traditional mentoring is that it teaches people how to succeed by playing by existing rules, thus reinforcing the status quo. But mentoring can also be a force for change.
Professor Tania Douglas is warmly remembered as an excellent scientist and a remarkable human being.
Je'nine May/UCT Health Sciences
She believed and advocated that Africa needs to find solutions to its own problems and worked tirelessly to build biomedical engineering capacity across the continent.
Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, is the winner of the 2021 World Food Prize for her work identifying small fish as valuable nutrition sources for developing countries.
When women do science, society benefits in myriad ways.
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Marie Curie overcame innumerable obstacles, and in the process has become a role model. But does the latest film version of her life do her story justice?
Women have a huge amount to contribute to science and research, if the right support systems are in place.
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Reasons why women’s voices are ignored in science reporting range from socio-cultural influences that inform gender norms, to perceptions of leadership and political power structures.
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.
There are still sexist views of women’s brains.
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From having small brains to being better at reading, it is often argued that women aren’t well suited to do science.
Tharp with an undersea map at her desk. Rolled sonar profiles of the ocean floor are on the shelf behind her.
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the estate of Marie Tharp
Born on July 30, 1920, geologist and cartographer Tharp changed scientific thinking about what lay at the bottom of the ocean – not a featureless flat, but rugged and varied terrain.
On the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, we take a look at how her monumental efforts helped shape the way we model health care and disease outbreak data today.
Films that dissolve rapidly when placed under the tongue or high in the cheek will make vaccines cheaper and more reliable.
Stephen C. Schafer
Inspired by amber and hard candy, researchers figured out a new, needle-free, shelf-stable way to preserve vaccines, making them easier to ship and administer around the world.
Cheryl Praeger was awarded the 2019 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. She has spent more than four decades inspiring a love for maths in others, and has created a vast body of academic work in the process.
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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.
One of the most influential agricultural entomologists in history was an insatiably curious and fiercely independent woman named Eleanor Anne Ormerod. She never went to school - nor was she paid for her work.
The majority of Australian women change their name when they marry.
Photo byMarc A. Sporys / Unsplash
The early days of science writing were largely confined to men, with women treated to texts labelled “for the ladies”. Things have changed, but more needs to be done.