Hiring statistics,
harassment, bias, glass ceiling, discrimination, …. All important topics to discuss and address to improve
our world. But I have a more
cheery subject on my mind today, namely art. Scientific American had an on-line article in March on art
depicting women in STEM fields.
The pages were filled with interesting paintings and discussions of the
scientists depicted. See
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/15-works-of-art-depicting-women-in-science/
The author, Maia
Weinstock, comments on the importance of art and design in science and
technology and morphs STEM into STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art
and math). Pictures and paintings
of scientists have historically concentrated on male subjects. Since pictures have such an important
effect on our perception and memory, it is important to highlight the few works
of art that depicted women scientists … and to create more of them!
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I particularly like the
painting of Marie Curie holding a test tube with the outline of a snake around
it. It is “Marie Curie" painted by Jeff Fenwick. Her eyes are locked quizzically on the
tube seemingly pondering the nature of the radioactive material it
contains. Is the snake meant to be
a sinister hint of the radiation dangers of her research that eventually led to
her death? Or, as the author Jeff
Fenwick points out, does it represent the Rod of Asclepius symbol of medicine
which greatly benefited from the discover of radioactive materials?
Other paintings and
drawings include those of scientists such as chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall,
discoverer of the Cepheid luminosity-period relationship Henrietta Swan Leavitt,
X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, and astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally
Ride. They are of different styles
and quite interesting to view.
The author will be the
guest curator of an exhibition of a selection of these art works at the Art
Science Gallery in Austin, Texas, from September 13 through October 15, 2014. It would definitely be worth a visit.
