Cross-post: The Star-Studded Life of Ms. Dorothy Bennett

Photo credit: Piotr Redlinski

In April 2016, author Amy Sohn wrote a piece in JSTOR Daily on Dorothy Bennett, a woman who was influential in the founding of the Hayden Planetarium as an assistant curator, delivering over 1000 lectures there.

Ms. Bennett had a remarkable career, which included  co-authoring an introduction to astronomy for young readers in 1935 called Handbook of the Heavens along with a then-member of the club and an astronomer at the museum.  It stayed in print for nearly sixty years.  

Ms. Bennett also organized an expedition to Cerro de Pasco, Peru, in June 1937, to view the longest solar eclipse until 2004.  To read the entire article, go to:

https://daily.jstor.org/dorothy-bennett/

“Expedition team with Te-Ata Fisher arriving at Callao, Peru, 1937,” Charles H., Coles, Courtesy American Museum of Natural History.

AASWomen Newsletter for February 23, 2018

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 23, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Christina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Cross-post: How to Find a Woman Scientist

2. A guide to juggling fieldwork and pregnancy

3. He Became A Celebrity For Putting Science Before God. Now Lawrence Krauss Faces Allegations Of Sexual Misconduct.

4. The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM

5. Sydney Wolff, First woman in the US to head a major observatory

6. Job Opportunities

7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Cross-post: How to Find a Woman Scientist

Credit: NASA

An article in the Voices section of Scientific American by Katarzyna Nowak on February 12, 2018 discusses how a new database is fighting the poor visibility of women in STEM by offering female professionals as speakers, panelists, experts, course leaders and advocates for diversity and equity.  For the complete article go to:

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/how-to-find-a-woman-scientist/#

AASWomen Newsletter for February 16, 2018

AAS Committee on the Status of Women

February 16, 2018

eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Christina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. Talking About the Tesla          

2. NASA's First Chief Astronomer, the Mother of Hubble 

3. Who’s Important? A tale from Wikipedia   

4. OSA Foundation and The Optical Society celebrates women in our field by sharing special tributes from Members 

5. I want girls to learn math and science — and their own self-worth — despite stereotypes  

6. Job Opportunities   

7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Talking About the Tesla

By Emily Lakdawalla
Emily Lakdawalla is a science writer, author of the forthcoming book The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Does Its Job.

When I first heard about Elon Musk’s plan to launch his own cherry-red Tesla roadster as a dummy mass aloft the inaugural launch of the Falcon Heavy, I was nonplussed. Something had to be in that rocket, and there’s no question that the car would be more fun than a block of concrete. But it struck me as a vulgar display of conspicuous consumption, like lighting a cigar with a flaming hundred-dollar bill. NASA - and all the other government-run space agencies - put so much thought and care into the symbols that launch on their spacecraft: the Pioneer plaque, the Voyager golden record, the Martian library on the Phoenix lander. This, by contrast, appeared as one man’s display of wealth and power: I’m rich enough to throw away this car on the rocket I built.

And then the Falcon Heavy launched, and the launch was picture-perfect, especially the stunning synchronized landings of the two side boosters. Seeing that happen, live, while I was flying in an airplane, brought home what a revolutionary moment this was. I was thrilled and inspired, and anticipating the momentous firing of the upper stage that would take it on a trans-Mars trajectory (though not actually to Mars). And, I have to admit, I loved seeing the Starman (named in honor of David Bowie) sitting nonchalantly in the red convertible, the GPS screen reading “DON’T PANIC” (an homage to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy), as the gorgeous globe of Earth passed behind the slowly rotating scene. My friend Judy Schmidt correctly identified (I think) why I found joy in the image -- it’s because of a lifetime immersed in American imagery of the car, the open road, and the freedom and wide-open possibility it makes me feel. Maybe this was art.

https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/961043701282713601

I really like this starman.gif sequence I just screengrabbed -- the Moon makes a little appearance at lower left and right pic.twitter.com/EEO0ViL9ET

— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) February 7, 2018

AASWomen Newsletter for February 9, 2018

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 9, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:
 
1. Cross-post: Speak your science: How to give a better conference talk
2. AAS Presidential Advisory Panel on Sustainability is seeking new members
3. Equivalence: Elizabeth L. Scott at Berkeley
4. US science agency will require universities to report sexual harassment
5. “I Spent Two Years Trying to Fix the Gender Imbalance in My Stories”
6. Job Opportunities
7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter

Cross-post: Speak your science: How to give a better conference talk

Emily Lakdawalla posted a piece on the Planetary Society blog February 6th about the importance of communicating your science well.  As she notes, "Bad presentation often gets in the way of good science."  To see her advice about how to improve how you communicate, please see the full posting at:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/0206-speak-your-science.html 

AASWomen Newsletter for February 02, 2018

AAS Committee on the Status of Women
Issue of February 02, 2018
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Cristina Thomas, and Maria Patterson

This week's issues:

1. APS Materials on Attracting and Retaining Women and Minorities

2. Ewine van Dishoeck Receives James Craig Watson Medal

3. When More Women Join the Workforce, Wages Rise - Including for Men

4. Women Once Ruled the Computer World. When Did Silicon Valley Become Brotopia?

5. Want to Be an Ally to Women at Work? Here Are Five Things Men in Tech Have Been Doing

6. Job Opportunities

7. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter

8. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter

9. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter