Issue of February 2, 2024
eds: Jeremy Bailin, Nicolle Zellner, Sethanne Howard, and Hannah Jang-Condell
[We hope you all are taking care of yourselves and each other. --eds.]
This week's issues:
1. Crosspost: How networking can bolster diversity in physics
2. Ground Hog's Day
3. The Woman Who Completed the Brooklyn Bridge
4. Academia needs radical change — mothers are ready to pave the way
5. Margaret Mayall
6. Grace Hopper
7. Women and Girls in Astronomy 2024 celebration!
8. 2024 Annual ASP Awards Nominations open through March 15
9. Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2024 Conference
10. Job Opportunities
11. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
12. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
13. Access to Past Issues
An online version of this newsletter will be available at http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/ at 3:00 PM ET every Friday.
By: Claire Malone for Physics World
Physicists sho want to see the world's great challenges don't just need deep technical expertise, but also excellent networking skills... getting the most out of networking is all a question of practice - and providing those opposrtunities is key to increasing diversity in physics.
Read more at:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/02/crosspost-how-networking-can-bolster.html
By: Sethanne Noward
February 2 each year is a small holiday in the US: Ground Hog's Day. The day also has astronomical significance. February 2 is the first cross quarter day of the year: half way between a solstice and an equinox. The other cross quarter days are May 1; August 1: and November 1. Cross quarter days are real astronomical events celebrated for millenia as special days. Each marks an ancient holiday thus making eight total astronomical holidays a year. Each one usually has been adopted by countries as relevant to their religion or calendar. Feb. 2 has several identities attached to it.
Read more at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_days#:~:text=The%20cross%2Dquarter%20days%20are,All%20Hallows%20(1%20November).
By: A Mighty Girl
When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed after fourteen years of construction, Emily Warren Roebling was the first to cross it by carriage, carrying a live rooster as a sign of victory. Early in its construction, Roebling's husband, the chief engineer incharge of the bridge’s construction, became severely debilitated and bedridden due to decompression sickness. Emily Roebling stepped in to become the first female field engineer in history and supervised the bridge's construction for over ten years until its successful completion. To read the incredible story of the "woman who saved the Brooklyn Bridge, visit https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.15364
Read more at:
https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=25975
By: Fernanda Staniscuaski
"In December, an academic incident made headlines in Brazil. An ad hoc reviewer for the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), one of the country’s main federal funding agencies, told social scientist Maria Carlotto that her pregnancies had held back her career. Carlotto tweeted about the comment, sparking general outrage and broader discussion of the rigid mindset concerning career progression in academia. Such outdated views have serious consequences: for more than 20 years, women have received only 35% of CNPq’s prestigious research productivity scholarships, and Black and Indigenous women are completely absent from the top ranks of CNPq fellowships.
Worldwide, mothers are too often pushed out of academia. But we are stepping up to push for a revolution in academia. Individuals and groups affected by the hostile academic environment should unite.”
Read more at (a subscription may be needed):
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00239-w
By: Dorrit Hoffleit
27 January is the anniversary of the birth, at Iron Hill, Maryland on 27 Jan 1902, of the American astronomer Margaret Walton Mayall. Born Margaret Lyle Walton, she graduated from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1928, and worked as an astronomer at Harvard College Observatory (pictured) from 1924 to 1954. She was also the director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) from 1949 to 1973, and it was here that she met fellow AAVSO member Robert Newton Mayall whom she married in September 1927. In 1958 Margaret Walton Mayall received the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy (presented annually by the American Astronomical Society to a woman resident of North America for distinguished contributions to astronomy), although she is possibly best remembered for her revising of Thomas William Webb’s ‘Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes’ (which originally appeared in 1859) prior to its republication by Dover Publications in 1962. The minor planet 3342 Fivesparks, discovered on 27 Jan 1982 from Oak Ridge Observatory at Harvard, and which refers to the Mayall’s residence at 5 Sparks Street (hence Fivesparks) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was named in honour of Margaret Walton Mayall and her husband Robert Newall Mayall.
Read more at: https://baas.aas.org/pub/margaret-walton-mayall-1902-1995/release/1
By: The Harvard Gazette
On this day (Jan 27) in 1947, computing pioneer Grace Hopper reported the world's first computer bug: a moth inside the Harvard Mark II. The moth that had gotten smashed in one of the electromechanical relays. It was retrieved and pasted into the log book with Scotch tape. “Panel F (moth) in relay,” the entry noted. “First actual case of bug being found.” From then on, they referred to ferreting out glitches as “debugging the machine.”
In the photo from the Harvard Archives, Hopper is at work on that computer's predecessor, the Mark I. She was equally able to translate the highly technical processes of the computer into a language that her managers could understand, and so was assigned to write what would become the world's first programming manual, a 500-page book that was both a history of the Mark I and a guide to programming it.
Read more about Grace Hopper: http://hvrd.me/Ibqx3043BRD
By: IAU Women and Girls in Astronomy
"Join the Women and Girls in Astronomy 2024 celebration! From 11 February to 8 March, we will be featuring profiles of astronomers throughout history, highlighting events dedicated to Women and Girls in Astronomy, sharing activities and best practices in gender-inclusive astronomy outreach and more!
Follow the link for more ideas on how to celebrate:"
Read more at: https://www.iau.org/public/women-and-girls-in-astronomy/
By: ASP staff
The ASP recognizes individual achievements in astronomy research, technology, education, and public outreach each year. Recipients of our awards have included luminaries such as Edwin Hubble, Vera Rubin, Isaac Asimov, Margaret Burbidge, Carl Sagan, and most recently, Katherine Johnson.
The Awards nominations are now accepted annually from early January through March 15. The nomination and distribution schedule can be found on each individual Awards page. We recommend reading the Guidelines for each Award in advance of the submission deadline. Most of the awards are open for nominations from the public unless specified. Announcements are made early Summer of each year. A celebration Awards Gala is held in November in the Bay Area, California.
Read more at:
https://astrosociety.org/who-we-are/awards/about-the-asp-awards.html
By: IAU
Registration and abstract submission are open for the Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2024 (CAP 2024) conference. It will take place from 24 to 28 June 2024 in Cité de l'espace, Toulouse, France, and online, organised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission C2 and the IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach.
The CAP conference is the largest communication conference devoted to astronomy. Whether you are a researcher or practitioner, we invite you to submit abstracts under the theme of 'Communicating Astronomy in a Hybrid World'. In addition to oral presentations, posters, and workshops, we also invite abstracts for cool demonstrations, planetarium shows, innovative networking events, and thought-provoking panel discussions. The SOC offers English language editing support to applicants who may need it.
A limited number of grants and fee waivers are available.
Deadline for abstracts: Feb 15
Read more at: https://www.iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann23046/
For those interested in increasing excellence and diversity in their organizations, a list of resources and advice is here:
https://aas.org/comms/cswa/resources/Diversity#howtoincrease
- Deputy Director IAU Office of Astronomy for Development, Cape Town, South Africa
https://iau.org/news/announcements/detail/ann23044/
- Upcoming Heliophysics/Planetary Science Civil Servant Position at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
https://www.usajobs.gov
- Postdoctoral research associate to work with Dr. Catherine Elder at JPL
https://citjpl.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/Jobs/job/JPL-Campus/Postdoc--Understanding-lunar-surface-processes-using-LRO-Diviner_R4872
- Director of Development Yerkes Observatory/ Yerkes Future Foundation
https://www.campbellcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/YFF-PG-01.2024-2.pdf?_gl=1
- Astronomy instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College
https://www.schooljobs.com/careers/santarosajc/faculty/jobs/4347576/astronomy-tenure-track-instructor
- tenure-track position at Chabot College, a community college in Hayward, CA
https://clpccd.peopleadmin.com/postings/2903
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