Issue of February 15, 2019
eds: Nicolle Zellner, Heather Flewelling, Maria Patterson, JoEllen McBride, and Ale Aloisi (guest ed.)
This week's issues:
1. Cross-post: The Women Who Contributed to Science but Were Buried in Footnotes
2. Special Article Collection Celebrates Annual Reviews Contributors
3. Special edition of the Lancet: Advancing women in science, medicine and global health
4. More women and girls needed in the sciences to solve world’s biggest challenges
5. How Scientists are Fighting Against Gender Bias in Conference Speaker Lineups
6. Is This The Year Of Women In Science?
7. European Space Agency Celebrates Women in Science with Astro Pi Challenge
8. Reflections from a Nobel winner: Scientists need time to make discoveries
9. 23 Black Female Scientists Who Changed The Damn World
10. Women You Should Know
11. This neuroscientist is fighting sexual harassment in science—but her own job is in peril
12. How to Submit to the AASWomen Newsletter
13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWomen Newsletter
14. Access to Past Issues of the AASWomen Newsletter
1. Cross-post: The Women Who Contributed to Science but Were Buried in Footnotes
From: Christina Thomas via womeninastronomy.blogspot.com and Kelly Lockhart [kelly.lockhart_at_cfa.harvard.edu]
"In science, the question of who gets credit for important work—fraught in any field—is set down on paper, for anyone to see. Authorship, given pride of place at the top of scientific papers, can advance reputations and careers; credits buried in the rarely read acknowledgments section do not.
Read more at:
Back to top.2. Special Article Collection Celebrates Annual Reviews Contributors
From: Rick Fienberg [rick.fienberg_at_aas.org]
"Female scientists have been among Annual Reviews’ Authors and Editors since its founding in 1932. Our special article collection in recognition of the United Nation’s 4th International Day of Women and Girls in Science features 19 articles from pioneers in the biomedical, life, physical, and social sciences. All articles are available free to download through March 31."
Back to top.3. Special edition of the Lancet: Advancing women in science, medicine and global health
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
From the editorial in the Journal:
“To be ‘feminist’ in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression.” bell hooks made this clear and powerful statement in her 1981 study of sexism, racism, and the feminist and civil rights movements Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Almost 40 years on, the world is still reckoning with pervasive and inexcusable gender inequality underpinned by bias and sexism, and research and health care are no exception. Today, The Lancet publishes a theme issue on advancing women in science, medicine, and global health, with the aim of showcasing research, commentary, and analysis that provide new explanations and evidence for action towards gender equity.
Read more at
Back to top.4. More women and girls needed in the sciences to solve world’s biggest challenges
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
"The role of science education in a changing world cannot be undervalued: it is estimated that fully 90 per cent of future jobs will require some form of ICT (information and communication technology) skills, and the fastest growing job categories are related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), with recent studies indicating 58 million net new jobs, in areas such as data analysis, software development and data visualization.
But women and girls continue to be extremely under-represented in the sciences. Data from UNESCO (the UN’s agency for education, science and culture) shows that less than a third of all female students choose STEM-related subjects in higher education, whilst just three per cent of women choose ICT subjects."
Read more at:
Back to top.5. How Scientists are Fighting Against Gender Bias in Conference Speaker Lineups
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
This Science Magazine article highlights the Request a Woman Scientist database put together by 500 Women Scientists.
Read more at
Back to top.6. Is This The Year Of Women In Science?
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Melanie Fine
"In honor of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we look back at the contributions of two scientists who made 2018 remarkable.
Philipp von Jolly, trying to dissuade a young Max Planck from entering physics, remarked that "almost everything is already discovered, and all that remains is to fill a few unimportant holes." Luckily, Planck, who went on to become the father of quantum physics, ignored his advice.
Attempting to identify any one year as the year of women in science seems to embody the same hubris and is, with any hope, similarly premature."
Read more at:
Back to top.7. European Space Agency Celebrates Women in Science with Astro Pi Challenge
From: Alessandra Aloisi [aloisi_at_stsci.edu]
By Elizabeth Howell
"Coding will become even more important in space exploration as humans explore faraway places, says a Canadian astronaut candidate in a new video.
To celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (today, Feb. 11), Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons spoke to the European Space Agency about her female role models and the importance of women in coding history.
ESA released the video to promote its Astro Pi Challenge, an ESA Education program done in collaboration with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The program offers students the chance to do space-based scientific investigations using Raspberry Pi computers on the International Space Station (ISS)."
Read more at
Back to top.8. Reflections from a Nobel winner: Scientists need time to make discoveries
From: John Wenzel [jwenzela_at_albion.edu]
In 2018, Donna Strickland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Here she argues that scientists must be free to be curious, without the pressure to produce results. ... “After all, you can’t have the applications without the curiosity-driven research behind it. Learning more about science — science for science’s sake — is worth supporting.”
Read more at
Back to top.9. 23 Black Female Scientists Who Changed The Damn World
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
Here's a big list scientists who are also WOC to share.
Read the list at
Back to top.10. Women You Should Know
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
You can download these awesome Women You Should Know posters to fill your room with some amazing female role models.
Check out the posters and download them at
Back to top.11. This neuroscientist is fighting sexual harassment in science—but her own job is in peril
From: JoEllen McBride [joellen.mcbride_at_gmail.com]
BethAnn McLaughlin (@McLNeuro) has had her tenure decision at Vanderbilt University Medical Center reversed due to her activism around the #MeTooSTEM movement.
Read more at
Back to top.12. How to Submit to the AASWOMEN newsletter
To submit an item to the AASWOMEN newsletter, including replies to topics, send email to aaswomen_at_aas.org
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Back to top.13. How to Subscribe or Unsubscribe to the AASWOMEN newsletter
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Back to top.14. Access to Past Issues
Each annual summary includes an index of topics covered.
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