Issue of March 29, 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 Charlotte Moore Sitterly Wrote The Encyclopedia of Starlight
2. 365 Days of Astronomy podcast for HAD
3. Highlighting the Trailblazing Women of Spaceflight in 2024
4. Gender Diversity in Physics Classes Benefits Men and Women
5. Meet 7 women who broke barriers in the field of astronomy and beyond
6. Emily Roebling
7. Are we doing enough for women of colour in science
8. FAMOUS Travel Grants to Promote Diversity at AAS Meetings
9. AAS CSMA Astro Poverty Survey
10. Notice of Upcoming Request for Proposals: TEAM-UP Together Departmental Program
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: Elizabeth Landau
Charlotte Moore could smell the coal burning in the furnace below her back-room workspace at the Princeton University Observatory. With a meager starting salary of $100 per month, she worked as a “computer” for the famous astronomer Henry Norris Russell, helping with calculations to describe how stars evolve and what kinds of materials burn inside them. Her boss’s mind seemed to run too quickly for anyone to follow, and the short, quiet woman he hired fresh out of college in 1920 was initially overwhelmed.
“I felt that he must think that I was the most ignorant person that ever showed up at his house,” she told space historian David DeVorkin in 1978.
At a time when few women had opportunities in the physical sciences, and fewer still received recognition for their efforts, Charlotte Moore Sitterly, as she was known after her marriage, was a pioneer in a field that has touched nearly all scientific disciplines: spectroscopy.
Read more at:
http://womeninastronomy.blogspot.com/2024/03/crosspost-how-charlotte-moore-sitterly.html
By: Loretta Cannon
The 365 Days of Astronomy website posts podcasts. On March 28 they posted the first podcast for the Historical Astronomy Division of the AAS (HAD). Until the podcasts can be posted by the AAS the website 365 Days of Astronomy has agreed to post them. Please visit the site and listen to the first HAD podcast. It covers the history of women in astronomy.
Read more at
https://cosmoquest.org/x/365daysofastronomy/2024/03/28/mar-28th-women-in-science-history/
By: Ella Bennet
As of the leap year’s end on February 29, 2024, the count of women astronauts who have soared into space stands at a formidable 75. Among them, 47 have been part of the International Space Station’s (ISS) journey—either as long-term expedition members, visitors aboard the space shuttle for assembly missions, spaceflight participants, or as commercial astronauts. The month of March 2024 serves as a reflective period to honor these awe-inspiring women, their pioneering predecessors, and the many yet uncelebrated women who contribute to space exploration from the ground in various essential roles. Together, they usher in a future of moon landings by more women, the first steps by people of color on the lunar surface and the inaugural human voyages to Mars.
Read more at:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/highlighting-the-trailblazing-women-of-spaceflight-in-2024/ar-BB1jbIBO
By: Ray Parker
Although more women than men in the U.S. earn college degrees, striking gender gaps remain in specific disciplines. Men significantly outnumber women in several STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, most notably physics, math, computer science, and engineering. Researchers have described the climate in these STEM settings as “chilly” to women, marked by assumptions that women are less capable than men.
Read more at https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beauty-sick/202403/gender-diversity-in-physics-classes-benefits-men-and-women
Full paper at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38346078/
By: Sam Cohen
Many corners of the scientific world have been profoundly impacted by the work of women. They’ve blazed a trail across every field, breaking down barriers for themselves and others in the process. These extraordinary women have discovered comets, created classification systems, and stared into the abyss of black holes.
In recognition of Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating the lives and careers of seven pioneering women who have made history with their scientific achievements. From the first Indian woman in space to the “Hidden Figures” of NASA, these women have made significant contributions to astronomy and beyond.
Read more at: https://vadogwood.com/2024/03/26/7-w
By:A Mighty Girl
When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed after fourteen years of construction in 1883, Emily Warren Roebling — the "woman who saved the Brooklyn Bridge" — was the first to cross it by carriage, carrying a live rooster in her lap as a sign of victory. Early in its construction, Roebling's husband, Washington, the chief engineer in charge of the bridge’s construction, became severely debilitated and bedridden due to decompression sickness. Emily Roebling stepped in and, for over a decade, oversaw the completion of one of the greatest architectural feats of the 19th century — making history by becoming the first female field engineer in the process. "I don’t think that the Brooklyn Bridge would be standing were it not for her," asserts Erica Wagner, the author a biography about Washington Roebling. "She was absolutely integral."
Read more at: https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=25975
By: Pauline Gerrard
Every year, as 22 March rolls around, many in Europe and across the globe anticipate World Water Day with mixed feelings.
While the previous 365 days have almost always seen some advancement in the role and status of women protecting freshwater globally, the day also provides a moment to reflect on where we go from here. While leading an annual program that seeks to empower early-career African women in freshwater science, I have many thoughts on the topic.
Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/03/22/are-we-doing-enough-for-women-of-colour-in-science
By: AAS
The FAMOUS (Funds for Astronomical Meetings: Outreach to Underrepresented Scientists) Travel Grants program offers opportunities for AAS members to secure funding to travel to a Society meeting in order to increase the number of astronomers from historically underrepresented groups, which is part of our mission.
FAMOUS grants will be awarded at a level of up to $1,000 to attend a single AAS meeting, at which the awardee will present their research. Priority will be given to members of historically underrepresented groups, such as scientists at small colleges, minorities, non-traditional students, and veterans, among others. The funding will not cover the meeting registration fee but is intended to offset expenses for travel, meals, and lodging. Recipients of FAMOUS grants may not apply again until three years have passed.
Read more at: https://aas.org/posts/news/2024/03/famous-travel-grants-promote-diversity-aas-meetings
By: Neelab Yousafzai
A team of astronomy faculty, graduate students, and members of the AAS Committee for the Status of Minorities in Astronomy (CSMA) is conducting a study on whether the field of astronomy equitably includes people from backgrounds of financial scarcity and poverty. To accomplish this, the study group asks that astronomers and ex-astronomers at all levels (faculty/staff, postdocs, students, and those who have left the field) participate in an anonymous survey (linked below).
Read more at: https://aas.org/posts/news/2024/03/aas-csma-astro-poverty-survey
By: AAS
TEAM-UP Together will publish a request for proposals later in March to support college and university physics and astronomy departments for 2025 and 2026.
The TEAM-UP Together Departmental Program will offer grant funding, professional development, and engagement opportunities to support college and university physics and astronomy departments’ programmatic and systemic efforts to improve the educational experiences of and successful outcomes for African American undergraduate students in these fields.
Read mre at:
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