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Erasing Women’s Achievements in the Sciences by Sexism and Design
Women scientists have made incredible contributions to all areas of science, including math and computers, but they are hardly recognized in the histories that have been written.
Women’s contributions to science, which led to advances in medicine, computers, math, and more, have been given little, if any, mention in professional papers until one woman took on the task — Margaret Rossiter. There’s even a name for it: The Matilda Effect.
One woman, Rosalind Franklin, who made the breakthrough discovery in the genetics of the double helix, was denied a Nobel Prize because she died, and two men shared the honor. I haven’t read their remarks at their presentation, but I wonder if they gave her the due she deserved.
Even as Rossiter attempted to seek out these forgotten women (think “Hidden Figures”), she was stymied in her task by funders who saw no benefit in revealing the unheralded names of women in science. Women, after all, only had to do calculations of how many cups of flour to add to a cake, right?
UPDATE: “Lise Meitner developed the theory of nuclear fission, the process that enabled the atomic bomb. But her identity — Jewish and a woman — barred her from sharing credit for the discovery, newly translated letters show.”
