Women in Science (2016)

I am a woman.
I am in science.

But you don’t have to be either to appreciate the women who have contributed to our collective body of scientific knowledge! And in fact, it’s important to take time to appreciate them because their work has frequently been trivialized or overshadowed by their male colleagues. I am grateful that we are finally able to give at least some women the recognition for their work.

For example, I’m really thrilled about the new trailer for Hidden Figures (definitely watch this!), which focuses on the black women whose work allowed an American astronaut to complete an orbit around the Earth. Women in Science has a feature on Katherine Johnson (who will be portrayed by Academy nominee Taraji P. Henson) if you’re interested in her story in advance of seeing the film!

I also liked how informative the book was about science as a whole field. Not only does the author and illustrator talk about each woman and her role in shaping our knowledge of science, but she talks about science itself. You can look at a timeline of events…

… a glossary of terms…

… a sampling of tools these women may have used in their scientific endeavors…

… and even statistics about women in STEM.

There isn’t a lot more to be said without me just telling you about all of this incredible women. And while I would love to, I can’t do it better than Rachel Ignotofsky has with her great illustrations. She covers a wide range of time, from Hypatia of Alexandria (the antiquity mathematician who I loved presenting on in middle school) to Sau Lan Wu (who is a key contributor to the research finding the Higgs Boson, aka the “God particle”).

While Ignotofsky’s book is not exhaustive, she tries to still acknowledge other women in science that she couldn’t do justice:

… and encourages you to become one!

This was a fun book to go through and I will flip through it again and again when I want inspiration from the great women in science of the past and present so that I can help shape women in science of the future.

Who are your favorite women in science? I love all of these women, but one of my favorites is Hedy Lamarr, because she lived the ultimate dream of being an actress and a scientist.