Addressing the positives

First off, again I apologise that this is late – revision is really taking over my life! Easter holidays in particular are never really holidays at all due to all the revision that you’ve got to be doing, alongside all of the other bits and bobs that come up. Going to the dentist, getting your hair cut, visiting family and friends and trying to catch up with people all take up time too! My birthday is coming up next week too so all in all it has been rather hectic. However only 4 weeks (ish) until my exams are over – then I promise I’ll blog more regularly!

So in my last blog, I chose to post about some of my thoughts on some of the issues surrounding girls going on to study STEM subjects, Physics in particular. However in this blog I want to address some of the positives. Instead of looking at the fact there is a gender imbalance, we’re going to celebrate some of the achievements of women in STEM fields, particularly in Maths and Physics. Women like Marie Curie and Rosalind Franklin are now becoming more widely known and celebrated, which is brilliant. However here are just a few women you may not have heard of who all contributed to their field in significant ways, yet are rarely heard of or mentioned.

1)     Emilie du Chatelet (1706-1749)– a mathematician and physicist. Her translation of  Newton’s “Principia Mathematica” into French is still used today.

2)     Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) – as an astronomer she is credited with the discovery of several comets and for producing catalogues of stars and nebulae.

3)     Mary Somerville (1780-1872) – produced a series of writings on astronomy, chemistry, physics and mathematics and experimented with magnetism, as well as providing a translation of Laplace’s “The Mechanism of the Heavens” which was used for much of the next century.

4)     Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921) – whilst working at Harvard, measuring and cataloguing stars, she developed an idea known as the period-luminosity relationship, which has been later used as the basis for many other famous discoveries.

5)     Lise Meitner (1878-1968) – following the work done by Ida Noddack was part of the team who demonstrated that nuclear fission was responsible for the lack of any naturally occurring stable elements beyond uranium, and that the breaking down of atomic nuclei could produce huge amounts of energy.

6)     Emmy Noether (1882-1935) – a mathematician whose work made huge contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical Physics, including the theorem that explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.

7)     Ida Noddack (1896-1978) – was the first to mention the idea of nuclear fission and with her husband discovered a new element, Rhenium.

8)     Cecilia Payne (1900-1979) – after being the first woman to gain a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe, she went on to publish multiple papers. Her most significant discovery was of what elements made up stars.

9)     Maria Mayer (1906-1972) – The second woman to win a Noble prize in Physics. She was the first to propose the nuclear shell model of the atomic nucleus.

10) Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) – she made significant contributions to the field of radioactivity, including working on the Manhattan project and for performing the famous Wu experiment that contradicted the Law of Conservation and Parity.

These are just a few of the many amazing women that have made huge impacts on the Physical sciences – and look at just how important some of their discoveries really were! These are only a few I picked out whilst reading recently but there are many more women who have worked in fields other than Physics. There are also so many amazing women who work in science today – just getting on with their jobs and everyday lives but discovering and doing amazing things. I just think it’s such a positive message to send out – look at all of these women who have achieved and are achieving so much.

One story that has really inspired me is that of Agnes. Agnes is a young woman supported by the KISS charity in Uganda. KISS stands for KIddie Support Scheme and works to support vulnerable children in Uganda, providing access to education, personal support and care, emergency funds and a safe place to meet and play for any child who wants to come. Every child and family is treated on an individual basis which means KISS is able to provide much more personal and appropriate help to the people in its care. I first became involved with the charity at school where every year we raised money to help support the vulnerable children KISS looked after. I was then lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit the community in Uganda on two occasions, once as a sixth former and again whilst at university. The people I met and the stories I heard have had a profound effect on me, and I hope I can continue my support of the charity for a long time. 

Agnes - such a wonderful,
bright individual.

So Agnes. Agnes is an orphan, and was raised by her godparents. Her childhood was incredibly hard. As an extra child in a new family who were already living in a very difficult situation, she was expected to do far more work around the house to help the family. However, with the support of KISS she was able to gain a full education and is now almost finished her training as an electrical engineer. But let’s let Agnes tell this in her own words… Please click here to view an interview with Agnes.

Agnes’s strength and determination to achieve what she wants despite all the struggles she has faced really inspire me. She is also just one of the most lovely, friendly people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.

So let’s hear it for girls in STEM fields – doing amazing things – daily.

If you want to find out more about the KISS charity, please check out this Youtube video and their website here.

A photo showing some of the KISS community during one
of my visits to see them.

Also finally - if anyone reading this has any feedback, questions or things they'd like me to address in a future blog, please let me know in the comments section below!

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