February 11 is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is an opportunity to promote the scientific field among women and encourage them to get involved in this sector where they are still under-represented. Even if some progress has been made and today the work of women in science is recognized, this has not always been the case. Many of them have had their work stolen by a male colleague. In order to maintain a certain male elitism in the scientific field, several researchers have taken credit for years of work by female colleagues. How many women have had their work stolen by a researcher husband or thesis supervisor? A package. And it has a name, it's the Matilda effect. This is to minimize or not mention the contribution of women scientists in research whose work is attributed to their male counterparts. Focus on these women whose work was stolen by a man. Download Latest Crack Softwares
Mileva Maric-Einstein, in the shadow of her famous husband
The name Mileva Maric Einstein probably tells you something. Yes, she is the wife of the "Genius" Albert Einstein. But, to relay her to the role of wife is a very big mistake. It was during her high school years that Mileva Einstein became passionate about science and revealed real talents for mathematics and physics. Originally from a Hungarian province of Austria-Hungary (now Serbia), she left her country to study at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Germany. She is the only woman in her class and it is also here that she will meet her future husband, Albert Einstein. They both worked in pairs until their divorce in 1919. But a small downside: the work of the famous physicist was published only in his name. It is thanks to the letters exchanged with her husband that the question of the place of Mileva's work was raised. On March 27, 1901, he wrote to her, "How happy and proud I shall be when we have both, together, carried out our work on the movement relating to a victorious conclusion! Although it is difficult to assess the importance of his participation in his work, there is no denying his involvement. Thus, the name of Mileva Einstein does not appear in any discovery of the couple. However, we know that she participated but it is her husband, alone, who will receive the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.
Jocelyn Bell and pulsars
Another victim of the Matilda effect, Jocelyn Bell. Born in 1943, she grew up in Ireland where she developed a passion for astronomy. After graduating, she moved to Cambridge University to study radio astronomy. It was during research during her thesis that she discovered a luminous object, similar to lighthouses in a region of the sky. These are pulsars. Jocelyn Bell will be mocked for this discovery, which Yaël Nazé, astrophysicist, recalls on France Culture: "Anthony Hewish first told him that it was extraterrestrials, who called us … which she was obviously not convinced of.He asks him to stop his research and focus on the Quasars. Nevertheless, she continues her work on her own and lifts the veil on her mysterious discovery. It was in February 1968 that his research was published in the journal Nature but the name of Jocelyn Bell is not mentioned. You might have guessed it, it is that of Anthony Hewish, his thesis supervisor, who appears first. While he pushes Jocelyne Bell to stop her research on pulsars, it is nevertheless he who will receive the Nobel Prize in Physics of 1974 … Even if the astrophysicist has since received many awards and distinctions, the fact remains that someone has allowed herself to appropriate one of her discoveries.
Rosalind Franklin, deprived of DNA
Born in the 1920s into a middle-class London family in 1920, it was as a teenager that Rosalind Franklin discovered a passion for science. She dreams of being a scientist and decides to devote her life to research. After a PhD at Cambridge University, she landed a job at King's College. His relationships with his male colleagues were complicated, notably with James Watson and Francis Crick. She will even be forced to change laboratories. In 1951, she made the famous photo 51, the first image of DNA. It is thanks to his work that the mystery around the structure of DNA has been unraveled. But James Watson and Francis Crick do not see Rosalind Franklin's success so well. Jealous of this discovery, they will steal the photo. In 1953 the two friends published their research in the journal Nature. The work of Rosalind Franklin appears but only to confirm the results obtained by Watson and Crick. Which is actually the opposite of what happened. The story could have ended here if Watson and Crick had not received the associated Nobel Prize in 1962…
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, head in the stars
</yoastmark>” /> Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin grew up in a bourgeois English family. The youngest of the siblings, nothing predestined her to embrace a scientific career. Being the only daughter in the family, her widowed mother preferred to bet on the studies of her two sons. Nevertheless, she won a scholarship in natural sciences and went to study at the University of Cambridge in 1919. It was during a lecture given by Arthur Eddington that the student had a revelation: she will be an astronomer. She left in 1923 for the United States to do a doctorate and study the temperature of stars. All the results she obtained went against the ideas of the time. She discovered that stars are composed of helium and hydrogen. A major discovery. This did not please his thesis supervisor, Henry Russell, who strongly recommended that he not publish his work. However, this did not prevent him from publishing the same article on his behalf four years later. And at the same time, to take all the credit for this discovery.
Lise Meitner and nuclear fission
Lise Meitner was born in Austria in 1878. She grew up in a wealthy family and received a good education. Her brilliant results opened the doors of major universities where she studied radioactivity and nuclear physics. Her research led her to discover nuclear fission, the principle of the atomic bomb. Three times tipped to obtain the Nobel Prize in chemistry, she will never be rewarded. It was Otto Hahn, one of her colleagues, who received the prestigious distinction in 1944 for work to which she had made a significant contribution. For a long time, Lise Meitner will work for free, as the university is closed to women. Proof that recognition of women's work was not yet on the agenda. Mileva Maric Einstein, Jocelyn Bell, Rosalind Franklin, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Lise Meitner… So many forgotten women scientists. Even if they have been distinguished several times, their status as women has closed some doors to them and history has forgotten them. Today, only 30% of the world's researchers are women. Parity still seems a distant dream. But thanks to some initiatives , particularly in schools, more and more women are embarking on scientific careers. Today, too, the names of brilliant researchers are emerging, like Katie Bouman, who in 2019 made the first photograph of a black hole. Enough to inspire a good number of young girls.
