The Sultana's Dream

'Our good Queen liked science very much. She circulated an order that all the women in her country should be educated. Accordingly a number of girls' schools were founded and supported by the government. Education was spread far and wide among women. And early marriage also was stopped. No woman was to be allowed to marry before she was twenty-one. I must tell you that, before this change we had been kept in strict purdah.'

'How the tables are turned,' I interposed with a laugh.

'But the seclusion is the same,' she said. 'In a few years we had separate universities, where no men were admitted.'

'In the capital, where our Queen lives, there are two universities. One of these invented a wonderful balloon, to which they attached a number of pipes. By means of this captive balloon which they managed to keep afloat above the cloud-land, they could draw as much water
from the atmosphere as they pleased. As the water was incessantly being drawn by the university people no cloud gathered and the ingenious Lady Principal stopped rain and storms thereby.'

'Really! Now I understand why there is no mud here!' said I. But I could not understand how it was possible to accumulate water in the pipes. She explained to me how it was done, but I was unable to understand her, as my scientific knowledge was very limited. However, she went on, 'When the other university came to know of this, they became exceedingly jealous and tried to do something more extraordinary still. They invented an instrument by which they could
collect as much sun-heat as they wanted. And they kept the heat stored up to be distributed among others as required.

'While the women were engaged in scientific research, the men of this country were busy increasing their military power. When they came to know that the female universities were able to draw water from the atmosphere and collect heat from the sun, they only laughed at the
members of the universities and called the whole thing "a sentimental nightmare"!'

'Your achievements are very wonderful indeed! But tell me, how you managed to put the men of your country into the zenana. Did you entrap them first?'

'No.'

'It is not likely that they would surrender their free and open air life of their own accord and confine themselves within the four walls of the zenana! They must have been overpowered.'

'Yes, they have been!'

'By whom? By some lady-warriors, I suppose?'

'No, not by arms.'

'Yes, it cannot be so. Men's arms are stronger than women's. Then?'

'By brain.'

'Even their brains are bigger and heavier than women's. Are they not?'

'Yes, but what of that? An elephant also has got a bigger and heavier brain than a man has. Yet man can enchain elephants and employ them, according to their own wishes.'

'Well said, but tell me please, how it all actually happened. I am dying to know it!'

'Women's brains are somewhat quicker than men's. Ten years ago, when the military officers called our scientific discoveries "a sentimental nightmare," some of the young ladies wanted to say something in reply to those remarks. But both the Lady Principals restrained them and said, they should reply not by word, but by deed, if ever they got the opportunity. And they had not long to wait for that opportunity.'
~ from "Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat, 1905

Rokeya Sakhawat (also known as Roquia Sakhawat Hussain) was an early 20th century Muslim feminist writer and social worker from what is present-day Bangladesh. She was a "crusader for girls' education", and founded Sakhawat Memorial Girls' High School - the first school primarily aimed at Muslim girls. Her 1905 science-fiction short story, "Sultana's Dream", is set in a utopian future where women rule and the men are locked away at home, very much like the Muslim practice of purdah that kept most women in the home in Sakhawat's time (and yes, today too).

I find the story particularly enjoyable because of the way in which the women took over: they studied science and developed useful inventions while the men scoffed. It was their brains, rather than brawn, that created their peaceful country. And while I don't believe that women are "smarter" than men, or that the world would be necessarily a much better place if women ruled by locking up the men, I do think that increasing the number of women scientists would indeed improve the world if only because excluding a significant portion of the population from scientific research is a huge waste of brainpower.

And even though women in Bangladesh face many obstacles - poverty is widespread and only 32% of women are literate - there are indeed a number Bangladeshi women scientists making a difference today:

• Interview with Dr. Tasnim Azim, head of the HIV/AIDS Programme and Virology Laboratory Sciences Division at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B)
• Interview with Dr. Ruchira Tabassum Naved, Gender & Reproductive Health Specialist in the Public Health Sciences Division at ICDDR,B
• Interview with Dr. Shamima Akhter, Research Investigator, Health Systems and Infectious Diseases division of ICDDR,B.
• "More Women Scientists in Bangladesh" and "What Banladesh Needs" by Hasina Akhter, UNESCO-L'OREAL for Women in Science International Fellow, 200
  

("Sultana's Dream" via Nesrine Malik in The Guardian's Comment is free)

Image: Dr. Shamima Akhter, Research Investigator, Health Systems and Infectious Diseases Division, ICDDR, B

Tags: women in science, Bangladesh

Ada Lovelace, Calculating and Fighting Crime

It's summer, so here's some light entertainment:

In honor of Ada Lovelace Day last March, Artist Sydney Padua created a comic featuring the mostly-true-except-for-the-inaccurate-bits story of Ada Lovelace's childhood, education, and her fateful meeting with Charles Babbage which ultimately lead to their crime-fighting partnership (I mentioned the inaccurate bits, right?). It's steampunk, it's geeky, and it's got copious explanatory notes - what more does a comic need?

Check out Ada Lovelace - The Origin. Then read the continuing adventures of Lovelace and Babbage:

• Lovelace and Babbage vs. The Economy
• Metaphysical Speculation Into The Nature of This Comic, or: Lovelace and Babbage vs The Salamander People
• Lovelace and Babbage vs. The Client (currently in progress).
  

The real Ada Lovelace began her life-long friendship Cambridge mathematics professor Charles Babbage when she was just 17 years old. The two corresponded on mathematics, logic and other topics, and, in the process of writing a description of Babbage's proposed "Analytical Engine" created the very first computer program. Ada married William King at the age of 19, had three children, and sadly died of cancer in 1852 at the age of 37. As far as we know, she and Babbage had no crime-fighting adventures , but it's fun to consider what could have been.

(via Making Light)
Tags: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, comics

Women in Science Link Roundup: December 21 Edition

Some of women in science-related blog posts and articles I've been reading the past few weeks, but never got around to blogging:

Life as a Woman Scientist

There have been a bunch of interesting posts at the Praxis "academic life" blog carnival. Both Praxis #4 at The Lay Scientist and Praxis #5 at Effortless Incitement include links discussing women in science.

Several recent posts at Inside Higher Ed's Mama, PhD blog have generated a lively blog discussion.

• Libby Gruner @ Mama PhD: Mothering at Mid-Career: Climbing the Lattice
  
• Tedra Osell @ Mama PhD: Career Coach: Riding the Waves
  
• Geeky Mom: Ladders, lattices, mothering and all that shit
• 11D: Professor Mom
• Professing Mama: Only the Lonely
• Profgrrrrl: perfect timing for motherhood?
• Libby Gruner @ Mama PhD: Mothering at Mid-Career: More work on weaving the lattice
  

Ambivalent Academic brings up a usually taboo subject: the role of our hormonal cycles in the way we work and lead. There are a lot of personal stories and other discussion in the comments.

Bios and Awards

FGJ at the Feministing Community lists women in math and science she looks up to, and asks commenters to talk about their own favorite women scientists.

Ellen Kullman was named CEO of chemical giant DuPont. She is the first woman to lead a major public US chemical firm (via Jenn at Fairer Science).

The November HHMI Bulletin profiles biochemist Judith Kimble

The New York Times interviewed Renee Reijo Pera, professor of obstetrics and gynechology and director of Stanford's Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education


Stereotypes

Draw-A-Scientist Test: from seventh graders visiting Fermilab to adults in New York City's Madison Square Park, scientists are white and male.

Vince LiCata: "When Britney Spears Comes to My Lab"

In case you missed last month's discussion about women scientists, femininity and the double standard, you should read these posts and their comments:

• Dr. Isis at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess: On the need for women to defend women
• Zuska at Thus Spake Zuska: The Proper Way to Be a Woman in Science
• Janet at Adventures in Ethics and Science: Women, scientists, and ordinary human beings

Sadie at Jezebel found a picture of a good old-fashioned "Lab Technician Set For Girls"

Gender Gap

ScienceWoman has a list of ways to recruit women and minorities in a faculty search, and opens the comments to suggestions.

DrugMonkey rounds up the posts on the latest lack-of-gender-diversity-in-science discussion to make the blog rounds. There are also comments on those post, lots and lots of comments.

New York Times: What has driven women out of computer science?

Jenn @ FairerScience: Women and the Video Game Industry

FemaleScienceProfessor: Scientifiques avec Quelques Frontiéres (conference literature translated from French that states scientists are men), More Diverse Award Issues,

Mind Hacks: Shaking the foundations of the hidden bias test

Ilyka at Off Our Pedestals: Gosh, you ladies sure are touchy about Larry Summers! Or: Still assy after all these years

Feministing: The under-representation of female cardiologists

Fictional Women in STEM

The LA Times looked at the appeal of the characters on NCIS, including Pauley Perrette as forensic specialist Abby Sciuto. Perrett was working on her master's degree in criminal science when she decided to become a full-time actor.

Jessica Alba is currently filming An Invisible Sign of My Own:The film is a coming-of-age drama based on Aimee Bender's quirky novel about a 20-year-old loner named Mona Gray (Alba) who as a child turned to math for salvation after her father became ill. As an adult, Gray now teaches the subject and must help her students through their own crises.

In Frank Miller's movie adaptation of The Spirit, the character of Silken Floss has been "demoted" from nuclear physicist/surgeon to secretary. The original version too threatening perhaps? Hopefully she won't spend the whole movie pining for her boss.

Tags: women in science

Should Doctor Who Be a Woman?

If you follow SF entertainment news, you've probably read a lot of speculation as to who will take over for David Tennant as the regenerating Time Lord Doctor Who. The UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (UKRC) has launched a campaign to to encourage the selection of a woman for the role.

"There is a distinct lack of role models of female scientists in the media and recent research shows that this contributes to the under-representation of women in the field.

"The UKRC believes that making a high profile sci-fi character with a following like Doctor Who female would help to raise the profile of women in science and bring the issue of the important contribution women can and should make to science in the public domain."

I think it would be fun to have a woman Doctor - maybe played by Alex Kingston, who appeared as archaeologist Dr. River Song in two episodes of Doctor Who earlier this year. I'm not sure it would necessarily do much for the perception of women in science though, since the Doctor isn't exactly a scientist - more like an adventurer who knows lots of science (he has picked up a wide range of knowledge over the centuries), but actually can fix most problems by zapping with his trusty sonic screwdriver.

If you agree that the next Doctor should be a woman, you can join the UKRC Facebook group "Make the next Dr. Who a Woman!" I did!

Tags: women in science, Doctor Who

Science and Science Fiction

Those of you who read my other blog have probably seen this, but for those of you who don't:

ScienceOnline09 is an annual science communication conference that brings together scientists, bloggers, educators, and students to discuss promoting public understanding of science. Stephanie Zvan and I will be moderating a session on science fiction as a tool for science communication. We're looking for input on the topic and to start an online conversation between science fiction writers and science bloggers.

Participation is easy:

Questions about science and its relationship to science fiction are posted at my blog - Biology in Science Fiction - and at Stephanie's blog Almost Diamonds. Send us a link to your answers on your own blog or post the link the comments at either site. If you're a writer without a blog, you can post your answers directly at either site.

We will then collect links to the posts on the ScienceOnline09 conference wiki, as well as our own blogs, and facilitate a discussion on the different ways science and science fiction are used.

If you'd like to participate in the online discussion, get the questions, then post your answers on your blog.

I look forward to seeing your contributions!

Tags: ScienceOnline09, science fiction, blogs

Under The Microscope

The Feminist Press's Women Writing Science project has launched a new site, Under The Microscope. From the press release:

Sponsored by and developed with IBM, Underthemicroscope.com offers a wealth of continually updated information, including input from visitors to the web site. Currently the site provides the opportunity to post personal stories, feature and guest blogging, news about science, and links to related resources. Within the year the site will include more social networking opportunities, tips on careers, tips for parents, expanded links to science-related sites, and mentoring. Ultimately the site will provide information about internships and scholarships as well as serialized chapters of Women Writing Science publications that can be downloaded free of charge and an online book club.

[...]

Initiated by The Feminist Press at The City University of New York with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Women Writing Science will publish books of biography, fiction, history, career profiles, and how-to-survive guides presenting women as both scientists and as writers about science. Women Writing Science will also provide free teacher guides describing lesson plans and strategies for using the books in science curricula. These materials will be easily downloaded from Underthemicroscope.com .

There are already a number of entries where women answer the question "What Go You Hooked on Science?"

If you'd like to share your own story, or

Tags: Underthemicroscope.com, Feminist Press, Women Writing Science

Jill Trent Science Sleuth

Superheroes weren't the only stars of Golden Age of comic books. There were also hard-boiled detectives, keeping America safe by solving crimes. My brother just sent me an awesome example of the genre: Jill Trent Science Sleuth, a short-lived series from Nedor Comics.

The plots are pretty simple: scientist-inventor Jill Trent and her friend Daisy solve a murder mystery (using one of Jill's inventions, natch') and kick the butts of the bad guys. They get into trouble, of course, but always figure out a clever way to escape, rather than waiting to be rescued. And they do it all without mussing their hair or breaking a nail. If you like stories with smart tough women, these comics are definitely for you.

You can read three Jill Trent comics on the Nedor-A-Day blog:

• "Case of the Sanitary Murders"
• "The Porphyrin Compound"
• "The Case of the Black Sheep Murder"

(Thanks for the link Brian!)

Tags: Jill Trent Science Sleuth, comics

Help Needed: Cartoons Portraying Women Scientists?

I got the following request for information from Brita, who is looking for cartoons to illustrate class handouts:

As a new biology teacher certification candidate, I was sad to see my class syllabus covered in cartoons portraying male scientists. I'm having a hard time finding ones with women in the lab coats that aren't hugely offensive. Any recommendations of where to look for some showing us working hard?

She's checked out PhD Comics, but that is more about grad school angst than women working as scientists. What she's looking for is along the lines of cartoons with scientists who happen to be women, rather than jokes about dating or other "female" topics. I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Do any of you readers have suggestions?

Tags: women in science, cartoons

Women Scientists in Fiction

Helen Merrick, a lecturer in the department of Film and Television at the Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia, has started a project compiling a database of women scientists in fiction. The background:

A significant body of research has examined the factors impeding women's progress in or choice of science, such as: the lack of positive role models; the continued 'double burden' of family and career; and the recalcitrance of cultural images that code science - and scientists - as 'male'. Much attention focuses on girl's early education choices, with the paucity of positive role models (particularly in the media) seen as an important factor.

While we have seen an increase in apparently capable female scientists in film and TV, such representations are often compromised or undercut by their reliance on stereotypes of normative femininity. One space where non-traditional and even feminist re-visions of the female scientist occur is in the literary genre of science fiction. This form has allowed a number of authors to explore the ways in which women might do science differently, or how women's equal participation might result in different models of science.

I think there is the potential for an interesting analysis, but I suspect the list of entries is far from complete. Merrick is asking for character suggestions, so if you know of any be sure to add them to the list.

Tags: women in science, science fiction

Women in Science Link Roundup: August 16 Edition

Here are some women-in-science related blog posts and articles from the past few weeks (in no particular order):

Inside Higher Ed writes about the "Keys to Hiring Women in Science"

From the British Psychological Society Research Digest Blog: Gender stereotypes can distort our memories

An initial study with 73 high school students (34 boys) showed that those students who more strongly endorsed gender stereotypes in relation to maths and the arts, subsequently showed more biased recall of their past exam performance. That is, girls who endorsed the stereotypes underestimated their past maths performance, while boys who endorsed the stereotypes tended to underestimate their past arts performance.

In an older post, Rob Knop writes about the myth of the meritocracy in physics. (via DrugMonkey)

The Barnard Alumnae magazine has a profile of applied physics and mathematics professor Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, class of '48.

UNESCO interviews two previous L'Oreal Women in Science award winners:
• Khady Nani Dramé on why peasant rice farmers need no longer
sustain heavy losses in times of drought
• Andrea Mantesso explains why teeth will help to shape the future
of stem cell research

From the Sunday Herald: "Ascent of woman: How females lead ape studies"

ScienceNews reviews Maria Mitchell and the Sexing of Science: An Astronomer Among the American Romantics

Annalee Newitz at io9 talks to scientist and science fiction novelist Ekaterina Sedia about female robots and chemical prejudice

ScienceWoman proposes "Scientists are people too, and it's time we started traeting them that way"

Chad Orzel on why self-esteem is not why students are being turned off from science.
PZ Myers writes about motivating students (and motivating women) to pursue science careers

At Feministe Octagalore writes about the effect of the economy on women "choosing" to leave the workforce.

CNN reports "Anger in the office - it hurts women more". So just stop complaining, don't nag, and just let it go if it's not too important. Said one "expert": "I always tell women on the job, kill them with kindness," she says. So I guess the trick is to just smile, then blog about it anonymously.

Business week has a slide show featuring this year's winners of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair - all girls!

Lifehacker talks to Dr. Horrible actress Felicia Day about being a "geek-girl". Her major in math was a "fallback" degree in case music didn't pan out.

Tags: women in science, gender gap, stereotypes

It all started with the 19th Amendment . . .

I was looking for information about the 1955 B-Movie Tarantula, and came across this review. It turns out the "line to listen for" is

“I knew it would happen. Give women the vote and what do you get? Lady scientists.”

Of course, why didn't I think of that! Maybe the election year voter drives will increase the number of women physics professors . . . Actually I think it would be pretty funny in a "look how stupidly sexist it used to be the 1950s" way if there weren't individuals currently bemoaning both the terrible effects of women voting and working as scientists.

Anyway, if you are interested in seeing Tarantula in a science-friendly environment - and you live in Southern California - you might want to check out tomorrow's showing as part of the B Movies and Bad Science series at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

And here are some links I've been collecting about the way women scientists are portrayed in film and television that I hadn't gotten around to blogging about:

• Inkling Magazine: Babe Scientists on Film
  "For best results in science, wear short shorts. And be sure your deep intellect is matched by deep cleavage."
• Science and Supermodels: Female Scientists in Movies: The Top 10
  "We have to make a choice in a lot of cases; great women or great science. Sometimes we get both but that’s rare."
• io9: Television: Meet the New Science Heroes
  This is about the portrayal of scientists on TV in general, but there is at least one woman scientist who will be on-screen in the fall lineup: Deanna Russo as super-scientist Sarah Graiman on the new version of Knight Rider.
  

Image: John Agar as small town physician Matt Hastings and Mara Corday as scientist Stephanie "Steve" Clayton in Tarantula.

Tags: Tarantula, women in science, movies

Women on the Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom that features a couple of socially awkward yet brilliant male physics postdocs who live across the hall from a sociable "blond bombshell" actress/waitress of "average intellect." And of course one of the geeky geniuses finds love with his hot non-genius neighbor. I've never seen it, so I don't really know what it's like. The description makes it sounds like nerdy male fantasy fulfillment, which isn't really my cup of tea.

The season finale was on May 19, but it was apparently popular enough that they are talking about next season. Science recently ran an article about the show's science advisor, UCLA physicist David Saltzberg, who apparently keeps the physics fairly accurate. So does The Big Bang Theory include any female physicists?

Leonard, plyaed by Johnny Galecki, is the experimentalist who longs for [actress/waitress] Penny and has a disastrous fling with Leslie, a brilliant labmate, who spends part of their tryst correcting an equation. In the episode in which Leonard firs asks Leslie for a date – "a biosocial exploration with a neurochemical overlay," he calls it – the two test how long it takes a powerful lab laser to heat up soup.

You can watch the clip on YouTube. If you enjoy scientist stereotypes - thick glasses, uncombed hair, poor social skills - you'll probably get a laugh out of it.

Leslie is the only female research on the show, a complaint [creator] Prady and Saltzberg hear often from women, whether scientists or journalists. Prady promises that more female scientists will appear. "The [female-male] ratio is actually higher on the show that it is in my part of the field, which is pretty bad, Saltzberger unhappily adds.

There are fewer than one? I guess he's talking about the ratio of the single female physicist character to the 3 or 4 male physicist characters. But hey, it's a fantasy, so why not have two female physicists - and have one of them date a sexy actor/waiter.

The show's production team actually visited the UCLA physics department and apparently received a depressing picture of what it's like to be a woman in physics - which, of course, they'll include in the show:

Prady met a physicist who lies about what she does in social situations, because she feels her career intimidates men. "We're going to have Leslie do that," Prady says. "Whenever anybody says they lie about who they are, there's a rich story to tell there."

At least I find it depressing. The article goes on to talk about how much physicists - male and female - love the series, so maybe it's just me. I doubt I'll bother to give it a go when I can watch the socially inept but brilliant Gregory House instead.

• Watch the video clips that accompany the Science article.
• Watch some recent full episodes of the Big Bang Theory at CBS.com.

Image: Guess which character in this The Big Bang Theory group photo is not a physicist.
Tags: The Big Bang Theory, physics, women in science

How a woman can help your story

Speculative fiction writer and reviewer Ben Payne sums up the benefits of including a woman in your story:

Check out this example. In sentence one we have one of the "foe pars" of writing: the "As you know Bob".

"Nice work on that device, Mark," said Karlos to his colleague.
"Thanks Karlos," said Mark. "I used physics and chemistry and made quantum variables of the connector ribbon."

Don't be bamboozled by the science!! Now you'll notice that Mark is explaining something to his colleague that his colleague should already know!! Incongruous!!

But if we introduce a *woman* to this scenario, all of a sudden the "infodumper" is less intrusive. Because the woman probably *wouldn't* understand what Mark was talking about!! Check out the new version:

"Nice work on that device, Mark," said Lauren. She raised her eyebrows and brushed her long blonde hair away from her face. "But how on earth does it work?"
Mark admired Lauren's attractive figure. He'd been working with her for some time but never thought she'd notice a science geek with glasses like him. "It's quite simple," he said. "I used physics and chemistry and made quantum variables of the connector ribbon."
Lauren raised an eyebrow above her eye suggestingly. "Nice work," she said with a pert smile."How about dinner some time?"

Wow! You just got away with explaining the science, without disrupting the realism!!

What's sad is that there are probably authors out there who are thinking to themselves, "Hey yeah, what a great idea!"

Tags: women in science, stereotypes, science fiction

Madeleine L'Engle and Women in Science

Forgive another science fiction-related post, but the news that author Madeleine L'Engle died last Thursday at he age of 88 brought back happy memories of reading her 1962 novel, A Wrinkle in Time. It stars Meg Murry, a mousy and socially awkward high school student who is good at math. There were few books with brainy female protagonists, so Meg has been an inspiration to many a smart-yet-mousy feeling girl. To top that off, Meg's mother Mrs. Murry is a brilliant biochemist who is apparently able to satisfy the demands of both her scientific career and raising her kids by having a research laboratory in her home.

Meg and Mrs. Murry inspired many young girls in their love of science. As current PhD student MrsWhatsit writes, reading A Wrinkle in Time is what set her on her current career path:

At that time, I didn’t know what a PhD was. I had never heard of it. I had to look it up in an encyclopedia. The upshot was, I wanted one. At the age of 11, after reading this book, I had decided that I wanted a PhD. I already loved science, I loved school, I loved learning, it seemed natural to me.

And now, here I am.

Just surfing around, I found a bunch of other posts with similar sentiments from Lee Kottner, the dubious biologist, and several others rounded up by Suzanne Reisman at BlogHer. Doc Thelma has a recipe for Mrs. Murry's beef stew, inspired by this passage:

When they got back to the house Mrs. Murry was still in the lab. She was watching a pale blue fluid move slowly through a tube from a beaker to a retort. Over a Bunsen burner bubbled a big, earthenware dish of stew. "Don't tell Sandy and Dennys I'm cooking out here," she said. "They're always suspicious that a few chemicals may get in with the meat, but I had an experiment I wanted to stay with.

I would think that blue fluid in the stew is one of the reasons that a lab at home isn't always a good idea, but the Murry kids turned out OK.

As the series of books continues, Meg grows up and becomes a mathematician who helps her husband with his marine biology research. She doesn't pursue a Ph.D., though, choosing to stay home with her kids instead. I never read the later books, since they were published when I was in college, but, according to the Wikipedia summary, in A House Like a Lotus(1984), Meg plans to go back to school.

Meg is said by Maximiliana Horne, [her daughter] Polly's mentor, to be "restless" now that her children are growing older and less dependent. Polly writes that her mother intends to complete her Ph.D. once her youngest child, Rosy, is in school. Polly is aware that Meg does not want her eldest daughter to suffer the same difficult adolescence that Meg had in terms of peer relationships. Max suspects that Meg has been holding herself back professionally in order to avoid giving Polly an inferiority complex similar to the one Meg had in comparing herself with her beautiful, Nobel Prize-winning mother.

I guess I'll have to go back and read the rest of series to see if she ever does get that degree - or comes to terms with her choice to not to.

Tags: Madeline L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time, Meg Murry, Mrs. Murry

The Baddest Girls in School, Eureka Style

One of my guilty pleasure TV shows is Eureka on SciFi. The premise is that there is a secret town in the Pacific Northwest where pretty much everyone is a genius and works as a scientist for Global Dynamics. The sheriff is a "normal" non-genius who arrived in town with his teen-aged daughter by accident. It's played for humor, and several of the main characters - the sheriff's deputy, the head of Global Dynamics, and the scheming town psychiatrist - are played by attractive, intelligent women. Disappointingly, almost all of the actual scientists are played by men. Even if that's true in "real life," there's no reason that a humorous fantasy-sci fi TV show can't make their head particle physicist a woman.

Anyway, there was an episode a couple of weeks ago that did change it up a bit. One of the plots featured the Tesla High School science fair, where the students create Nobel-prize caliber projects. Zoe, the sheriff's daughter, comes into conflict with the school's "Heathers." In Eureka the trend-setting bullying popular clique are three girls whose inventions win MacArthur "genius" awards. It's a high school where smart = cool.

Watch video clip starting at 6:40 time remaining.

The feud spills over into the science fair with experimental sabotage. Ultimately Zoe and head "Heather" Megan have to work together to save the town. Yes, it's corny, but I found it refreshing to see high school girls who are brilliant at science and engineering depicted as the rule, rather than the exception.

Other clips with Zoe and Megan:

• Clip 4 starting at 2:07
• Clip 5 from the beginning of the clip
• Clip 6 starting at 10:06
  

Tags: Eureka, science for girls, women in science

Women in Science Link Roundup: The Arts

A few recent links about women, science and art and fiction.

Abel Pharmboy writes about Odile Crick, the wife of Francis Crick, who died on July 5. Odile drew the double-helix structure of DNA in Crick and Watson's famous 1953 paper.

LabLit.com reports on the work of London artists Denise Wyllie and Clare OHagan's series of artworks to raise awareness of Rosalind Franklin and ovarian cancer.

Wyllie explains: “We were talking to a fellow artist about our project and she said, ‘Oh you know about Rosalind Franklin, of course’, but of course, we didn’t.” Intrigued, the artists researched Franklin’s story and were shocked by what they found. O Hagan says: “We were fuelled by anger that we knew nothing about Franklin’s work and that her work wasn’t recognised. It inspired us to make art to acknowledge her scientific achievements.”

Poppy Z. Brite points to a passage that's a great example of what not to write:

By all reports, gorgeous female characters in books must wear less makeup than any other women on earth, with the possible exception of starlets sitting for interviews. The I-don't-see-myself description appears on page 3 of Sequence, an alleged suspense thriller by Lori Andrews. Here, two pages later, is the sentence that made me throw the book across the room (and, later, in the trash):

Alex felt that she could persuade the corpse, woman to woman, to yield up her genetic secrets.

* Harry Potter SPOILER *

The Today Show talked to J.K. Rowling about what happens to her characters after The Deathly Hallows:

Luna Lovegood, the eccentric Ravenclaw who was fascinated with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and Umgubular Slashkilters, continues to march to the beat of her own drum.

“I think that Luna is now traveling the world looking for various mad creatures,” Rowling said. “She’s a naturalist, whatever the wizarding equivalent of that is.”

Tags: Rosalind Franklin, Denise Wyllie, Clare O'Hagan, Odile Crick, Luna Lovegood

Sunday Video: Story Time with Young Science Authors

The program QUEST on public television station KQED in San Francisco did a segment on "Story Time with Young Science Authors." And they do mean young - these are 5-8 year olds from the KQED Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest reading their science-themed contest entries. The video features Maanasa Rajaguru reading her story and talking about her goal of becoming an astronaut.

You can read Maanasa's full entry (pdf) and leave a comment on the QUEST blog.

Free Fictional Female Scientists

For those of you out there who like science fiction, here are a couple of free stories that feature female scientists:

The first is the eco-thriller The Rhesus Factor from Australian science fiction writer Sonny Whitelaw:

Marine engineer Kristin Baker advises the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu on environmentally sustainable development projects. After meeting US Navy Commander Nicholas Page, she discovers her unwitting role in the Exodus Project, a scheme to protect the West's interests in the face of global warming. But what neither know is that a stealth virus has quietly become a global pandemic; one that health authorities cannot stop. For this virus hasn't emerged from an African jungle or a remote Chinese province, it's come from within our own DNA.

Whitelaw studied geography and anthropology as an undergraduate, and almost completed her Master's thesis on "sea level change and global warming", but gave up science to write fiction. You can download Rhesus Factor from Double Dragon Books or SonnyWhitelaw.com.

The June Issue of Hub Magazine includes the story "More than a Butterfly"by January Mortimer (pdf version, Mobi Pocket version, MS Reader version). As the SF UK Review sums it up: "It’s a story of genetic manipulation, fashion, butterflies and one woman’s passion for her work. There are some nice touches that help to flesh out the main character, showing her to be a complex person while hinting at the complexity of the subject without getting bogged down in technicalities."

If TV's more your thing, you might want to check out Dinosapian. The star is teenage Lauren, a counselor at her paleontologist mother's Dinosaur Explorer camp. The twist? You guessed it - real dinosaurs in the wilds of Canada. According to the review at SciFi.com, most of the supporting characters are pretty cardboard-like.

Beyond Lauren and Eno [the dinosaur], the writers do their best to people their world in the short half-hour. That doesn't leave much time to develop the secondary characters. The conceited best friend, the hunky counselor, the distracted mom, the bratty brother and sister and the rest come off as caricatures initially. Luckily, there's a season to get to know these characters.

Overall it got a positive review:

It's great to see a very accessible kids' show that works on so many levels for so many age ranges, and the special effects are just great. The younger kids will enjoy the dinosaurs, and the older kids will identify with Lauren's journey.

It definitely sounds better than some of the Saturday kids shows I've stumbled on. It's shown on Saturdays on Discovery Kids (BBC Kids in Canada).

Tags: Sonny Whitelaw, January Mortimer, Dinosapien

Victorian Woman Doctors

The Wellcome Trust has put it's database of medical images - historical and contemporary - online. There is a lot of cool imagery that is as much art as science. Not surprisingly since it's a medicine-related database, there aren't many images of scientists or engineers. However, there are many images of physicians, including a couple from the Victorian era that joke about "lady doctors".

Education of women in medicine was a new idea in the Victorian era. Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake and several other women ("The Edinburgh Seven") had been given permission to attend classes at the Edinburgh medical school in 1869. This was a controversial move:

Doctors, professors and the public had strong feelings about the women's medical education, about whether they should be allowed practical experience in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, and whether they should be eligible for degrees. The debate spilled over from the pages of The Times and The Scotsman onto the streets one November afternoon in 1870. A crowd of hundreds gathered near Surgeons' Hall where the women were to take an anatomy examination. They were heckled and had rubbish thrown at them, but Jex-Blake refused to slip away afterwards by a side door. This incident has become known as the "Surgeons' Hall Riot". Later, the Sheriff fined three "disorderly" students £1 each for "breach of the peace".[4] Jex-Blake said the young men had been encouraged by a teaching assistant, but lost when he sued her for defamation.

That was the background for this comic in Punch by Gerald Du Maurier (click for larger version) which was published in August 1870. It depicts a bunch of men - probably lower class based on their accent - willing to do anything for an attractive women, even work for her as nurses.

OUR PRETTY DOCTOR

Dr. Arabella "Well, my good friends, what can I do for you!"

Bill, "Well, Miss, it's all along o' me and my mates bein' out o' work, yer see, and wantin' to turn an honest penny hanyways we can; so 'avin' 'eard tell as you was a risin' young medical practitioner, we thought as p'raps you wouldn' t mind just a recommendin' of hus as nurses."

I'm not sure if Punch is mocking the idea of female doctors or of men who would do anything for a pretty lady (or both).

The second picture (click for larger picture) is an undated woodcut that has a old lady complaining about the gentility of female doctors. The way she complains is pretty funny though. She also is talking in dialect - Scottish maybe? - which probably has some social significance that I'm missing.

"WHEN PAIN AND ANGUISH WRING THE BROW"

The Minister. "Well, Janet, how did you like your new Doctor, Dr. Elizabeth Squills!"

Janet. "Weel, Sir, only pretty well. Ye see, Sir, Dr. Elizabeth isn't so leddylike as some of ain men Doctors!"

The Edinburgh Seven lost their battle to graduate when in 1873 the Court ruled that the University had the right to refuse the women their degrees - and noted that they should not have been admitted in the first place. Five of the seven were eventually granted medical degrees abroad, in Bern or Paris. Finally, in 1876, there was new legislation that enabled examining bodies (if they so desired) to treat candidates of both sexes equally. Jex-Blake set a practice in Edinburgh in 1878 and helped found the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women.

Margaret Todd (1859-1918) was one of the first students at the Edinburgh School of Medicine for Women. She took eight years to complete the four year course, spending part of her time writing a novel, Mona Maclean, Medical Student. When the book was published in 1892 under the pseudonym Graham Travers, the magazine Punch didn't care much for the medical bits, but likes it when Mona behaves in a "womanly" manner :

"My Baronite has been reading Mona Maclean, Medical Student. (Blackwood.) "It is," he tells me, "a Novel with a purpose—no recommendation for a novel, more especially when the purpose selected is that of demonstrating the indispensability of women-doctors." Happily Graham Travers, as the author (being evidently a woman) calls herself, is lured from her fell design. There is a chapter or two of talk among the girls in the dissecting-room and the chemical laboratory, with much about the "spheno-maxillary fossa," the "dorsalis pedis," and the general whereabouts of "Scarpa's triangle." But these can be skipped, and the reader may get into the company of Mona Maclean when she is less erudite, and more womanly. When not dissecting the "plantar arch," Mona is a bright, fearless, clever girl, with a breezy manner, refreshing to all admitted to her company. The episode of her shopkeeping experience is admirably told, and affords the author abundant and varied opportunity of exercising her gift of drawing character. Mona Maclean is, apparently, a first effort at novel-writing. The workmanship improves up to the end of the third volume; and Miss Travers' next book will be better still.

The passage on the dissecting room actually sounds like a bit of fun to me.

It was the luncheon-hour, and the winter term was drawing to a close. The dissecting-room was deserted by all save a few enthusiastic students who had not yet wholly exhausted the mysteries of Meckel's ganglion, the branches of the internal iliac, or the plantar arch. For a long time a hush of profound activity had hung over the room, and the silence had been broken only by the screams of a parrot and the cry of the cats'-meat-man in the street below ; but by degrees the demoralising influence of approaching holidays had begun to make itself felt; in fact, to be quite frank, the girls were gossiping.

It was the dissector of Meckel's ganglion who began it. "If you juniors want a piece of advice," she said, laying down her forceps,—" a thing, by the way, which you never do want, till an examination is imminent, and even then you don't take it,—you may have it for nothing. Form a clear mental picture of the spheno-maxillary fossa. When you have that, the neck of anatomy is broken. Miss Warden, suppose, just to refresh all our memories, you run over the foramina opening into the spheno-maxillary fossa, and the structures passing through them."

The dissector of the plantar arch groaned. "Don't I" she entreated in assumed desperation. "With the examination so near, it makes me quite ill to be asked a question. I should not dare to go up, if Miss Clark were not going."

"I should not have thought she was much stand-by."

" Oh, but she is ! If she passes, I may hope to. I was dissecting the popliteal space the other day, and she asked me if it was Scarpa's triangle ! "

A murmur of incredulity greeted this statement.

It's not just anatomy. Mona and her friend Lucy also chit-chat about organic chemistry.

"I was at the School to-day," Mona went on.

"Were you really? It must have been horrid going back."

"It was very horrid to find the organic solutions in the chemical laboratory at such a low ebb. But I suppose they will be filled up again for the summer term."

"Oh, you know all those stupid old tests ! "

"It is precisely the part of the examination that I am most afraid of. I have not your luck—or power of divination. Why don't they ask us to find whether a hydroxyl group is present in a solution, or something of that kind ?"

"Thank heaven, they don't ! "

"I wonder what a scientific chemist would say, if he were asked to identify two organic mixtures in an hour and a half ! "

"I did it in half an hour."

"Yes, but how ? By tasting, and guessing, and adding I in KI, or perchloride of iron."

Lucy helped herself to more potato.

"I seem to have heard these sentiments before," she said.

Mona laughed. "Yes ; and you are in a fair way to hear them pretty frequently again, unless you keep out of my way for the next four months."

I guess it would never pass for chick lit, but it's refreshing to read about a female character who sounds like a real science (or medical) student.

Todd only practiced medicine for five years, focusing on novel writing. She lived with Dr. Sophia Jex-Blake, her romantic partner, and published Jex-Blake's biography in 1918, shortly before her own death.

Related: Listen to BBC4's Woman's Hour Drama, "Famous people in Hastings: Sophia Jex-Blake."

Tags: Victorian women, Sophia Jex-Blake, Margaret Todd, female doctors, Edinburgh

Summer Reading Suggestions from Science

Science asked contributors and scientists for their summer reading suggestions (subscription required). There were several about fictional - and non-fictional - women scientists. Descriptions are from Amazon.com.

Science editor-in-chief Donald Kennedy recommends Allegra Goodman's Intuition, noting that several characters "are modeled closely enough on players in widely known cases to encourage identification."

[. . .] a struggling cancer lab at Boston's Philpott Institute becomes the stage for its researchers' personalities and passions, and for the slippery definitions of freedom and responsibility in grant-driven American science. When the once-discredited R-7 virus, the project of playboy postdoc Cliff, seems to reduce cancerous tumors in mice, lab director Sandy Glass insists on publishing the preliminary results immediately, against the advice of his more cautious codirector, Marion Mendelssohn. The research team sees a glorious future ahead, but Robin, Cliff's resentful ex-girlfriend and co-researcher, suspects that the findings are too good to be true and attempts to prove Cliff's results are in error. The resulting inquiry spins out of control. With subtle but uncanny effectiveness, Goodman illuminates the inner lives of each character, depicting events from one point of view until another section suddenly throws that perspective into doubt.

Science news editor Colin Norman recommends William Boyd's Brazzaville Beach.

Hope Clearwater lives alone in a beach house in an unnamed African country, trying to patch together her shattered life. An ecologist, she had come to Africa to participate in primate research and to heal the deep wounds of her marriage to a brilliant English mathematician; but she soon found herself plunged into another crisis, one that threatened not only her career but also her life. In a book packed with scientific and mathematical metaphors, Boyd explores how people create, defend, ignore, or subvert the belief systems that govern their lives. If on one level this is an intellectual thriller, on another it is very much an exciting and riveting adventure story, and on yet another a subtle examination of the power grid of personal relationships.

Vera Rubin, Senior Fellow in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., recommends Kim Todd's Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis has long fascinated humankind, but few people more than Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), who spent her life illustrating this mysterious process in insects. Merian grew up in Germany, married, had two daughters, left her husband to join a Labadist (pietist) community in West Friesland, moved to Amsterdam and, at age 52, traveled to Surinam to search for insects. Beyond that, little is known about this remarkable woman except for a few letters and her beautiful engravings and watercolors, most of them published in her books on insect metamorphosis. Todd (Tinkering with Eden) fleshes out her biography with colorful descriptions of Merian's world and the people she knew, emphasizing that she was as exceptional in her art as in her life. Unlike other naturalists at the time, she depicted insects together with their host plants, an innovation that influenced many later 18th-century students of insect life. Merian fell out of favor in the 19th century, but today, when scientists have come to appreciate the importance of environment to insect development, her star is rising again. Todd's vivid account should do much to further the renewed interest in this unusual woman and her pioneering approach to insect illustration.

Tags: summer reading, women in science, Allegra Goodman, William Boyd, Kim Todd, Maria Sibylla Merian