Vera Rubin Biography - Vera Cooper Rubin was born July 23, 1928 in Philadelphia, PA. Her father was Philip Cooper, an electrical engineer, and her mother Rose. She first developed an interest in astronomy at the age of 10 while stargazing from her home in Washington D.C. Her father encouraged her to follow her dreams and took her to amateur astronomer meetings. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Vassar University in 1948 of which she was the only astronomy major that year. Later she earned her master’s from Cornell in 1950 with her masters’ thesis was controversial and centered around the possibility of bulk rotation by looking for “sideways” motion of galaxies. She finally got her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1954. Her doctoral thesis was on the clustering of galaxies and how she describes the definite clumping and not random distribution throughout the sky. She had attempted to enroll in Princeton for her master’s degree, but at the time women were not allowed in the graduate astronomy program. She was married in 1948 to Robert Rubin and has four children all with Doctorate degrees. Awards and Achievements- Vera has received numerous awards including the 1993 Presidential National Medal of Science, the 1994 Dickenson Prize in Science from Carnegie-Mellon University, the 1994 Russell Lectureship Prize of the American Astronomical Society, in 2004 the National Academy of Sciences’ James Craig Watson Medal1, in 2002 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation, in 1996 the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (London) , in 2003 the Bruce Medal for lifetime achievement in astronomy , the Richtmyer Award in 2008 , the Weizmann Women and Science Award in 1996 , and in 1994 the Karl G. Jansky Lectureship award .... ... middle of paper ... ...th of women in the sciences. She has been outspoken on the need for more females in the National Academy of Science, on review panels, and for greater recognition for the works that women have done in science. When she first burst onto the scientific scene with her evidence of Zwicky’s theory, she paved the way for other women to enter the scientific community. Yet despite this, she continues to fight with the National Academy of Sciences and continues to be dissatisfied over the number of women who are elected each year. She claims it is the saddest part of her life and says, "Thirty years ago, I thought everything was possible." Remembering what it was like to be a lone woman staring at galaxies, Vera Rubin considers it a responsibility and a privilege to be a mentor. “It is well known,” she says, “that I am available twenty-four hours a day to women astronomers.”
Keller, Evelyn Fox. Reflections on Gender and Science: 10th Anniversary Edition. New Haven and London: Yale University, 1995.
Rossiter, Margaret W. (1982). Women Scientists in America: Struggles and Strategies to 1940. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press
place in society as the astronomer, for she does the "dirty" work to free people
Rosalyn Sussman Yalow graduated Hunter College as the first women to graduate in physics (Bauman et. al. 2011). She also led a way for acceptance and understanding of women’s role in science in America (Bauman et. al. 2011). She even inspired Mildred Dresselhous, who was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and president and officer of many Associations including American Association for the Advancement of Science, to pursue the career she wanted (Bauman et. al. 2011). Rosalyn born to Clara and Simon Sussman in New York City, on July 19, 1921 (Brody 1996). She married Aaron Yalow on June 6, 1943 and had two children named Elanna and Benjamin (Brody 1996). In 1977, Dr. Yalow won the Nobel Prize in medicine and was the second women to ever accept such an award (Brody 1996). She also taught physics in New York until 1950 when the Veterans Administration (during World War II) was interested in exploring and researching radioactivity (Brody 1996). As her life progressed, Dr. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow became an inspiration for young women who want to be recognized and achieve something in their life (Brody 1996). From when she was a child she was fascinated with science and decided to achieve something no women really does. Rosalyn Yalow went to school and started working in the science field, she managed to help the world of radioactivity and radioimmunoassay, how Mrs. Rosalyn impacted the world of science, how Dr. Yalow impacted the lives of other women, and how she never lost her passion for science even in her last years.
Astronomers Wife – Just a Simple Complex Tale Kay Boyle's literary piece titled "Astronomers Wife", is a mental exercise. Every word and every line has an important meaning to it. Interpretation is a critical skill in understanding everything Boyle's story has to offer. Although this piece has a lot of sophistication to it, the story line is rather simple.
Reinhold, Robert. "Behind Each Astronaut Stand The 'Other' Women of NASA." New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2014.
Rosalind Franklin: Seeing a woman as a scientist during this time is somewhat rare, so the fact that she has taken up this profession show that she is persistent, dedicated, and smart. The only problem is that she is undervalued because of her gender. She is also very quiet and reserved because she’s in a different country.
Veronica Linklater. Absolute Astronomy. Absolute Astronomy, n.d. - n.d. Web. The Web. The Web.
2, Alter Dinsmore, Cleminshaw H. Clarence, Philips G John. Pictorial Astronomy. United States: Sidney Feinberg, 1963.
One of the strongest women scientist/astronomer was born in 1818 as Maria Mitchell whom led an unbelievable life and had an incredible discovery. Maria Mitchell was born when women were not given the opportunity to vote nor did women have the same equal rights as men did, but given her circumstances of her father being a principal, founding his own school and being a distant family member of Benjamin Franklin she was given the same rights as the men did. Given a few obstacles she led an extraordinary life and became the first woman in America to work as an astronomer professionally, which she than later received an award personally from King Frederick VII, for her work and discovery.
University of Alabama, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 4,000 Years of Women in Science. Dec. 2002 2 Nov. 2003 http://crux.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/newintro.html.
Rosalind Franklin, chemist and X-ray crystallographer, once said: “Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.” Franklin is one of the few women scientists I ever learned about in school, and it is a shame that it is such. There is much more to women in scientific fields than the few names we learn. Their history and struggles to get where they are today is something hardly ever talked about. Although they are hardly mentioned in schooling, women in scientific careers are important and through their hardships theses fields would not be the same without them.
Rosser, S. V. (1998). Applying feminist theories to women in science programs. Signs, 24, 71-200.
Zuckerman, Harriet, Jonathan Cole and John Bruer (eds.)” The Outer Circle: Women in the Scientific Community” New York: Norton, Print. 1991
The female status is overall smaller than males in education institutions and workplace environments. This is a result of the stereotypes and gendered norms that are socially constructed. This paper will argue that although societies around the world continue to evolve and develop, the under representation of women in the various fields of science and engineering is becoming more of a controversial issue facing a variety of standpoints all around the world. This will be examined through the discussion on the challenges and reasons for underrepresentation. This paper will further explore the cross-cultural differences in the status of women emphasizing on how the status of women in science may vary from culture to culture due to their norms and values, along with how the social culture of mass media also has an impact. Finally, this paper will then demonstrate the steps that can be taken within any society in order to change and prevent the challenges that women are faced with in the fields of science and