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Marcia Barbosa A secret history

Why have there been so few female deemed that married women were wright (1900–1998) solved the dy- Out of the Shadows: Nobel laureates in science – and just not eligible. Indeed, the Royal Society namics of the nonlinear amplifier, in Contributions of two in physics? The usual retort is to did not finally admit women until collaboration with John Littlewood. Twentieth-Century blame universities for not allowing 1945 – biochemist Marjory Stephen- The solution of this practical problem Women to Physics women to study there until well into son and crystallographer Kathleen includes phenomena such as period- Nina Byers and the 19th century. Since few women Lonsdale were the first. doubling, bifurcations and abrupt Gary Williams (ed) took up physics and mathematics at Another example is Harriet Brooks transitions from periodic to aperiodic 2006 Cambridge that time, so the argument goes, fewer (1876–1933), the first person to ob- behaviour. If only scientists had paid University Press still would be brilliant enough to serve the recoil of a decaying nucleus. attention to her work, chaos theory 498pp deserve prizes. But women will get She was obliged to resign her job at would have been born in 1942 instead £30.00/$35.00hb there in time. One of the “side dishes” in New York when of 20 years later. offered by Out of the Shadows is to they found that she was planning to After the 1960s the gender issue show that this argument is flawed. marry. In the dean’s own words: “The assumed more subtle forms. Medical The very few women who did have the College can not afford to have physicist Rosalyn Sussman Yalow courage to study physics and mathe- women on the staff to whom the col- (b1921) developed the radioimmuno- matics were extraordinarily talented lege work is secondary; the College is assay together with Solomon Berson. and many of them deserved to be in not willing to stamp with approval a She and Berson were in line for a the Nobel club. It was prejudice that woman to whom self-selected home Nobel prize for this discovery, but the made that impossible. duties can be secondary.” She ended death of Berson in 1972 removed Edited by Nina Byers and Gary up abandoning science. them from consideration. For the Williams of the University of Califor- But being single did not make the committee, he was the “brain” and nia Los Angeles, Out of the Shadows life of the female scientist any easier. she was the “brawn”. After his death brings the history of these women into Such women were allowed to do re- she studied the structure of hormones the spotlight, collecting portraits of the search but not to reach positions of and was awarded a Nobel prize in life and work of 40 female scientists of leadership. Mathematician Emmy medicine in 1977. She had to create the 20th century. Each chapter des- Noether (1882–1935), responsible for two masterpieces in order to be rec- cribes the important discoveries made the connection between symmetries ognized for one. by a particular woman and illustrates and conservation laws, was not allowed So, if anyone asks me why there are the life and working conditions in to obtain her Habilitation, which was so few female Nobel laureates, my which her discoveries were made. The needed to become a professor in answer is that many female scientists essays are written clearly and some- Germany, simply because she was a have deserved the prize but they were times passionately so by distinguished woman. David Hilbert, in his speech invisible to the community. When a physicists from the relevant field. supporting her case, argued that: “This woman finally gets the prize, she has The main purpose of the book, as is after all an academic institution, not usually done enough work to deserve stated by Byers, is to “bring a more a bath-house.” Noether finally got her at least two awards. Even if the per- gender-balanced perception of Habilitation only many years later, centage of women in science is small, physics”. But the book goes beyond which affected her both financially and the talent, the passion and the persis- that. It reveals that the shadow that in terms of prestige. tence required from them to survive has obscured women’s achievements Women in the “wrong” ethnic in the field qualifies them. If you do in physics has its roots in prejudice group faced even tougher challenges. not believe me, then just wear your and a misperception by scientists and During the Second World War, Aus- “gender-balanced” glasses and check administrators of what it takes to trian physicist (1878– for yourself. become a good professional scientist. 1968) was one of the pioneers in the Out of the Shadows gives us a taste The physics “boys’ club” could not study of nuclear fission. She and of that gender-balanced analysis. conceive of the idea that a woman chemist worked together Some examples of female scientists could reconcile family and career. As on the project that led to the identifi- from Eastern Europe and Asia are a result, many of these women worked cation of barium as a fission product missing from the book but such indi- unpaid or were even banned from of uranium. But because she was a viduals are in even deeper shadow. academic institutions. Jew, Hahn did not acknowledge her Young scientists both male and fe- An early example from the book is part in the discovery, in order to pro- male will enjoy reading the book for Hertha Ayrton (1854–1923), a British tect his laboratory. As a result she was the diverse list of inspiring role mod- mathematician, physicist and engin- excluded from sharing the 1944 Nobel els that it includes. eer who showed that the problems in Prize for Chemistry with Hahn: an the arc lights used for street lighting injustice that affected her reputation Marcia Barbosa is at the Universidade were caused by oxidation at the tips of and the possibility of her having her Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, the carbon anodes. She took out many own laboratory after the war. Brazil, e-mail [email protected]. patents for searchlights and cinema Ignoring the contributions made by She chaired the 2nd International Conference projectors, and in 1902 was the first women hurts science itself. If a dis- on Women in Physics in 2005 woman to be nominated for election covery is not known, it may as well not to the Royal Society. However, she have been made. For example, Eng- was denied that honour when it was lish mathematician Mary Lucy Cart-

4 Physics World January 2007