Women and science - Essay Example

WOMEN OF SCIENCE It was during the late 1500s and the early 1600s that scholars and scientists began to increasingly perceive that experiments and mathematics were the keys to scientific development. This perception was instrumental in bringing about a scientific revolution. The names of persons responsible for this at that time and in the years that followed are etched forever in the halls of fame. They include men like Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, William Harvey, Robert Hooke, Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon.1 The names include many women well, notably Ada Byron, Marie Curie, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Caroline Hershel and Sophie Germain. 1) Ada Byron Ada Byron of the United Kingdom is hailed as the creator of the world’s first computer software programme. She was born in December 1815 to the famous English poet Lord George Gordon Byron and Lady Annabella Byron. There were 4 momentous events in her life that propelled Ada to scientific distinction.2 The first event was the split up between her parents. Lady Byron legally separated from her husband just 5 weeks after the birth of Ada. The court granted her sole custody of the child. Free from her husband’s influence, Lady Byron {who secretly dreaded that Ada would take up poetry like her father}, encouraged her daughter to become a mathematician and a scientist. The second and third momentous events were the advent of 2 persons into Ada’s life: Mary Somerville and Charles Babbage. Mary was a brilliant woman who translated the works of French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace. Her translated texts were widely used at Cambridge. Mary motivated 17-year old Ada to study mathematics deeply. Ada met Charles Babbage during a dinner 1: The Scientific Revolution. The World Book Encyclopedia 2: TOOLE, B. The Ada Project: Women in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. party in 1834. Charles was an English mathematician, philosopher and mechanical engineer. She was very interested in his pet project called the ‘Analytical Engine’ {which turned out to be the predecessor of the modern computer}. Charles’ contention that the Analytical Engine could be made not only to foresee but also act on such foresight ignited a spark in Ada Byron that would precipitate her to scientific fame.3 During the lifetime of Ada (she died 1852), women were not considered equal in status to men and faced severe discrimination especially in the field of higher education. In what is now called the First Wave of Feminism, the feminist movement in the U.K began a little before Ada’s death, in 1850, when feminists like Barbara Bodichon and Bessie Parkes began an organised movement with its headquarters at Langham Place in London, eventually going on to publish the ‘English Woman’s Journal’ from 1858 onwards. The First Wave of Feminism brought about reform in the girls’ secondary school system, also allowing girls to take national examinations, thus opening venues of higher education and access to professions like science and medicine.4 Ada Byron could not, unfortunately, benefit from the achievements of the First Wave of Feminism. She was barred from taking higher education, as women were not considered worthy for such studies during her time. She abandoned her scholarly hopes and, in keeping with social conventions, got married {to the Earl of Lovelace} and eventually gave birth to 3 children. Ada was forced to remain away from her beloved mathematics for a long period of 9 years.5 The fourth momentous event in Ada’s life that occurred in 1843 brought about a radical about-turn vis-à-vis her relationship with study. Charles Babbage, who meanwhile had continued to work on his Analytical Engine, spoke extensively about it at a seminar in Turin; an Italian engineer 3: TOOLE, B. The Ada Project: Women in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. 4: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 5: TOOLE, B. The Ada Project: Women in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. named Luigi Menabrea reported a summarised version of Babbage’s speech in an article in French. By chance, the article was given to Ada Byron for translation in 1843. Ada initially showed the translation manuscript to Charles Babbage, who encouraged her to add her own remarks to it. Ada used her knowledge and imagination to do so, and the resultant final text turned out to be thrice as long as the original one.6 Charles and Ada began corresponding heavily, trading their ideas that included fact as well as imagination. This culminated in Ada publishing an article in 1843 where she foretold that a calculating machine such as Babbage’s Analytical Engine could be employed to create graphics, compose music and put to scientific as well as practical uses. She followed up her predictions by writing a detailed plan about how the Analytical Engine could calculate Bernoulli numbers. Ada’s plan is looked upon as the world’s first computer software program.7 Perhaps the most saddening part is that Ada did not receive any local, national or international acclaim for her great achievement. Her unique contribution in 1843 was followed by a series of illnesses that ultimately caused her death at a young age of 36 in the year 1852. Ada did win international fame much later, that too from a country not her birth-place (the United States), when the U.S. Department of Defense named a newly developed computer software language “Ada” in her honour in 1979.8 2) Marie Curie Marie Curie of Poland is hailed as the “Mother of Modern Physics”; her achievements were to pioneer research in radioactivity and to discover polonium and radium.9 Marie Sklodowska Curie was born in Warsaw in November 1867. She was fortunate to have 6: TOOLE, B. The Ada Project: Women in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. 7: Ibid. 8: Ibid. 9: Lewis, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. strong academic genes – her father was a physics teacher, while her mother was an educator. Although Marie’s mother died when she was 11, her father persisted with her education until she finished high school, which was the maximum education allowed for girls at that time.10 During Marie’s lifetime, the First Wave of Feminism {1850 – 1915} did occur {the Second Wave of Feminism that began in 1960 was after her lifetime}.11 Although the First Wave of Feminism did bring about radical improvement in education facilities for women, the movement’s achievements were confined to countries in Western Europe. The movement did not affect Marie’s country, Poland which is in Eastern Europe. As a result, Marie was denied higher education after completing high school education. The unfair discrimination against women forced Marie to waste 18 years of her life doing nothing except a short spell of work as a governess.12 Marie was very fortunate to have a sister working as a gynecologist in Paris who arranged for her to migrate to France in 1891(1). The First Wave of Feminism fortunately had generated favourable effects in that country in the sphere of women’s education.13 Marie was able to enroll at the historic Sorbonne University of Paris, where she completed a degree in physics two years later, securing the first rank. The distinction enabled her to get a scholarship to graduate in mathematics, which she duly did in 1894. By this time Marie had already begun to work at research. She met Pierre Curie that same year, and they were married a year later.14 Marie was fortunate that her husband did not confine her to the home – it was considered the social convention at that time, although the First Wave of Feminism was trying to change that perception. As a result, although Marie bore a daughter, Irene, after 2 years of marriage, she 10: Lewis, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. 11: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 12: Lewis, J. J., Marie Curie: About, Inc. 13: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 14: Lewis, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. continued her career as a physics lecturer at a girls’ school, and more importantly, continued her research work. Years of hard work, coupled with her brilliance, finally propelled her to a unique discovery – Marie was the first person to discover radioactivity {a word she invented} in thorium. She went on to put forward a tentative theory which she published on April 2, 1898, stating that her coined word was not a property resulting from interaction between elements but an atomic property.15 Marie intensified her research to prove her hypothesis by isolating the radioactive element. Four years later, she became the first person to first discover polonium {that she named after her native country Poland}, and then radium. Her dissertation in 1903 earned 3 distinctions: she became the first woman in France to receive a scientific research degree, she was the first woman in Europe to be given a doctorate of science, and she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Marie continued her research and went on to develop the use of radiation therapy to treat cancer and lupus.16 Marie experienced a brief setback in 1911 as a result of the remnants of discrimination against women in France. She was denied entry into the French Academy of Sciences because, as Emile Hilaire Amagat put it, “women cannot be a part of the Institute of France.” The Nobel Prize winner retaliated by refusing to let the Academy publish any of her writings for a decade after that debacle. Paradoxically, Poland, which continued to stick to its policy of discrimination against women, made an exception in her case and officially selected Marie as a director in the Warsaw Institute for Radioactivity. She was awarded a Second Nobel Prize immediately after that.17 Marie helped France during the First World War {1914 – 1918} by donating her Nobel Prizes money to create war bonds and install easily maneuverable x-ray equipment in ambulances; she 15: Lewis, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. 16: Ibid. 17: Ibid. also set up 200 fixed x-ray centres in France and Belgium. Marie’s brilliant discoveries finally took their toll. Due to her constant contact with radioactivity, she first developed leukemia and then pernicious anemia. The latter caused her death on July 4, 1934.18 3) Sofia Kovalevskaya Sofia Kovalevskaya of Russia is hailed as a mathematical genius who created the ‘Cauch - Kovalevskaya Theorem’ related to partial differential equations, as well as an astronomical wizard whose theory called the ‘Kovelevskaya Top’ explained planet Saturn’s rings rotation pattern.19 Sofia was born in January 1850 in Moscow. She was fortunate to have ancestors {great-grandfather and maternal grandfather} who were mathematicians.20 Although the First Wave of Feminism began the year Sofia was born and continued until 1915,21 Russia and other countries of Eastern Europe did not share the movement’s effect as did their Western European counterparts. As a result of the discrimination against women, particularly against their right to higher education, Sofia was unable to find admission in Russian Universities after she finished high school. She however refused to accept the inevitable and let social conventions shepherd her into marriage and housekeeping for the rest of her life without higher education. Acting on an ingenious plan, she entered into a marriage of convenience with Vladimir Kovalensky. The couple left Russia in 1869; Sofia went to Heidelberg, Germany, while Vladimir went to Austria.22 Germany, like other countries of Western Europe, was in the process of reacting favourably towards women’s higher educational rights in response to the First Wave of Feminism.23 As a result, Sofia found it easy to gain admission to study mathematics at Heidelberg University. She completed her education there and two years later went to Berlin. However, the remnants of the 18: Lewis, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. 19: Sofia Kovalevskaya: About, Inc. 20: Ibid. 21: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 22: Sofia Kovalevskaya: About, Inc. 23: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. earlier discrimination against women’s higher education raised its ugly head at the University of Berlin – it refused to allow women to attend its classes. Undaunted by the rebuff, Sofia continued her higher education in mathematics by taking private tuitions from Karl Weierstrass. She later submitted her doctoral dissertation to the University of Gottingen as an external student in 1874. Sofia’s dissertation was so unique that the University took the unprecedented step of granting her a doctorate “sum cumma laude” even though she had not attended a single class at its premises. The dissertation, which was on partial differential equations, eventually won worldwide acclaim as the Cauch – Kovelevskaya Theorem.24 Sofia then committed a blunder that led her into the wilderness for 9 long years. Immediately after earning her doctorate, Sofia and her husband Vladimir Kovalensky returned to Russia. Their mother country continued its negative policy towards women’s development and rights, with the result that the woman whose brilliant Theorem had enthralled the world could not find a proper academic job. Sofia settled down into a socially conventional lifestyle, dutifully confining herself to household chores, also giving birth to a daughter. Unable to pursue her career in her beloved mathematics, Sofia began writing fiction. Her book ‘Vera Bazentzova’ attracted substantial literary acclaim and was translated into many languages. Vladimir Kovalensky became involved in a financial scam that caused public outrage; he committed suicide rather than face the consequences.25 The lure of mathematics finally triumphed, making Sofia return to Berlin with her daughter in 1883. Sofia went on to achieve many distinctions such as becoming a ‘privatdozent’ at Stockholm University, winning a prize from the Swedish Academy of Sciences as well as a chair appointment in it – marking the first time a woman secured such an appointment in any European university. 24: Sofia Kovalevskaya: About, Inc. 25: Ibid. Sofia’s second major achievement in science came in 1888. She submitted research findings to the French Academie Royal des Sciences on how the rings around planet Saturn rotated. Her explanation, which won the Prix Bordin award from the French University, gained global fame as the ‘Kovelevskaya Top.’26 Sofia met an untimely death from influenza on February 10, 1891 at the young age of 41. Two years before her death she was fortunate to witness a change (albeit very slight and very late) in her mother country Russia’s discriminatory attitude towards women: the Russian Academy of Sciences elected her a member in 1889.27 4) Caroline Herschel Caroline Lucretia Hershel of Germany is hailed as the First Lady of Astronomy, the first woman to discover a comet as well as several new stars.28 Caroline was born in March 1750 in Hannover. The First Wave of Feminism began 2 years after her death in 1848,29 so she was doomed to struggle against discrimination throughout the 98 years of her life. Her childhood and teenage years were heavily tinged with unfair suppression not only by society but by her own parents. When Caroline’s father {a military musician} wanted to include her in mathematics, music and French education along with his other children, her mother did not allow it, preferring to let the girl do household chores instead. Her unfeeling mother even concluded that Caroline would never find a husband due to her misshapen physical appearance caused by smallpox and typhoid – disfigured left eye, pock marked cheeks and stunted growth.30 Caroline was able to escape from her homemade and society engineered prison only at the age of 22, when her brother William invited her to join him at Bath in England. William, who worked 26: Sofia Kovalevskaya: About, Inc. 27: Ibid. 28: GREENE, N. Caroline Hershel Biography: About, Inc. 29: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 30: GREENE, N. Caroline Hershel Biography: About, Inc. as a musician, began to train his sister in music as well as mathematics. However, astronomy {not music} was William’s real love. He began devoting more and more time to making powerful telescopes and observing the universe through them. A time soon came when he gave up music and began concentrating fully on making telescopes and astronomy. Caroline became his apprentice. At first she helped William make telescopes but soon developed a deep personal fascination for astronomy. She encouraged William to blend mathematics and astronomy, doing complex mathematical calculations from his observations. On March 13, 1781 William discovered a new planet {Uranus}. This prompted King George III to appoint him as his royal astronomer the following year. Assured of a regular and substantial pension, William and Caroline delved deeper into the mysteries of astronomy.31 Soon Caroline began her own independent achievements. She discovered her first comet on August 1, 1786, marking the first such feat by a woman which gained her King George III’s recognition and a job on the royal payroll. In the 11 years that followed, Caroline discovered 7 new comets {including one that returns after every 155 years which was named after her: Hershel – Rigollet} and 560 new stars. She overcame a brief setback caused by her beloved brother’s death in 1822 and went on with her work. She received many distinctions such as the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828, honorary membership to Britain’s Royal Society in 1835, election to the Royal Irish Academy 3 years later, and the Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia in 1846 {Caroline was 96 at that time}.32 Caroline Hershel died of old age in 1848, a spinster who was suppressed most of her life and only achieved liberation through the wonders of astronomy. Fittingly, the epitaph on her tombstone {she wrote it herself} reads: “The eyes of her who is glorified here below turned to the starry 31: GREENE, N. Caroline Hershel Biography: About, Inc. 32: Ibid. heavens.” Caroline received the final accolade for her contribution to science when a minor new planet was given her middle name “Lucretia.” 33 5) Sophie Germain Sophie Germain of France is hailed as a brilliant mathematician number theorist, originator of the famous “Sophie Germain Primes,” and creator of the foundation of applied mathematics.34 Sophie was born in April 1776 35during a period when her country France and the rest of Western Europe and the world had not even heard of feminism {in fact, the First Wave of Feminism began 19 years after Sophie’s death in 1831}.36 As a result, Sophie’s entire life was spent in an atmosphere of discrimination by society. She was doubly unfortunate because her parents shared, and even exacerbated this policy to her detriment. She was withdrawn from school at the age of 13 and kept secluded at home by her parents to keep her safe from the disruptive confusion caused by the French Revolution. It was this period of isolation that paved the way for her eventual fame.37 Sophie resisted boredom by voraciously reading books from her father’s well-stocked library. She was particularly inspired by the tale of Archimedes, and went on to learn geometry and mathematics, even going to the extent of learning Latin and Greek so that she could understand classical mathematical texts. Her oppressive parents disapproved of her studying and forced her to abstain from it during the day. When she responded by studying only at night, her parents did their best to prevent this as well by locking away candles, not allowing the hearth to be lit at night, and even taking away her outer clothing. Sophie responded to this new harassment by smuggling candles and studying in her bedclothes. Her parents finally accepted her resistance and allowed her 33: GREENE, N. Caroline Hershel Biography: About, Inc. 34: LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. 35: Ibid. 36: What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. 37: LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. to continue her mathematical studies unopposed.38 The next hurdle Sophie faced was the non-acceptance of women into French Universities for higher education. She was fortunate that one of them, the Ecole Polytechnique, let her borrow its professors’ lecture notes. Knowing that interaction with professors was out the question for women, Sophie corresponded with them using a pseudonym “M. le Blanc,” pretending she was male. The trick worked and she was able to correspond and exchange ideas with eminent mathematic professors, notably Joseph-Louis Lagrange and Carl Friedrich Gauss, for as long as 3 years.39 Sophie’s first great achievement was to develop a theorem {given that x, y and z are integers, and given that x^5 + y^5 = z^5, then x, y or z is certain to be divisible by 5} that proved Fermat’s last theorem {given that x, y, z and n are integers, then xn + yn = zn is impossible to be solved for any n greater than 2}.40 Her theorem proved that in the case of prime exponents less than 100, there are no solutions possible that are relatively prime to the exponent. To this day, certain prime numbers are called “Sophie Germain Primes.”41 In 1808, Sophie became interested in the study of German physicist Chladni on the vibration of elastic surfaces. Her brilliant mind was soon able to propound a detailed explanation of the law on which Chladni’s study was based. Fearing rejection because she was female, Sophie submitted her explanation anonymously during a contest arranged by the French Academy of Sciences in 1811. She was the only contestant. The judges did not find her explanation totally convincing and extended the last date for accepting entries. Sophie amended her explanation and submitted it again, this time in her own name. The judges found the revised explanation acceptable and declared her the winner on January 8, 1816. Sophie however chose not to attend the award-giving ceremony, 38: LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. 39: Ibid. 40: RIDDLE, L. 2006. Sophie Germain: Agnes Scott College. 41: LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. fearing a backlash from the female discriminating society. Her submission was the foundation of the applied mathematics presently employed to build skyscrapers.42 Due to the discrimination against women, all that Sophie’s great achievements won was the distinction of being the only woman permitted to be present at sessions in the Institut de France. She died from breast cancer on January 27, 1831. Belated recognition of her achievements came much later when a school and a street in Paris were named after her – L’Ecole Sophie Germain and la rue Germain respectively.43 42: LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. 43: Ibid. References used: ANON. 1996. The Scientific Revolution. The World Book Encyclopedia, 17:146 ANON. 2007. Sofia Kovalevskaya: About, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_kovalevskaya.htm [21 April 2007] ANON. (N.d). What do the terms 1st, 2nd & 3rd Wave Feminism mean: Georgetown College. [Online]. Available: http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/ws/1st,_2nd,_3rd_wave.htm [21 April 2007] GREENE, N. 2007. Caroline Hershel Biography: About, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://space.about.com/cs/astronomyhistory/a/herschelcar.htm [21 April 2007] LEWIS, J. J. Marie Curie: About, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mariecurie/p/marie_curie.htm [21 April 2007] LEWIS, J. J. Sophie Germain: About, Inc. [Online]. Available: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_sophie_germain.htm [21 April 2007] RIDDLE, L. 2006. Sophie Germain: Agnes Scott College. [Online]. Available: http://www.agnesscott.edu/Lriddle/WOMEN/germain.htm [21 April 2007] TOOLE, B. (N.d). The Ada Project: Women in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. [Online]. Available: http://women.cs.cmu.edu/ada/Resources/Ada/ [21 April 2007] Read More