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2000 Years ofWomen in Science
from the bain-marie to Kevlar
Pioneering Women in Physics 4th March 2015
Dr Gillian Butcher
Overview
• Context within society, science
• Selective history and ideas
• References -Women in Science A Social and Cultural History, Ruth Watts
Routledge, 2007-Reflections on Gender and Science, Evelyn Fox Keller
Yale University Press, 1985
Earliest Women in Science
Merit-Ptah (c. 2700 BCE) Egypt described in an inscription as "chief physician“
Agamede (c. 1194–1184 BCE) Greece cited by Homer as a healer before the Trojan War
Ancient Greek Philosophy• Pre-Socratic
– Pythagoras (582-496 BCE)
• Classical Greek – Socrates (469-399 BCE)
– Plato (428-348 BCE)
– Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) Father of Western Medicine“wandering uterus” connected to hysteriathe cause of women’s health problems, emotional instability and inability to reason
Ancient Greek Women
Theano (6th century BCE) Greece
mathematician and physician
Agnodike (4th century BCE) Greece first female physician to practice legally in Athens
Aglaonike (2nd century BCE) of Thessaly Astronomer - predicted eclipses
Alchemy in Alexandria
Mary the Jewess (?1st- 3rd centuries AD) credited with inventing several chemical instruments,
including double boiler (bain-marie) and a type of still
Cleopatra (3rd-4th century AD) descriptions and drawings of technical processes of furnaces author of Chrysopoeia “Gold-Making”
Hypatia of Alexandria (c. 350-415 AD) wrote texts on geometry, algebra and astronomy credited with various inventions including a hydrometer, an astrolabe,
and an instrument for distilling water
Middle Ages
Robert Grosseteste (c.1175-1253)Roger Bacon (c.1214-1294)
Scientific method
Universities foundedBologna 1088, Paris 1160Oxford 1167, Cambridge 1209
Developments in China, India and Arab countriesEurope translated existing works
Women in the Middle AgesHildegard of Bingen (c.1098-1179) wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts
Christine de Pisan (1364-c.1430)wrote in defence of women’s intellect
Duchess of Suffolk, Alice de la Pole (1404-1475) order of GarterDuchess of Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham (c.1400-1452) accused of witchcraft
ItalyWomen matriculating from universitiesUniversity of Bologna had women as staff
EnglandWomen surgeons joining Guilds in York into 16th century
Revolution
Shift in attitude to and fear of women’s sexuality
C17 Age of Reason also height of witch mania
1620 James I legislation on gender roles
Civil War 1642-1651 questioning of existing hierarchiesDiggers absolute equality for men and women in law and education
Restoration 1660 gender distinction more marked
Industrialisation 1760-1840 led to polarised division of work and home and roles of men and women
Scientific revolution
Royal Society founded 1612 – a private Gentleman’s Club
Science or WitchcraftAct of God or Act of Satan
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) “father of experimental science”“a chaste and lawful marriage between Mind and Nature”
Science is mastery of man over nature Nature as bride is seduced, conquered and stripped of power
Alchemists“holistic” approach – harmony of man, woman and world
Mechanical v Hermetic Philosophy
OpportunitiesTechnology
Telescope and microscope affordable to wealthyPrinting gave greater access to writings
Judith Drake Essay in Defense of the Female Sex (1696)Mary Astell (1666-1731) "If all Men are born Free, why are all Women born Slaves?"
• Translations of science writings
Lucy Hutchinson (1620-1681)translated Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura
• Transmission of ideas on Education
• Scientific books written for public
Elizabeth Carter (1717-1806) Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy explained for the Use of the ladiesJane Marcet (1769-1858) Conversations on Chemistry
Women in ScienceMargaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673)Anne Finch, Viscountess Conway (1631-1679) philosopherElena Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684) 1st woman to graduate in Nat. Philosophy (University of Padua)
Elisabeth Hevelius (1647-1693) Polish astronomerMaria Winkelmann (1670-1720) German astronomerEmilie du Châtelet (1706-1740) French physicist and mathematicianLaura Bassi (1711-1778) Italian physicist 1st woman prof. in Physics in any uni.Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799) Italian mathematicianCaroline Herschel (1750-1848) Ger-Br astronomerMarie Lavoisier (1758-1836) French chemistSophie Germain (1776-1831) French mathematicianMary Somerville (1780-1872)
Rise of professional science – restricted access to those with qualifications
Science for middle and lower classesA Classics education a sign of affluence – can afford to spend time on “useless” pursuits
Professional Science and Scientists
Access to Oxford and Cambridge Universities was restrictedBarred non-conformists eg Quakers, Methodist, Unitarian
Scottish Universities more open and accessible
Growing urban and commercial middle classes
Royal Institution established 1799Establishment and growth of Philosophical SocietiesBritish Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) set up 1831
Women ScientistsMaria Mitchell (1818-1889) American astronomerHertha Ayrton (1854-1923) British electrical engineerMary Adda Blagg (1858-1944) British astronomerDorothea Klumpke (1861-1942) American astronomerAnnie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) American astronomerMaria Ogilvie Gordon (1864-1939) British geologistMarie Curie (1867-1934) Polish physicist and chemist Nobel prizeHenrietta Leavitt (1868-1921) American astronomerElsa Neumann (1872-1902) German physicistHarriet Brooks (1876-1937) Canadian nuclear physicistLise Meitner (1878-1968) Austrian nuclear physicistEllen Gleditsch (1879-1968) Norwegian 1st woman prof of ChemistryEmmy Noether (1882-1935) German mathematicianInge Lehmann (1888-1993) Danish seismologistMarietta Blau (1894-1970) American physicistIrène Joliot-Curie (1897-1956) French nuclear physicist
Access to Higher Education• 1870-80s women admitted to Oxbridge to attend courses and take exams• Women’s Colleges set up• 1878 London University allowed women to graduate• 1919-20 Oxford admits women to degrees
• 1919 Women’s Engineering Society WES founded
• 1928 votes for all women over age of 21
20th Century
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900-79) Br-Us astronomerMary Cartwright (1900-98) British mathematicianKathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) Irish x-ray crystallographerMaria Goeppert Mayer (1906-1972) German-US mathematical physicistMarguerite Perey (1909-1975) French nuclear chemistDorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994) British x-ray crystallographerJean Hanson (1919-1973) British bio-physicistMargaret Burbidge (1919-) British astrophysicistRosalind Franklin (1920-1958) British chemist and x-ray crystallographer
Stephanie Kwolek (1923-) American chemist, invented Kevlar
20th Century
In US, women earning doctorates in physical and biological sciences1920 14%
1960 dropped to 5%
1913 H.J Mozans Women in Science
Summary
• Women have contributed to science
• Not linear progressdepended on time, place, religion
“I think even if I tried not to choose physics, it would choose me. It is such a fascinating subject that no matter what other work I did, I would still want to learn about physics”
from Rachel Ivie and Stacy Guo (2006) Women Physicists Speak Again. AIP
Throughout history
