Facebook. Who are some women in physics?

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1 Women in Physics A LECTURE IN THE INTERDISCIPLINARY STEM SEMINAR SERIES JUDY BECK DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS UNC ASHEVILLE FEBRUARY 6, 2018

2 Facebook Who are some women in physics?

3 Let s start with the most famous Marie Curie First woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics (1903) Maria Goeppert Mayer Second (and so far, last) woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics (1963) 207 Nobel Prizes have been awarded in Physics, Two have been awarded to women

4 Marie Skłodowska Curie ( ) Coined the word radioactivity and developed the theory of radioactivity (with husband Pierre) Developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes Discovered two elements: polonium and radium polonium named for her native country, Poland Created mobile x-ray units for field use in WWI 1903 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pierre Curie and Henri Becquerel "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomenon

5 More Nobel facts Marie Curie is one of only two people in history to win Nobel Prizes in two different fields awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element. Marie Curie and her daughter Irene are only motherdaughter pair of Nobel Prize recipients. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935 was awarded jointly to Frédéric Joliot and Irène Joliot-Curie "in recognition of their synthesis of new radioactive elements" Photos: Copyright The Nobel Foundation

6 Maria Goeppert Mayer ( ) 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics: half awarded to Eugene Paul Wigner "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles", and half jointly to Maria Goeppert Mayer and J. Hans D. Jensen "for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure". Worked on the Manhattan Project Crater on Venus named for her Full professor of physics at the University of California San Diego The American Physical Society s Maria Goeppert Mayer Award honors young female physicists at the beginning of their careers

7 List of 17 Women Who Changed the Face of Physics

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9 Nuclear fission Attended Max Planck s lectures 1926: the first woman in Germany to assume a post of full professor in physics, at the University of Berlin. In head of the physics department of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry in Berlin Left Germany, under cover, in 1938 Eventually worked with Neils Bohr Otto Hahn received Nobel Prize in 1944

10 mathematicians

11 computer scientist biophysicist

12 astronomers

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14 and an actor!

15 it is shameful that there are so few women in science In China there are many, many women in physics. There is a misconception in America that women scientists are all dowdy spinsters. This is the fault of men. In Chinese society, a woman is valued for what she is, and men encourage her to accomplishments yet she remains eternally feminine. Quoted in 'Queen of Physics', Newsweek (20 May 1963) no. 61, 20.

16 A physicist also known for her writings on the political and social effects of technology. Peace is not the absence of war but the absence of fear.

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18 Women in Physics Profiles What Women Are Doing With Physics Alison Binkowski Alison is a physicist, policy analyst, avid traveler, and proficient in Spanish and Mandarin. Nadya Mason Nadya went from gymnastics Olympic hopeful to research scientist. Deborah Berebichez As a child in Mexico, Debbie was told science wasn't for girls. Debbie however broke down that barrier and is now a Wall Street analyst. She invites all girls to join her!

19 Lisa Randall Lisa may be on her way to discovering the next dimension, and she wants to share it with physicists and non-physicists alike. Marta Dark McNeese Marta chose physics mostly because she was fascinated with optics, and a little bit because she was afraid of chemicals and disliked knives. Evelynn Hammonds Evelynn holds honorary degrees at Spelman College and Lynett Rock Bates College. Lynett Rock, a member of the Cherokee Nation, first learned physics via satellite. Now she teaches college physics and math in person.

20 AIP (American Institute of Physics) Member Societies Acoustical Society of America American Association of Physicists in Medicine American Association of Physics Teachers American Astronomical Society American Crystallographic Association American Meteorological Society American Physical Society AVS: Science & Technology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing The Optical Society The Society of Rheology

21 ~20% of Bachelors and PhDs in Physics earned by women

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24 NSF stats Despite increases in the number of women earning degrees in physics, the proportion of women in this field, averaging about 20% across all degree levels, is the lowest of all the physical sciences. In the past 20 years, the proportion of women earning degrees in physics has increased more at the master's and doctoral levels than at the bachelor's level, but the numbers of women in this field remain very small.

25 The pipeline From the Gazette, spring 2018 issue Newsletter of the Committee on the Status of Women in Physics & the Committee on Minorities of the American Physical Society

26 2010 Academic Workforce Survey AIP publication, Aug Women among Physics & Astronomy Faculty Results from the 2010 Survey of Physics Degree-Granting Departments Rachel Ivie, Susan White, Arnell Garrett, and Garrett Anderson

27 Susan White & Rachel Ivie, 2013 Women s representation in physics lags behind most other STEM disciplines. Currently, women make up about 13% of faculty members in all physics degree granting departments, and there are physics departments with no women faculty members at all.

28 Factors affect the representation of women in a single physics department: the number of faculty members in the single department and the overall proportion of women among all current physics faculty. White and Ivie, 2013

29 Why do we care about the underrepresentation of women in physics? Equity are there barriers that make it more difficult for women and underrepresented minorities to engage in professions in physics? Health of the profession and advancement of scientific knowledge These were moments of exhilaration and ecstasy! A glimpse of this wonder can be the reward of a lifetime. Could it be that excitement and ennobling feelings like these have kept us scientists marching forward forever? -Chieng-Shiung Wu Physics would be infinitely richer if the demographic of physicists was much more varied and diverse than it currently is. -Suchitra Sebastian, university lecturer in physics at the University of Cambridge

30 AIP Statistical Research Center, What's a Physics Bachelor's Degree Worth?

31 White and Ivie, Number of Women in Physics Departments: A Simulation Analysis Our results suggest that we should not accept the absence of women in a particular department as evidence that the department is biased against women. This paper will explain that much of the reason for this [absence of women] has to do with the number of physics faculty members in each department and the representation of women among physics faculty members overall.

32 Ivie and White, 2015 Is There a Land of Equality for Physicists? Results from the Global Survey of Physicists Using data from the Global Survey of Physicists (GSP), we examine differences in access to resources and opportunities for men and women on a country-bycountry basis. We also look at the effect of family and childrearing responsibilities on career progress. Resources include funding and lab space, and opportunities include presenting one s research and being acknowledged as a scientific colleague. With the exception of Germany, we find that women have significantly fewer resources or opportunities or both in every country for which we had enough respondents to conduct the analysis. In addition, we find that women report slower career advancement after becoming mothers, while men reported that becoming fathers had no significant effect on their careers. The relationship between career progress and becoming a parent was significant in every country for which we had enough respondents to conduct the analysis. aip.org/statistics/reports/there-land-equality-physicists

33 Report on two studies on the existence and impact of gender stereotyping in physics labs The conclusion: explicit and implicit stereotypes, equating real physicists with men, are prevalent within experimental physics communities in North America and Western Europe Barthelemy et al. and Gonsalves et al.: interviewed physics students and faculty at universities in several countries to understand how laboratory culture affects the educational experience for women. Moving clockwise from lower left, the first three statements were made by women interviewed by Barthelemy et al.; the fourth statement was made by male students observed by Gonsalves et al. [Nilanjana Dasgupta, 2016] [Image Credit: APS/Joan Tycko]

34 Resources and Looking Ahead The Committee on the Status of Women in Physics (CSWP) of the APS founded in 1972 to address the encouragement and career development of women physicists. Conferences for undergraduate women in physics Climate Site Visits Publications on Effective Practices for Recruiting and Retaining Women in Physics Women speakers list; minority speakers list

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36 APS newsletter Drawing on research evidence, the STEP UP 4 Women project will mobilize thousands of high school physics teachers to help engage young women in physics and encourage them to pursue physics degrees in college. The goal is to narrow the US representation gap in physics bachelors degrees and begin to shift deep-seated cultural views about who does physics. Why are 50% or more of bachelors degrees in physics going to women in countries like India and Iran, yet only 20% go to women in the US? What are the cultural messages we convey to women and how can this narrative be changed? Zahra Hazari, PhD, Florida International University

37 Conferences and workshops

38 Research opportunities Photos by B. Lundgren, C. Hay

39 Photos by M. Ruiz

40 Some of our UNCA Physics majors

41 There is room for everyone in physics! Photos by M. Ruiz

42 Appreciation, and an invitation Thank you to my colleagues and students, for their inspiration and encouragement. And come to the 2018 Parsons Lecture by Christine Darden, NASA Mathematician, Data Analyst, and Aeronautical Engineer, March 1 7 8:30 pm Colleague Kathy Whatley w/ Neil degrasse Tyson Lipinsky Hall Auditorium