Could someone please review my writings on "Great Women of Science"
and offer me any critical advice on anything I might have left out.
Thank you,
Brenda Varney
Great Woman of Science
In science, many of today's most incredible discoveries have been
made by woman. it seems as if "Arrowsmith" is still the pattern, at
least in literature and films. There is always the NIH and Scripps
scientist who was interviewed on the "Paris Fall Fashions" show
last night, I suppose, but I missed her name.
But I've also found that these assumptions are just that: assumptions.
Over the years, as I've questioned them and stopped buying into them,
I've found that people come out of the woodwork who don't share them
either. Men and women. Postdocs and grad students. PI's and non-PI's.
People who have big Thanksgiving dinners at their houses, who put up
Christmas decorations at their bench or observe the high holy days.
Can anyone point me to some for my students to look at? In science,
it seems as if "Arrowsmith" is still the pattern, at least in
literature and films. There is always the NIH and Scripps scientist
who was interviewed on the "Paris Fall Fashions" show last night, I
suppose, but I missed her name.
I suggest Corey Goodman from Berkeley. He came and talked to the grad
students here at A&M a few years ago and was not afraid to talk about
keeping his weekends for his family, having a personal life, and
limiting
the size of his lab, yet his work is top of the field. I'm sure there
are
more out there, but they're "in the closet". Admitting to a personal
life
is still taboo in some circles. The head of a department here at A&M
brags
about needing only 5 to 6 hours sleep and not knowing how old his kids
are,
and a recent "humorous" article in the HMS Beagle, titled "Are you a
real
scientist?" scored "real scientist" as inability to know the names of
their
children, where the children went to school, or who one's spouse was.
While
extreme for the point of humor, there's a sad kernel of truth there.
