#26: Thirty

The results of the author's first foray into #SciArtSeptember

Space: The Final Frontier

I’ve always preferred chemistry to physics, so it was fun to learn more about outer space. I read about the first African American woman to receive a PhD in astrophysics at Yale, Dr. Jedidah Isler, and her study of black holes called blazars (Day 2: Monstrous), Dr. Leah Broussard’s investigations into portals to other dimensions (Day 5: Mirrored). I learned about Dr. Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin’s doctoral thesis that proposed stars were made of hydrogen and helium (Day 13: Aflame).

And it would not have been a complete list of women in physics without representation from “hidden figures”: Melba Roy Mouton, who led the “human computers” who tracked the Echo 1 and 2 satellites’ trajectories (Day 10: Echoing), and Katherine Johnson, the first African-American woman to work for NASA, and who was key to the success of manned space flight (Day 17: Heavenly).

Atomic

Dr. Goeppert Mayer shared the Nobel in 1963 for describing the shell model. Her thoughts? “Winning the prize wasn’t half as exciting as doing the work itself.” (Day 9: Shell)

Lise Meitner was one of the scientists who discovered nuclear fission and the element Pa - protactinium. Scarce on Earth and ☢️, it has no uses outside research. (Day 18: Divided)

Merritt Moore is a quantum physicist and also an American ballerina - I love that (and imagine knowing about physics helps with the art form?) (Day 28: Dancing)

And it made sense to finish with Chien Shiung Wen (Day 30: Wonder) and her epic quote:

“I wonder whether the tiny atoms and nuclei, or the mathematical symbols, or the DNA molecules have any preference for either masculine or feminine treatment.”

I Wanna Rock n’ Roll

In university, I avoided physics by taking geology, and ended up enjoying the puzzle solving aspect of it. I learned about Holocaust survivor Ursula Franklin, who pioneered archeometry, or the science of dating artefacts (Day 1: Survivor). Canada’s first female geologist, Alice Wilson, wasn’t allowed to go on field expeditions with men (Day 23: Rocky), so she travelled by herself for her 50 year career studying the Ottawa-St. Lawrence Lowlands. Her work is still a respected source of information to this day. Across the pond and a century earlier, Mary Anning discovered a deep fossil record along the English Channel cliffs that changed knowledge of the prehistoric record (Day 25: Petrified).

Zoology

The first Western researcher to study giraffes in the wild (not Captive - Day 4), Dr. Anne Innis Dagg is a Canadian zoologist who was denied tenure because she was married. This sparked her feminist activism, but was still largely unknown until a documentary featured her work in 2010. Roxie Collie Laybourne pioneered the field of forensic ornithology, studying over 1000 bird strikes each year to improve aircraft safety. (Day 24: Feathered).

Two PhD candidates also featured here. Earyn McGee studies the impacts of climate change on lizards in Arizona, as well as cofounded a black women in STEM group (Day 16: Scaled). Jaida Elcock works on their PhD to learn about elasmobranches, a group of animals that includes sharks (Day 26: Branching).

Chemistry

The only British woman to receive a Nobel Prize for a science, Dr. Dorothy Hodgkin discovered the structures of insulin, penicillin and vitamin B12 through X-ray crystallography. She received her schooling in England, but also lived in North Africa and the Middle East due to her parents’ work. Polly Arnold is a queer chemist who advocates against the adversaries to minority scientists (Day 27: Adversary)

Here Comes The Rain Again

Dr. Joanne Simpson contributed significantly to meteorology, studying tropical weather as the field’s first PhD in the US (Day 6: Soft). Dr. Fadja Zaouna Mouna is a hydrologist @NASAGoddard studying the alarming impacts of climate change on water supply (Day 7: Alarming).

Private Eyes Are Watching

To check that those stories were above-board, Dr. Elisabeth Bik hunts down hoaxes and frauds in published papers; specifically, alterations in images and figures. (Day 11: Hoax)

Winds of Change

NASA’s 1st black female engineer, Mary Jackson studied wind tunnel data to improve US planes (Day 12: Tunnel)

Beatrice Shilling was an aeronautical engineer who identified and fixed the problem that caused some of Britain’s WWII planes to stall in the air. (Day 19: Winged)

Twisted Sisters

One of the best-known examples of a woman scientist wronged, Rosalind Franklin’s crystallography work was key to understanding numerous structures - not the least of which was the double-helix of DNA. (Day 15: Twin)

Fiona Watt’s work in the 80s laid the groundwork for stem cell research, which has had massive implications in understanding cancer. (Day 20: Immature)

Gertrude Elion’s work led to the creation of AZT, or azidothymidine, an anti-retroviral that was a game-changer for treating HIV infection. (Day 21: Human)

Barbara McClintock’s work expanded on genetics by studying corn and what harvests would bring (Day 29: Yielding)

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