WHERE HAVE ALL THE GIRLS GONE

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WHERE HAVE ALL THE GIRLS
GONE?
Nina Byers California State
University at Northridge, March 24 2003

Gabrielle du Châtelet (1706 -
1749)
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A timeline for the scientific revolution
1210 - 1293 Roger Bacon -- "Cease to be ruled
by dogmas and authorities look at the world!"
1390 - 1462 Johannes Gutenberg -- first
printing press in 1454. 1473 - 1543 Nicolaus
Copernicus -- described heliocentric motion of
planets. 1533 - 1603, Elizabeth I - Queen of
England 1546 - 1601 Tycho Brahe -- observed
a supernova exploding in 1572 and thereby
discovered that the heavens were not unchanging.

A few decades after Queen Elizabeth died, the
poet Anne Bradstreet wrote
Let such as say our sex is void of reason, Know
it is slander now, but once was Treason.
Her successor, King James I, forbade his daughter
to be taught saying
To make women learned and foxes tame has the
same effect - to make them more cunning.
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Timeline cont. 1
1564 - 1642 Galileo Galilei -- law of the
pendulum ( when he was 17 ) and established
Copernican (heliocentric) over Ptolemaic
(geocentric) theory of planetary motions.
1627 - 1691 Robert Boyle -- discovered Boyle's
Law PV constant at constant temperature and
volumetric laws of chemical reactions at constant
pressure (Gay-Lussac 1808 and Charles) the
relation PV nRT established the fundamental
property of the molecular constitution of gases.
1642 - 1727 Isaac Newton -- Newton's Principia
gives the fundamental laws of motion, calculus
motion of astromonical bodies,etc.. Newton's
Optiks explains how light works lenses,
microscopes, telescopes, thin films, etc. 1706
- 1749 Emilie du Chatelet -- translated Newton's
Principia into French. 1711 - 1778 Laura
Bassi -- experiments with electricity and
professor of physics in University of Bolgna.
1729 - 1796 Catherine the Great - Empress of
Russia established Russian Academy of Science.)
1736 - 1806 C. A. de Coulomb -- discovered law
of electric attraction and repulsion and how to
measure quantity of electricity. 1750 - 1848
Caroline Herschel -- discovered and catalogued
over 3 thousand stars made other important
discoveries with her brother and after her
brother dies.
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Timeline cont. 2
1766 - 1844 Robert Dalton -- fundamental laws of
chemistry 1780 -1872 Mary Somerville -- wrote
On the connection of the physical sciences and
three other books about astronomy, biology and
geology of great importance to science in
England. 1791 - 1867 Michael Faraday --
quantization of electric charge, electromagnetic
effects showing fundamental connection of
electricity andmagnetism. 1831 - 1879 James
Clerk Maxwell -- fundamental laws of
electromagnetismkinetic theory of gases. 1834
-1907 S. Mendelee'v -- periodic table of the
elements. 1844 - 1906 Ludwig Boltzmann --
thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
1850 - 1891 Sofia Kovalevskaia -- important
contributions to calculus and differential
equations. 1858 - 1947 Max Planck -- quantum
theory of radiation (1900) and statistical
thermodynamics. 1862 - 1935 Agnes Pockels --
pioneered field of surface physics. 1867 -
1934 Marie Curie -- discovered natural
radioactivity, new elements including radium
confirmation of existence of atoms. 1868 -
1921 Henrietta Leavitt -- Period-luminosity
relation for Cephid variable stars enabling
measurement of intergalactic distances.
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Agnes Pockels
Agnes Pockels measured properties of surfactants
and surface tension of liquid solutions in her
home. She sent her results to the professor of
physics of the University of Goettingen who
seemed not to understand. Then when Lord Rayleigh
began to publish on this subject, she wrote to
him about her work. He found it so remarkable he
published it in with the following introduction
I shall be obliged if you can find space for the
accompanying translation of an interesting letter
which I have received from a German lady, who
with very homely appliances has arrived at
valuable results respecting the behaviour of
contaminated water surfaces. The earlier part of
Miss Pockels' letter covers nearly the same
ground as some of my own recent work, and in the
main harmonizes with it. The later sections seem
to me very suggestive, raising, if they do not
fully answer, many important questions. I hope
soon to find opportunity for repeating some of
Miss Pockels' experiments.
Nature, March 12, 1891.
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Pockels cont.
"Agnes Pockels' researches, developed almost
entirely independently, show a clarity of thought
and observation, and strictness of scientific
approach remarkable for a girl of her years who
had no formal training. When examined against
the background of her life, however, they become
truly astonishing.
-- Giles and Forrester Her family lived
for many years in the malaria infected region of
North Italy while her father served in the
Austrian army. As a result of this, the entire
family suffered adverse health. Pockels took on
the role of household manager and nurse as her
parents' health deteriorated. Her diary
illustrates the difficulties she faced in trying
to maintain her own health, the health of her
parents and continue her scientific research at
the same time. Her parents refused to allow her
to proceed to higher education so she found other
routes to gain scientific knowledge. She wrote
in her diary I attempted to continue my
education by my own devices, first of all by the
use of a small text book by Pouillet-Müller and
since 1883 by means of books provided by my
brother, Friedrich Pockels, who is three years
younger than I and eventually became a professor
of physics, but who at that time was a student at
Göttingen. However, this type of training did
not take me far in respect of the mathematical
approach to physics, so that I much regret to
have but little knowledge of theoretical matters.
"
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Marie and Pierre Curie in the lab
Nuclear physics began with the discovery of
radioactivity by
Marie and Pierre Curie.
They coined the word radioactivity in a
joint 1898 paper.
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Henrietta Leavitt
Henrietta Leavitt discovered the relation between
the period and luminosity of classical Cepheid
variable stars. This period-luminosity (P-L)
relation made possible measurements of the
distances of stars from the earth and the
determination of intergalactic distances. This
relation remains of great importance in the
present day determination of astronomical
distances.
HARVARD COLLEGE
OBSERVATORY Circular 173
Edward C. Pickering, March
3, 1912. Periods Of 25
Variable Stars In The Small Magellanic
Cloud. The following statement regarding the
periods of 25 variable stars in the Small
Magellanic Cloud has been prepared by Miss
Leavitt. A Catalogue of 1777 variable stars in
the two Magellanic Clouds is given in H.A. 60,
No. 4. The measurement and discussion of these
objects ...
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Timeline cont. 3
1871 - 1937 Ernest Rutherford -- discovered
atomic nucleus 1878 - 1968 Lise Meitner --
discovered and explained nuclear fission. 1879
- 1955 Albert Einstein -- special and general
theories of relativity, 1882 - 1935 Emmy
Noether-- modern abstract algebra relation of
symmetries an d conservation laws. 1885 - 1962
Niels Bohr -- correspondence principle
explanations of atomic spectra and atomic
structure. 1887 - 1961 Erwin Schroedinger --
quantum mechanics 1891 - 1974 James Chadwick
-- discovered the neutron 1894 - 1970 Marietta
Blau -- photographic emulsions to record and
measure particle tracks 1900 - 1958 Wolfgang
Pauli -- discovered neutrino Pauli exclusion
principle spin - statistics connection.
1900 - 1979 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin --
discovered chemical composition of stars and
interstellar space. 1901 - 1954 Enrico
Fermi -- theory of beta decay quantum statistics
(fermions) particle physics. 1902 - 1984
Paul Dirac -- quantum electrodynamics quantum
statistics (for fermions). 1903 - 1971
Kathleen Lonsdale -- experimental determination
of the structure of the benzene ring. 1910 -
1994 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (Nobel laureate) --
determination of three-dimensional structure of
complex bio-organic molecules.
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Emmy Noether
"The key to the relation of symmetry laws to
conservation laws is Emmy Noether's celebrated
Theorem. ... Before Noether's Theorem the
principle of conservation of energy was shrouded
in mystery. ... Noether's simple and profound
mathematical formulation did much to demystify
physics."
Introduction to Emmy Noether Collected Papers,
ed. Nathan Jacobson, Springer-Verlag 1983.
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She solved the problem of energy conservation in
the general theory of relativity with the
discovery of the theorem which we call Noether's
Theorem. It relates symmetries and conservation
laws. Its importance for 20th century physics
cannot be overstated. Her work, owing to its
depth and great generality, went far beyond
clarifying the question of energy conservation in
the general theory, and it has played a pivotal
role in theoretical physics of the 20th
century. What we call Noethers Theorem is in
fact two theorems. She proved them and their
converses in a landmark paper that was read to
the Königl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu
Göttingen in the spring of 1918 by Felix Klein.
As a woman she probably could not even have been
present when her paper was read to the
Gesellschaft! .
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Emmy Noethers main line of research was the
development of modern algebra. Historians of
mathematics see the creation of modern abstract
algebra in the work of Emmy Noether and
collaborators in the years 1921 - 1933. Prominent
mathematicians came from all over the world to
consult with Noether and attend her lectures.
"In the realm of algebra, in which the most
gifted mathematicians have been busy for
centuries, she discovered methods which have
proved of enormous importance... Pure mathematics
is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. ...
In this effort toward logical beauty, spiritual
formulas are discovered necessary for deeper
penetration into the laws of nature." ---
Albert Einstein, in a tribute to Emmy Noether on
her untimely death NYT1935.
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It is remarkable that Noether was never appointed
to a paid position in the faculty of the
University of Göttingen. Indeed it took many
years for the mathematicians to persuade the
University to grant her habilitation so that she
could be a privat docent and earn money teaching.
Consideration was refused by the academic senate
on the grounds that she was a woman, and Hilbert
is quoted as having angrily shouted out I don't
see why the sex of the candidate is relevant --
this is after all an academic institution not a
bath house!'' The Habilitation was finally
granted after World War I in 1919.
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Hermann Weyl wrote about Noether in the Nazi
period " A stormy time of struggle like
this one we spent in Göttingen in the summer of
1933 draws people closely together thus I have a
vivid recollection of these months. Emmy Noether
- her courage, her frankness, her unconcern about
her own fate, her conciliatory spirit - was in
the midst of all the hatred and meaness, despair
and sorrow surrounding us, a moral solace."
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Marietta Blau
"Blau was the first physicist to show that proton
tracks could be separated from alpha-particle
tracks in emulsion. She also exposed emulsion to
neutron beams and measured proton energies for
protons resulting from elastic scattering of the
neutrons by the hydrogen in the emulsion. In
particular she used this method to detemine the
spectrum of neutrons resulting from specific
nuclear reaction processes." -- Professor R. H.
Dalitz, Oxford University.
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Life of Marietta Blau I.
1894 - Born to prominent Vienese family
publishers of sheet music. 1919 - Ph. D.
University of Vienna 1923 - 1938 - Blau worked
in the Institut fur Radiumfoschung, Vienna in an
unpaid position but she had lab space and grants
for travel and equipment. Throughout this period
she worked with the British firm Ilford on the
development of photographic emulsions to detect
particle tracks. 1932 - Chadwick discovers
neutron and Blau quickly shows they can be
detected in photographic emulsions by observing
recoil protons. 1937 - Blau and Wambacher observe
nuclear disintegrations caused by cosmic rays in
photographic emulsions - called Blau-Wambacher
stars. 1938 - Hitler annexes Austria and Blau, a
Jewish woman, emmigrates 1939 - 1944 - Professor,
Technical University, Mexico City
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None of her appointments were suitable for a
physicist of her ability and accomplishment. In
1960 in declining health, Marietta Blau returned
to Vienna.
C. F. Powell is usually credited with the
development of the photographic method of
studying particle tracks. His 1950 Nobel Prize
citation reads "for his development the
photographic method of studying particle tracks
and his discoveries regarding mesons made with
this method." However, his work followed upon
that of the earlier work of Blau, and Blau and
Wambacher.
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Irène Joliot-Curie
Nobel Prize 1935 with F.
Joliot-Curie
"Irène Joliot-Curie (1897 - 1956) was born in
the stirring days of radioactivity when her
parents Marie and Pierre Curie were making
great discoveries, she grew up with
radioactivity, and all her life was devoted to
its study.
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From James Chadwicks obituary
"In 1926 she married Frédéric Joliot ... and
there began a collaboration of husband and wife
in scientific work rivalling in productive genius
even that of her parents. The most outstanding of
their joint papers were published in the years
1932-1934. In the first of these, they reported a
very strange effect which provided the clue to
the discovery of the neutron. The light of
intuition -- and good technique -- led them, in
early 1934, to their beautiful discovery of
artificial radioactivity. For this discovery the
Joliot-Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize for
Chemistry in 1935. About two years later with
P. Savic, she came within a hair's-breadth of
recognizing that the phenomenon of fission."
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Ida Noddack
In a now famous paper ("Uber das Element 93"
Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Chemie 47 653 (1934),
Ida Noddack suggested that the evidence which
Fermi thought might be evidence for the
production of element 93 might instead be
evidence that neutrons caused the uranium nucleus
to disintegrate into several heavy fragments - a
process now known as fission. She suggested
this could be determined by chemical analysis,
and indeed radiochemist Otto Hahn with
F.Strassmann and Lise Meitner by chemical studies
confirmed her suggestion in 1939. E.
Segre, Fermis coworker in Rome, has written that
The possibility of fission, however, escaped us,
although it was called specifically to our
attention by Ida Noddack. ... The reason for our
blindness is not clear.
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Lise Meitner
Discovered nuclear fission with O. Hahn and F.
Strassmann, and explained it
with O. R. Frisch. As a top
experimentalist, she was importantly involved
inthe discovery of the neutrino.
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Timeline cont. 4
1906 - 1972 Maria Goeppert Mayer (Nobel
Laureate)-- nuclear shell structure. 1907 -
1981 Hideki Yukawa -- meson exchange theory of
the nuclear force. 1912 - 1997 Chen-shiung Wu
-- experimental discovery of parity violation
... 1918 - 1988 Richard Feynman --
relativistic quantum field theory V-A theory of
weak interactions... 1929 - Murray
Gell-Mann -- quark structure of matter and
quantum chromodynamics V-A weak interaction
theory.. 1947 - Gail Hanson-- quark
jets.
http//www.physics.ucla.edu/c
wp
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Maria Goeppert Mayer
Nobel Prize in Physics 1963
Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906 - 1072) was an
accomplished physicist from the beginning of her
career until the end and she made numerous
contributions to the field of physics. For an
account of her life and work, see Robert G.
Sachs, Biographical Memoirs of the National
Academy of Sciences, Volume 50. See also Nobel
Lectures, Physics 1963-1970, Elsevier Publishing
Company, Amsterdam.
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Maria Goeppert Mayer and her daughter
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Chien Shiung Wu
"There is only one thing worse than coming home
from the lab to a sink full of dirty dishes, and
that is not going to the lab at all!"
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Lehmann, Lonsdale, Hodgkin
Inge Lehmann - Discovered hard inner core of the
earth.
Kathleen Lonsdale - "Her experimental
determination of the structure of the benzene
ring by x-ray diffraction, which showed that all
the ring C-C bonds were of the same length and
all the internal C-C-C bond angles were 120
degrees, had an enormous impact on organic
chemistry." In 1945 first female physicist
elected Member of the Royal Society (founded in
1660).
Dorothy Hodgkin - Determined the structure of
penicillin in 1944 in three-dimensional detail
the structure of vitamin B-12 in 1956, using one
of the first high-speed digital computers. Nobel
Prize in Chemistry, 1964 - "For her
determinations by X-ray techniques of the
structures of important biological substances."
Got out the structure of insulin in 1969. This
culminated a study pursued over three decades.
The details of the structure provided insight
into the function of this vital hormone.
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Further reading

References for further reading Womans
history Antonia Fraser, The Weaker Vessel ,
Olwen Hufton, The Prospect Before Her, -
Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in
America, Philosophy John Stuart Mill, The
Subjection of Woman Shulamith Firestone, The
Dialectic of Sex Biography Auguste Dick, Emmy
Noether Ann Hibner Koblitz, A Convergence of
Lives - Sophia Kovalevskaia Ruth Lewiun Sime,
Lise Meitner A life in physics Sharon Bertsch
McGrayne, Nobel Prize Women in
Science, Elizabeth C. Patterson, Mary Somerville
1780-1872,