“For a research worker the unforgotten moments of life are those rare ones which come after years of plodding work, when the veil over nature's secret seems suddenly to lift and when what was dark & chaotic appears in a clear and beautiful light and pattern.” To quote Gerty Cori, Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, 1947.
As the era is moving forward witnessing inventions and discoveries in various disciplines of science, women form a major part of the workforce . Women too are on their heels, close to men in various fields from science and technology to architecture and archaeology. They have crossed borders pouring in diligent inventions and discoveries. Though they are recognised by international bodies, they still remain out of the limelight among the masses. Any profession is not bound to a particular gender. So is science. When the beams of the sun hit our skin we wake up. When the bright moon settles beneath the clouds we call it a day. The inventions and discoveries of women are hidden in between them.
Tahani Amer has worked with NASA since 1992 in the Computational Fluid Dynamics Branch. She patented a system to measure the thermal conductivity of a thin film. After the September 11 attack, she helped to educate and fill the gap that many Americans have in understanding the religion of Islam. She received the Public Service Award at NASA in 2014 for devoting her personal time and distinguished herself at NASA and in the community for outstanding off-the-job contributions.
Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian woman who was awarded the Fields Medal, an international medal for outstanding discoveries in Mathematics which is referred to as the mathematical Equivalent of the Nobel Prize. She was the first woman to receive the award in 2014, 78 years after the inception of the award for outstanding contribution to Dynamics and Geometry of Riemann Surfaces and their Moduli Spaces.
Khushboo Mirza from Uttar Pradesh is a Director-level grade of Scientist F at the Indian Space Research Organisation and was part of the teams of Chandrayaan 1 and Chandrayaan 2 missions. She received the ISRO Team Excellence Award in 2015. She is locally known as the woman who went to the moon. She emerged as a Muslim icon and a woman icon in Uttar Pradesh.
Sameena Shah, the Managing Director in the AI Research group creates Artificial Intelligence technologies. She is the Founder and CEO of Aylan Analytics LLC. She won the 2009 Google India Women in Engineering Award. She is the recepient of Top Ph. D in the Country Award in 2010 from Microsoft Research.
Science has been the first love for many girls. Some are blessed to pursue graduation in disciplines of science while some lack the access. Women do not lack the skills or ability to reach great heights but are deprived of their right to education. The United Nations has declared February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science aiming to ensure full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls. While women have progressively crept into scientific research and invention they still constitute less than 30 percent of scientists. Only 3 percent of women are Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine. There are many existing and budding women scientists who are less known out of the laboratory for their valuable contribution to the world. When gender and religion is considered an obstacle by the world, women are busy contributing their priceless inventions and discoveries to the world of science breaking stereotypes day by day.
Author: Aafrida (Associate, GIO Chennai)
Pic. Credits: Google
Date: 14th February, 2021.
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