WHERE HAVE ALL THE GIRLS GONE? Nina Byers

1. WHERE HAVE ALL THE GIRLS GONE? Nina Byers California State University at Northridge, March 24 2003 Gabrielle du Châtelet (1706 - 1749)

2. 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 timeline for the scientific revolution 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.”

3. 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.

4. 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 electromagnetism;kinetic 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.

5. 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.

6. 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. "

7. 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.

8. 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 ...

9. 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. Timeline cont. 3

10. 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.

11. 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 Noether’s 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! .

12. Emmy Noether’s 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].

13. 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.

14. 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."

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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/~cwp

20. 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.

21. 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!"

22. 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.

23. 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,