March 8 marks International Working Women's Day, a date that commemorates women's struggle for equal rights and opportunities in all areas of life.
One of these areas is science and technology, where women have had to face numerous obstacles and prejudices in order to develop their talents and contribute to the advancement of knowledge and innovation.
Throughout history, many women have demonstrated their ability and passion for science, especially in fields such as engineering, physics and mathematics. However, many of them have been ignored, marginalized or made invisible by a patriarchal society that denied them recognition and access to education and research. That is why, in this article, we would like to pay tribute to some of the women who have shone in these disciplines and who have paved the way for later generations.
Women in engineering
Engineering is the art of applying scientific and mathematical principles to solve practical problems and create innovative solutions. Since ancient times, women have been involved in the design and construction of works and devices that have improved the quality of life of people and the development of society. Some of the most important women engineers of yesterday and today are:
Emily Roebling: was the first field engineer and technical leader of the Brooklyn Bridge, one of America's most iconic civil engineering works. When her husband, Washington Roebling, became paralyzed and could no longer work, she took over the supervision and management of the project, demonstrating a great knowledge of strength of materials, stress analysis, steel cable construction and catenary curve calculation.
Hedy Lamarr: was a Hollywood actress who was also devoted to invention and engineering. Together with composer George Antheil, she patented a secret communication system that used frequency hopping to avoid jamming and spying. This system was the basis for the later development of wireless technology such as wifi, bluetooth and GPS.
Margaret Hamilton: fue la directora de ingeniería de software del proyecto Apolo de la NASA, que llevó al primer hombre a la Luna. Ella y su equipo diseñaron y desarrollaron el software que controlaba la navegación y el aterrizaje de las misiones espaciales. Su trabajo fue crucial para el éxito del programa y para la seguridad de los astronautas.
Women in physics
Physics is the science that studies the nature and behavior of matter and energy, as well as the laws that govern their interactions.
Physics has been fundamental to the discovery of phenomena and particles that explain reality and the origin of the universe, as well as to the creation of technologies that have transformed the world.
Some of the most relevant women physicists in history are:
Marie Curie: she was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the only one to do so in two different fields: physics and chemistry. Together with her husband, Pierre Curie, she discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium, and coined the term radioactivity. Her research on radiation was fundamental to the development of nuclear medicine and atomic physics.
Chien-Shiung Wu: was an experimental physicist who made important contributions to nuclear and particle physics. She participated in the Manhattan Project, which gave rise to the atomic bomb, and performed the famous Wu experiment, which demonstrated the violation of parity in the weak interaction, contradicting one of the fundamental laws of physics. For this finding, her colleagues Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang received the Nobel Prize, but she was excluded.
Donna Strickland: is a Canadian physicist who won the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics, along with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou, for their advances in laser physics. In particular, Strickland and Mourou developed the chopped-pulse amplification (CPA) method, which makes it possible to generate ultra-short and intense laser pulses, with applications in medicine, industry and research.
Women in mathematics
Mathematics is the universal language of science, which allows us to express and solve problems logically and abstractly. Mathematics ranges from the study of numbers and shapes to data analysis and algorithms.
Women have contributed their genius and creativity to this discipline from ancient times to the present day.
Some of the most prominent women mathematicians are:
Hypatia of Alexandria: she was the first recorded female mathematician. She lived in 4th century AD in Egypt, and was a scholar who wrote on geometry, algebra and astronomy. She is believed to have collaborated with her father, the astronomer Theon, on a revision of Euclid's Elements, and to have commented on Diophantus' Arithmetic and Apollonius' Conic Sections. She was also a philosopher who taught and defended free and rational thought.
Ada Lovelace: she was the first woman programmer in history, for her contribution to the analytical machine, devised by Charles Babbage. Lovelace wrote the first algorithm designed to be executed by a machine, which consisted of a sequence of instructions to calculate Bernoulli numbers. He also anticipated the possibility that machines could process other types of information, such as music or art.
Maryam Mirzakhani: she was the first and only woman to win the Fields Medal, the highest award in mathematics, in 2014. She was an Iranian mathematician who specialized in geometry and topology, and who solved complex problems on the shape and behavior of curved surfaces. Her research has implications in other areas of science, such as theoretical physics, cryptography or biology.
Working Women's Day
These are just a few of the many women who have left their mark in science and technology, and who deserve to be remembered and recognized for their work and legacy. However, much remains to be done to achieve gender equality in these fields, where women are still in the minority and face barriers and challenges. For this reason, Working Women's Day is an opportunity to vindicate the role of women in science and technology and to encourage the interest and vocation of girls and young women in these disciplines. Only in this way will we be able to build a more just, diverse and innovative future.
If you liked this article, share it in your networks!
Commentaires