. Born on July 17, 1954, this lady, who has a doctorate in quantum chemistry, was faculty at the Central Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in her country. However, she took an interest in a completely different field during a monumental period in her country’s history. Eventually she became the de facto leader of the European Union and was named the most powerful woman in the world. Who is this highly accomplished scientist who was the first woman in her country to hold a certain post?
Angela Merkel, former chancellor of Germany
. Margaret Hamilton developed the software that allowed the computer to recognise error messages, ignore low-priority tasks and continue to guide three men in a historic event. On July 20, 1969, Hamilton made some critical decisions as the world held its breath and was able to guide two of them to their destination with just 30 seconds to spare. At the age of 32 she had led a team to a historic occasion. What iconic mission did she develop the software for?
Apollo 11 mission to the moon
. Abbie Lathrop was an elementary teacher who started breeding rodents for pet owners. She kept very detailed records of her breeding programmes, which proved to be immensely useful in a certain field. Soon top universities and even the U.S. government came to her. She even went on to author 10 articles in cancer research thanks to her work ethic. What did Abbie produce that the scientific community is indebted to her for?
Lab mice for experiments
. Grad student Jocelyn Bell Burnell detected faint, repetitive string of pulses on a giant telescope. She eliminated all the obvious Earth-origin explanations and gave it the name LGM-1, which stood jokingly for ‘Little Green Men’. What she had discovered was a previously unimagined form of neutron star that spun rapidly and emitted gamma radiation. What was the name given to these dense stars found by Burnell, which should remind you of Bajaj’s best-selling bike?
Pulsars
. In 1970, Irene Peden was ready to become the first female principal investigator to work at a notoriously difficult place. Unfortunately the lady who was supposed to join her, failed her physical. The rule then was that men could go alone, women couldn’t. At the last minute Irene found a local lady librarian who was also a mountaineer and they were able to get to their destination. She studied the electrical properties of the ice sheets there and determined how very low frequencies propagated over long distances. In which desolate place did Irene work against all odds and now has a range of cliffs named in her honour?
Antarctica
. The protein Information Resource is a massive free online database that allows molecular biologists to take an unknown protein and deduce its evolutionary history. It owes its existence to a 1965 book called Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure, which was compiled by Margaret Dayhoff using cutting edge technology. What fast-growing field, which is vital in Biotechnology, did Dayhoff usher in?
Bioinformatics
. Mae C. Jemison was on the Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first African American woman to travel into space. She has degrees in chemical engineering, African American Studies and medicine. She is also the only actual astronaut to have appeared on a highly popular TV science fiction show about humans going where no one has gone before. In which TV show did she fittingly appear?
Star Trek
. Hertha Ayrton formed the mathematical club in Cambridge, but when she passed out in 1880 she only got a certificate because, at that time, the university did not award full degrees to women. She went on to have multiple patents in engineering and was petitioned to present a paper before the oldest national scientific institution in the world, but was not allowed because of her sex. Later, she was the first woman to be nominated to the same, at a time when women could not be elected. Which institution was this, that now celebrates her career?
The Royal Society
. Maryam Mirzakhani was an Iranian researcher who was acknowledged as one of the top 10 young minds, who pushed their fields in innovative directions. She specialised in Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry and Ergodic theory. In 2014, she became the first woman to be awarded one of the most prestigious awards in her subject, the Fields Medal. What field was Mirzakhani an expert in?
Mathematics
. This charter established by the U.K. Equality Challenge Unit recognises and celebrates good practises in higher education and research institutions towards the advancement of gender equality. Of its two-word name, the first is the name of the Greek goddess of wisdom, who was associated with the capital city of Greece. The second word is an abbreviation of ‘Scientific Women’s Academic Network’. What two-word title does this charter have?
ATHENA SWAN
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley
