Women Scientists on Wiki
The feisty daughter of Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace was the mother of three children, translated scientific articles from Italian and wrote some of the very first computer programmes. She died from cancer (and bad medicine) at the age of 36. It sounds like the sort of rollicking tale you’d expect to have heard at school, yet were she not the namesake of an annual day—dedicated to promoting unsung heroines of science through online media—I doubt I would have heard of her at all.
Women in science, past or present, don’t get much attention. Two years ago, a poll for the Royal Society showed that two-thirds of the British public were completely stumped when asked to name a female scientist. Which is why tomorrow’s “Women in Science: Wikipedia Workshop” is so welcome. It takes place at the Royal Society, as part of this week’s “Ada Lovelace Day” celebrations, and the 15 or so attendees along with numerous remote participants will expand, edit or write from scratch Wikipedia articles about notable female scientists, ensuring that in the future their contributions to research and compelling life stories can easily be googled.
During my time as a chemistry graduate student I often looked for someone whose own story would encourage me to see beyond the daily juggle of long lab hours, social life and university commitments, to a fulfilling scientific career that balanced personal interests and even a family life. The problem was, I didn’t know of many women who did that, and even fewer who I could relate to.
There’s no shortage of such male pedestal-potential. For those who see themselves mixing science with derring-do, there’s Sir Benjamin Thompson, physicist, General and spy. Prefer a pint after a long day at the bench? Look no further than Henry Joule who combined groundbreaking work in thermodynamics with running a brewery. And for those who prefer to gain inspiration from the here and now, the entire cohort of this year’s Nobel Prize winners and 95% of current Royal Society Fellows are male.