icwes 15 keynote address: reflection of a female astronomer. presented by dame prof jocelyn bell...
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ICWES15 Conference Keynote Address delivered by Dame Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Oxford University, President, Society of Physics, United KingdomTRANSCRIPT
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Reflections of a Female Astronomer
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
Oxford University Astrophysics&
Mansfield College
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Second ICWES
• Cambridge UK
• Summer 1967 (66?)
• New Hall College
• Radio astronomy observatory
• Doughty, kindly
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Typical working conditions for a PhD Student!
2048 antennae (81.5 MHz), 1000+ wooden posts, 120 miles wire and cable, area 2.5 football pitches
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The 4.5 acre* radio telescope(*2.5 football pitches)
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Data analysis
No computerOutput on chart
paper• 100’ (30m) / day• 400’ (120m)/sky
scan• 3.3 miles (5.3km)
total
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Pulsars (pulsating radio stars) today
• Star spins like a lighthouse, sweeping radio beam around the sky.
• We see a pulse each time beam sweeps across us.• Each pulsar has its own flash rate and pattern of flashes
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Pulsar (PSR) parameters
• Mass 1027 tonnes (1.4 – 2.0 MSun)
• R =12 km
• 1.4 ms < Prot < 10 s
• 10-12 > dP/dt > 10-21 ; serve as clocks for experimental relativity
• Magnetic field B = 108 Tesla
• Neutron-rich material – neutron stars
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Reactions to the discovery
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Astronomy today
• A high-tech branch of modern physics
• Attracts people to science
• Drives industry/technology
• Provides training in modern skills
• Vehicle for Development
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WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY AROUND THE WORLD
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International Astronomical Union – countries with 100 members
Country % delegation
female
√N error
Argentina 37 5
Ukraine 27 3
Italy 25 3
France 24 2
Brazil 23 3
Spain 18 2
Mexico 17 4
Russian Fed 17 2
Greece 16 4
China 15 2
Australia 15 3
Country % delegation
female
√N error
Belgium 15 4
Poland 13 3
Sweden 13 4
Canada 12 2
USA 12 1
UK 12 2
Netherlands 12 2
S Korea 10 3
Germany 10 1
India 8 2
Japan 6 1
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All member countries: 15% female
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Cautions
• Membership is for tenured astronomers (so larger numbers of younger women are not counted)
• You have to be nominated by your country’s astronomical society – women may be more often overlooked
• Data from: www.iau.org/administration/membership/
individual/distribution/
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So.....
• Latin America and S. Europe have high % female
• N. Europe and the English-speaking countries have low % female
• Limiting factor is culture, not women’s brains
• Similar distributions for physics, maths...
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WOMEN IN PHYSICS IN UNITED KINGDOM
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Women in SET today in UK
• Numbers are growing, % improving
slowly! Largest increases at u/g (p/g) level
• Issues around work-life, family-career to be addressed
• More subtle issues around ‘climate’ in the work-place to be addressed
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Some data
• Physics (and astronomy) undergraduates in the UK are 20 - 25% female (30% in astro)
• About 15% of all physics staff are female
• Physics Professors
• 1991: from 1 to 2 female
• 2005: about 24 female
• Today: about 40 female (about 7%)
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Sensing the ambiance
• Women are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’
• More sensitive to the friendliness of a place
• Lack of (the success of) women may imply an issue that needs attention.
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Summary
• Shortage of women in senior positions could be due to one or several of:
1.Too few entering
2.Too many leaving
3.Too slow progress
• It seems that all these are true
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Progress is slow!
• Many recent studies (Europe, N America)
• Many similar recommendations
• But progress is slow (glacial!) – even is subjects where >50% of undergraduate class is female
• Royal Society of Edinburgh study
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‘Women as deficient’
• Many programmes to get more women into science assume that it is women who need to change.
• Why should women do all the changing?• Science should move towards women as
much as women change, move towards it.• Long term, ‘climate’ of science needs to
change.
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Good for all...
• Good management benefits all, but seems to benefit women more.
• Bad management affects all, but seems to affect women more.
• Poor physics teaching seems to affect girls more
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My experience
• It has been other women who (too often) asked “Are you sure you want to do physics?”
• Women are the custodians of what is proper for women
• In a male-dominated area, men determine whether or not women advance
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Family life
• Got married as I finished the PhD – husband worked in Local Government.
• He moved jobs every 7 years or so, to get promotion
• Son born 4 – 5 years later
• Few child-minding facilities as
mothers not expected to work
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Another woman’s reaction
• “You’ve got a husband, a new baby and a new house and you say you’re bored – what’s wrong with you?”
• Previous generations of women did not expect to have careers outside home
• Subsequent generations do
• My generation at the turning point
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Woman scientist
• Often the most senior female in the place.
• No role model or mentor
• Had to play the men at their own game
• Has it turned me into a ‘wee man’, or a ‘shemale’
• Can one remain true to one’s own gender and succeed in a male world?
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Conclusions
For women..........
• Stories are very powerful – tell the stories.
For all of us..........
• Improve management
• Affirm women as women; don’t expect them to be ‘wee men’ or ‘she males’.
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The End
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Afterword
Well behaved women rarely make history .
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich