Role Models

(Female) role models for everyone!

[sorayachemaly]

Women scientists made up 25% of the Pluto fly-by New Horizon team. Make sure you share this, because erasing women’s achievements in science and history is a tradition. Happens every day.

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http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150712

[optimysticals]

70 seconds over 9 years and 3 billion miles…

…I just… Damn 

[lyrangalia]

Launch to Pluto flyby for New Horizons took 3,580 days, and she was off by 70 seconds. That’s like… That’s an error of 0.000000226%.

That’s fucking insane.

That’s not even a rounding error!

[optimysticals]

Thank you for putting words & numbers to my awe of her precision.

[bintrushd]

I already can’t deal anymore with the pictures of this Muslim woman on the beach being forced to undress by armed policemen being shared en masse on social medias. This woman’s face isn’t even blurred, she’s recognizable and nobody doesn’t even seem to stop and think that maybe she doesn’t want those pictures to be shared? This woman could have been my aunt, a cousin or any other Muslim woman I know. And that’s not fun to see pictures of us humiliated and threatened by armed people being shared en masse. That ain’t funny and that ain’t endearing to see that it takes shocking, dehumanizing and humiliating pictures for people to care.   It’s been more than a decade that Muslim women have been attesting to similar cases of physical/symbolical/moral violence. “Glad” to see it takes pictures to realize what’s happening though. Keep sharing and making a spectacle out of it. 

[bintrushd]

So, apparently, this woman expressed the wish that her anonymity be preserved so please don’t share those pictures unless her face is blurred at the very least.

[the-future-now-deactivated20170]

follow @the-future-now

[asiaraymonet]

Surya Bonaly, world renowned French skater whose trademark move is her backflip, where she only lands on one blade in order to keep the move legal. She’s amazing!

[thranduils]

OKAY BUT CAN WE TALK ABOUT DEBORAH SAMSON, A WOMAN WHO DISGUISED HERSELF AS A MAN TO FIGHT IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

AS A KID SHE GOT EDUCATED BY BRIBING NEIGHBORHOOD BOYS TO TEACH HER WHAT THEY LEARNED IN SCHOOL, AND ENDED UP BECOMING A TEACHER

IN 1778 AT AGE 18 SHE ENLISTED IN THE ARMY, UNDER THE NAME OF ROBERT SHIRTLIFFE

SHE FOUGHT IN MANY BATTLES FOR THREE YEARS WITHOUT ANYONE SUSPECTING SHE WAS A WOMAN

SHE GOT INJURED TWICE (STABBED IN THE HEAD AND SHOT IN THE SHOULDER) BUT DOCTORS STILL DIDN’T FIND OUT HER SECRET

SHE WAS ONLY DISCOVERED DURING TREATMENT WHEN SHE CAME DOWN WITH BRAIN FEVER. BUT THE DOCTOR WAS NICE AND DIDN’T TELL ANYONE. INSTEAD WHEN SHE GOT BETTER HE SENT HER TO DELIVER A MESSAGE TO WASHINGTON

WHEN WASHINGTON READ THE LETTER HE WASN’T EVEN MAD HE JUST DISCHARGED HER AND WROTE HER A MESSAGE AND GAVE HER MONEY TO GET BACK HOME

SHE WENT BACK HOME AND GOT HERSELF A CUTE MAN AND HAD THREE KIDDIES

SOME YEARS LATER SHE GOT SUMMONED TO DC WHERE SHE GOT A PENSION AND LAND IN EXCHANGE FOR HER SERVICE (WHICH PAUL REVERE HELPED TO ARRANGE)

SHE DIED AT THE AGE OF 66, AND IN 1983 WAS NAMED OFFICIAL HEROINE OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS 

PLEASE LET US TALK ABOUT THIS AMAZING WOMAN

[marquise-de-montespan-blog]

Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet ; 17 December 1706  – 10 September 1749) was a French mathematician, physicist, and author during the Age of Enlightenment. Her most celebrated achievement is considered to be her translation and commentary on Isaac Newton’s work Principia Mathematica. The translation, published posthumously in 1759, is still considered the standard French translation. Her commentary includes a profound contribution to Newtonian mechanics—the postulate of an additional conservation lawfor total energy, of which kinetic energy of motion is one element.

Voltaire, one of her lovers, declared in a letter to his friend King Frederick II of Prussia that du Châtelet was “a great man whose only fault was being a woman”. She was also romantically linked with two other influential philosophers of the period, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698–1759) and Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751).

[mindblowingscience]

The Woman Behind the Creation of the Hubble Space Telescope

2015 marks the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. Launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 24, 1990 and transmitting its first image on May 20 the same year, Hubble has changed the way astronomers perceive the universe. The data it has collected has been the basis for over 10,000 scientific articles, and the images it takes have been found on wall prints, desktop backgrounds and other products countless times. The idea of a telescope the size of Hubble began in 1946 with astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer, but it took nearly 50 years for Spitzer’s idea to go from paper to the cultural and scientific icon that is the Hubble. It wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that the idea gained traction in the scientific community. In the late 70’s the United States Congress was finally convinced to fund the project. In the 80’s there were myriad technological issues and redesigns. Finally the telescope was launched in 1990, but that still wasn’t the major milestone. It came with a design flaw in the lenses. Not until 1993 did the telescope work properly. But when it did – wow.

Vital to the creation of the telescope was Dr. Nancy Roman, sometimes called the “mother of Hubble.” Roman was one of few women working at NASA at the time, and she was the chief of the Astronomy and Relativity Programs for the space agency until her retirement in 1979. Born in 1925, Roman had a strong fascination with the stars, forming an astronomy club with neighborhood friends, and battled stereotypes about women throughout her education, eventually earning a doctorate in astronomy from the University of Chicago in 1949. NASA was formed July 28, 1958 and while working for the Navy Research Laboratory, Roman was offered a job at NASA as the program director for the agency’s astronomy program in 1959.

As the first chief of the Astronomy and Relativity program for NASA, Roman was responsible for laying the groundwork in space-based astronomy, as well as convincing astronomers to support the idea of an orbiting telescope, rather than a terrestrial one. Slowly but surely, Roman was able to build support for NASA’s astronomy program, and she served as Chief Scientist on the agency’s Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) program in the late 1960’s. The OAO’s that were launched provided Roman and NASA with valuable information on what it would take to successfully operate a telescope in space. At this stage in her career, Roman was responsible for launching Ultraviolet and X-Ray based satellites into space, making advances in science and broadening the appeal of space astronomy.

In 1962, at a meeting hosted by the National Academy of Sciences, the concept of a telescope with a large three meter lens was proposed. Roman initially opposed the idea, arguing that technology hadn’t advanced to the point that it would be feasible, and instead opted to focus on the OAO projects already on the boards. By 1965 engineers and aerospace companies began proposing designs for a manned space telescope without input from astronomers. Lyman Spitzer’s idea of a orbital space telescope had gained traction, but it would be Roman who carried it out. With the aerospace industry turning out designs deemed unacceptable by astronomers and NASA employees designing goals for a space telescope, Roman bridged the gap between the two groups. In her own words, she decided to organize a joint committee of engineers and scientists to develop a schematic that would “satisfy astronomers’ requirements and still meet the feasibility concerns of the engineers.” After overseeing the programs to determine if the Hubble would actually work and designing the device, Roman also assisted in lobbying Congress by providing written testimony and meeting with congressional staff to secure the funds needed to make the telescope a reality.

Eventually Roman left NASA in 1979 to work with contractors at Goddard Space Center. Today, Nancy Roman lives in Bethesda, Maryland and still attends lectures, as well as spending her time motivating young women to pursue education in the sciences. Without her initiative, determination and leadership, it is doubtful that the Hubble could have become reality.

Sources

http://www.voanews.com/content/mother-of-hubble-always-aimed-for-stars–127751383/163252.html

http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/quick_facts.php

http://www.aip.org/history/ohilist/4846.html

Hubbles Legacy: Reflections by Those Who Dreamed it, Built it and Observed the Universe with it. Ed. Roger Launius and David DeVorkin

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Naomi Lang

Ice dancer Naomi Lang was born on December 18, 1978 in Arcata, California. Lang holds two gold medals from the Four Continents Championships and is a five-time US champion. In 2002, Naomi Lang became the first Native American woman to compete at the Winter Olympics.

Happy birthday, Naomi Lang!

[mindblowingscience]

Its pretty incredible how accurate the science of astrophysics has gotten. New Horizons actually arrived 72 seconds early after travelling for almost 10 years straight to its destination.

[haithinkimfunnny]

Hello! The person who calculated the arrival time of New Horizons was Yanping Guo, mission design leader and one of the women who made up 25% of the New Horizons team. She configured the entire mission trajectory, including Jupiter and Pluto flybys. 

Women’s contribution to the sciences has a long history of being erased, so let’s not forget the women who made New Horizons possible! 

Kneeling from left to right: Amy Shira Teitel, Cindy Conrad, Sarah Hamilton, Allisa Earle, Leslie Young, Melissa Jones, Katie Bechtold, Becca Sepan, Kelsi Singer, Amanda Zangari, Coralie Jackman, Helen Hart. Standing, from left to right: Fran Bagenal, Ann Harch, Jillian Redfern, Tiffany Finley, Heather Elliot, Nicole Martin, Yanping Guo, Cathy Olkin, Valerie Mallder, Rayna Tedford, Silvia Protopapa, Martha Kusterer, Kim Ennico, Ann Verbiscer, Bonnie Buratti, Sarah Bucior, Veronica Bray, Emma Birath, Carly Howett, Alice Bowman. Not pictured: Priya Dharmavaram, Sarah Flanigan, Debi Rose, Sheila Zurvalec, Adriana Ocampo, Jo-Anne Kierzkowski.

(Credit: Michael Soluri for image)

source

[barbidreamdumpster-deactivated2]

Sorry to burst everyone’s bubble but fake bisexuals do exist and I know this because I am one.

i tell everyone that I loved classic movies that I haven’t even seen just so I don’t have to hear the fuckin plot synopsis interspersed with “I can’t believe you haven’t seen it” for the 30th time at this boring artist party I’m so fake and I’m not even sorry

[mindblowingscience]

Meet The Woman Who Flew Us To Pluto

Alice Bowman Flew 3 billion miles over nine years from a cubicle in Baltimore.

On July 15, people all over the world watched a woman in a cubicle wait for a signal from three billion miles away. In a soft, clear voice, she confirmed that the New Horizons spacecraft had flown within 7,800 miles of Pluto and survived. In the following days, the spacecraft transmitted images that revealed for the first time what the surface of Pluto looks like. It has a smooth expanse just above its equator, some 1,000 miles wide, that resembles a bright, icy heart. It has frozen mountain ranges and spectral plains that may have only just formed. The detail of the photographs and the geological variety of Pluto exceeded all the hopes of NASA scientists. “I’m still having to remind myself to take deep breaths,” said one.

At the center of it all was Alice Bowman, the woman in the cubicle and the engineer who led the team that guided the spacecraft towards its destination. For a while on July 15, she was trending on Twitter. Some cheered her role as the first woman to oversee an operation so ambitious, one that seems to have had more women working on it than any other mission in NASA’s history. Others wondered why her colleagues kept calling her Mom (it’s NASA shorthand for Mission Operations Manager). One week later, when I spoke to her, she was still stunned by all the attention. Her operation is one of brain-bending complexity, and she told me that it’s not always easy for her to translate what she does into words—at least words that most of us would understand. And she was noticeably uncomfortable discussing certain subjects, such as how the role of women in space exploration has changed since she entered the field in 1988. As she explained what it takes to move a small object through space, and everything that she’s seen along the way, what she conveyed most of all was a sense of pure wonder.

Continue Reading.

[diebymisadventure]

AHOICIPE

Ahoicipe (ah-hoh-ee-chee-pay, the Lakota word for pride) intends to explore the role of traditional identity in the daily struggle of Native Americans, examining how they use pride of their original culture and traditions in dealing with their dismal objective conditions. While their cultural practices and language have been almost vanished by the various attempts at “assimilation”, the tribal peoples suffer a sort of forced segregation at the very bottom of American society: on every indicator, from the 88% unemployment to the worlds second lowest life expectancy, the reservations stand as Third World islands in the biggest economy on Earth. My project, however, would like to depart from the gritty depiction of these issues common in other works on the subject. By portraying American Indians in a positive light and exploring how they rediscover and use pride as a tool for survival and advancement, I would like to highlight inspiring stories of confident women and men rediscovering and using pride as a tool for empowerment.

[muzahmat]

I literally had chills reading the words of Fahad Ali who proudly proclaimed: “I am an Arab, I am a Palestinian, I am gay. My gay haven is not a glittered parade in Tel Aviv. It is a liberated Palestine.”

A liberated Palestine. InshAllah!

[the-modernblackgirl]

Girls&WomenToKnow: The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson 

Dr Jackson is the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the United States. A theoretical physicist, inventor,as-well as the highest paid college president in the country!! Dr. Jackson has had a distinguished career that includes senior leadership positions in academia, government, industry, and research. Jackson has been a trailblazer throughout her career, including as the first African-American woman to lead a top-ranked research university.

Education: Dr Jackson holds an S.B in Physics  and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics–both from Massachusetts Institute of Technonlogy.

Awards/Recognition/Achievements: Aside from being the highest paid college president in the country!

Dr Jackson is the first African-American woman to earn a Doctorate at MIT.

The second African American woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in physics

the first African-American woman to lead a top-ranked research university.

Dr. Jackson has been awarded 52 honorary doctoral degrees.

Dr. Jackson was one of four honorees inducted in 2014 into the U.S. News STEM Leadership Hall of Fame. 

 In 2014, Dr. Jackson also was inducted into the Tech Valley Business Hall of Fame.

In 2010, Dr. Jackson was honored by Black Enterprise Magazine with its Women of Power Legacy Award.

Dr. Jackson also received the 2009 Dr. John Hope Franklin Award from Diverse Issues Magazine.

“top 50 women in science” by Discover Magazine

ESSENCE Magazine book 50 of The Most Inspiring African-Americans.

In 2000, Dr. Jackson was awarded the Golden Torch Award for Lifetime Achievement in Academia by the National Society of Black Engineers

In 2013, the board of trustees of the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame (NJIHoF) bestowed the prestigious NJIHoF Trustees Award upon Dr. Jackson. The award is given to “someone who truly values and stimulates the inventive and innovative processes, who strives to ensure that all Americans, including students, are inspired and prepared to meet many of the challenges of tomorrow, and whose actions over many years have demonstrated that commitment.”

Dr. Jackson received the inaugural America Competes Award for Public Service in 2012, given by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness to “a leader who has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life in America and abroad, through public service and private sector outreach, and to those who show an extraordinary commitment to excellence and the American spirit.”

In 2011, the American Association for the Advancement of Science honored Dr. Jackson with its prestigious Philip Hauge Abelson Award. This award is given annually to a public servant who has made sustained exceptional contributions to the advancement of science, or to a scientist whose career has been distinguished both for scientific achievement and for other notable services to the scientific community. 

In 2009, she received the Bouchet Leadership Award Medal from the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, a national award given to leaders in academia who are outstanding in their fields of study and have played an important role in diversifying higher education.

-Pierre

[carlboygenius]

(Forgotten) Women of Science

source: i fucking love science

[heroinesforeveryone]

European queens' signs

Aries: Catherine de Medici

Taurus: Catherine the Great

Gemini: Queen Victoria

Cancer: Philippa of Hainault

Leo: Anna of Bohemia and Hungary

Virgo: Elizabeth I

Libra: Mary of Modena

Scorpio: Marie Antoinette

Sagittarius: Catherine of Aragon

Capricorn: Empress Elisabeth of Austria

Aquarius: Mary I

Pisces: Blanche of Castile

[bitch-media]

Nevada Assemblywoman Lucy Flores is running to become the first Latina Lieutenant Governor of her state.  She’s no billionaire’s wife, no Ivy League prodigy, no daughter of some ruling-class family from Latin America.  Lucy Flores grew up poor in a family of 13 children. A daughter of immigrants, she dropped out of high school, got involved in gangs and spent time incarcerated. She saw all her sisters become teen mothers and didn’t want that for herself. When she became pregnant at 16, she had an abortion that she doesn’t regret.

She eventually turned her life around. She went to college and later law school. Yet she doesn’t twist her success into a bootstraps narrative of a self-made woman. Instead, she acknowledges all the support she got along the way.  She bears witness to the fact that it was the chance generosity of individuals, and not a reliable safety net in our society that made the difference. Her own lived experience becomes the basis of her progressive agenda for social change.

Lucy Flores defies the politics of respectability. She’s single, childless, honest about her sexual past, and fierce in her advocacy for poor and marginalized people.  She takes bold stands on immigration, education, and domestic violence. Her experience makes her an effective advocate, but it also makes her a new kind of role model for Latina women.  Like Justice Sonia Sotomayor before her, we are watching a smart, single, childless Latina rise from poverty to political authority.  But Flores’ background not only includes the “humble beginnings” of poverty, but the stigmatizing experiences that can accompany poverty, like jail, dropping out, and unplanned pregnancy. 

Read more of Aya de Leon’s article about Lucy Flores on Bitch Media