Let's talk about Olympia LePoint, because I feel like tumblr needs to know about my favorite woman in aerospace.
She is a rocket scientist who helped launch 28 space shuttles in her career. She is a mathematician who discovered Mathaphobia, a real neurological happening which prevents a person from being able to do math that is caused by the fear of math itself. And, most importantly, she is a motivational speaker and one of the most empowering women I've ever had the opportunity to meet.
When Olympia was six years old, she went to JPL and saw the mission control room. She knew, one day, that she would be sitting in that room launching rockets, just like the men in the pictures on the wall.
Olympia doesn't hide the fact that she had a rough start. She failed high school algebra, geometry, and calculus. But she learned from those mistakes, which eventually got her into Cal State Northridge and on to a job as an analyst at Boeing. Later, she graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Mathematics, and a Master’s of Science Degree in Applied Mathematics (through both undergrad and grad schools.) She was also 1 of the top 5 students in her class of over 6500.
Olympia worked as a Rocket Scientist from 1998-2007, working in that same control room that she dreamed about so many years ago. She helped launch 28 shuttles, including the Discovery, Endeavour, Atlantis, and Columbia and won many awards for her outstanding work. She went on to develop the Mathaphobia idea, which she has written a book on. It is a scientific happening in which the Reptilian part of the brain, which controls fear, becomes overactive due to a fear of something (in this case math,) and actually shuts down the frontal lobe, which helps with creative problem solving. This causes an individual to struggle with any type of mathematics.
Olympia is also interested in making science and math more mainstream, as the United States are so far behind in our STEM programs. By making math "socially sexy," she hopes to help individuals to become less frightened of math and, hopefully, pique their interest in it.
Olympia also wants to get more women into the STEM fields. I was admiring her sense of fashion, and she told me that she wants to oppress gender stereotypes about women in science and look good doing it.
So, basically, Olympia LePoint is one of the coolest and most inspiring women out there. I'm just saying.
(Also, buy her book Mathaphobia because it's /very/ good.)
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