Discover Top Posts Tagged with #queer scientists

i’m an ecology major because nothing terrifies transphobes like life sciences taught beyond the 7th grade level

#trans pride #trans #trans people in stem #queer #queer stem #queer scientists #ecology #biology #advanced biology #forestry #life science #bio major #anti transphobes

White paper and perspective published on "Running a queer- and trans-inclusive faculty hiring process"!!

I’m delighted to announce the public release of a white paper on queer- and trans-inclusive faculty hiring practices, and a perspective piece introducing it!! This is the culmination of months of writing by an international group of talented scientists led by Dr. JL Weissman, and I was honored to participate in these and future efforts from the group. The newly-formed group, Advancing Queer and…

#collaboration #conferences #faculty position #faculty search #inclusion #microbes and social equity #presentations #publication #queer scientists

Happy birthday Elke Mackenzie!

British lichenologist Elke Mackenzie was born on 11 September 1911. She's best known for her participation in Operation Tabarin, where she travelled to Antarctica during the 1940s to collect and study lichen samples. Elke came out as trans in 1976, and announced in the International Lichenological Newsletter, that she “should now be addressed as Dr. Elke Mackenzie.”

Before coming out, Elke had subtly inserted her true identity into her work - a 1972 paper of hers, published under her deadname, acknowledged "Miss Elke Mackenzie for technical and bibliographic assistance in the preparation of this paper."

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#elke mackenzie #trans history #queer history #lgbt #lgbtq #queer #lgbt history #queer scientists

Prizes were presented to American lesbian chemist Carolyn Bertozzi and bi Swedish geneticist Svante Pääbo at a ceremony Saturday in Stockholm.

#Nobel Prizes #Lesbian #Bisexual #Queer Scientists #Scientists

Elke Mackenzie (1911-1990)

“an uncommonly good woman, greatly admired for her gentle kindness and generosity”

In the course of my research, I came across the obituary of the lichenologist generally referred to as “I. M. Lamb”. I already knew about her exceptional contributions to lichenology from reading her publications, but here I learned that she was a trans woman, and her preferred name was Elke Mackenzie. Even though the obituary acknowledged her transition, it mostly referred to her using the wrong name and pronouns. Here, I’ve created a memorial that respects her gender in a way I hope she would have wanted.

Elke Mackenzie was born Ivan Mackenzie Lamb on September 11, 1911 in Clapham, London. After her family moved to Scotland, she attended Edinburgh Academy, graduating in 1929. She then attended Edinburgh University and graduated in 1933 with a B.Sc. with Honours in Botany. For the next two years, she continued doing research in botany at the universities of Munich and Würzburg, funded by a scholarship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service). In 1935, Mackenzie began working as the Assistant Keeper in the Department of Botany at the British Museum (Natural History) under the lichenologist Annie Lorrain Smith. She became especially interested in the lichen flora of the antarctic regions during this time.

Mackenzie married Maila Elvira Laabejo in 1936; their first son was born in 1940. She finished her Doctor of Science degree at Edinburgh University in 1942 with a thesis about the hypothesis of the movement of the continents in the southern hemisphere based on her studies of antarctic lichens.

In 1943, Mackenzie joined Operation Tabarin, a secretive mission organized by the British Colonial Office that sought to establish British sovereignty in the Antarctic Peninsula. From 1944 to 1946, she worked as a botanist as well as helping to construct bases at Port Lockroy and Hope Bay. During this time, she described several new species of lichens, including Verrucaria serpuloides, the only known marine lichen. She was awarded both the British and United States Polar Medals for her work in Antarctica.

In 1947, Mackenzie accepted a position as Professor of Cryptogamic Botany at the National University of Tucumán in Argentina, and the whole family moved there with her. She traveled and collected extensively in Argentina and Brazil. However, Laabejo was unhappy with life in the tropics. In 1950, Mackenzie was hired as a cryptogamic botanist by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and the family moved again. She sold her private herbarium of 3200 specimens to the museum to help cover the expensive move. Her personal library is also part of the museum’s collections, but it is unknown whether she sold or donated it. Mackenzie continued to travel and collect in Canada and made valuable contributions to the museum’s herbarium.

In 1953, Mackenzie and her family moved yet again as she had been offered the position of director of the Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany at Harvard. She continued to travel to New Zealand, Europe, and Central America and began studying marine algae in addition to lichens. She returned to Antarctica in 1964 for what she referred to as “Operation Gooseflesh,” a study of marine algae involving SCUBA diving in the frigid sea.

During the 1960′s, Mackenzie suffered from poor mental health and was eventually brought to the hospital by a concerned colleague. At this point she separated from Laabejo. She was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and transitioned in 1971, taking the name Elke Mackenzie. All of her publications are under the name I. M. Lamb, but some acknowledge Elke Mackenzie as an assistant.

Mackenzie retired from the Farlow Herbarium in 1973. She continued to work translating German botanical textbooks into English to pay for the land and construction of a bungalow in Costa Rica, where she moved in 1976. Some of her collections are suspected to have been destroyed by the humid climate during this time. Mackenzie had worked for over 25 years on a monograph of the lichen genus Stereocaulon, but much of the data were never published “due to economic reasons.” In 1977 she published an abridged version of her monumental work.

In 1980, Mackenzie moved back to Cambridge to live with her daughter due to political unrest in Central America. She took up woodworking as a hobby, making furniture and reproductions of whaler’s sea chests. In 1983 she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; her health gradually declined and she passed away on January 18, 1990.

Elke Mackenzie was remembered by her colleagues as “completely unflappable, meticulous … cultured and kindly.” Her work with lichens was careful, thorough, and groundbreaking, laying the foundations for future lichenologists. Her story paints a picture of a kind, intelligent, resilient woman who persevered through financial, academic, and gender struggles.

I hope that her time in Costa Rica was peaceful and happy. I imagine her sitting on her porch in the humid air, drinking strong British tea and reading a book beginning to mold at the corners. Maybe sometimes she wishes she were back in Antarctica, where the mildew wouldn’t eat her belongings, but then again, here she is warm, no gooseflesh whatsoever.

#lichenology #science #biology #history #queer history #obituary #Elke Mackenzie #Ivan Mackenzie Lamb #women in science #queer scientists #LGBTQ+ scientists #death/#not plants

Science is gay culture, change my mind

I've noticed a lot of posts going around as of late that perpetuate the idea that LGBTQ people can't do math, or LGBTQ people dont like science. While this is a joke and clearly not meant to be taken seriously, I think everyone should know that plenty of queer people have been successful in scientific fields. It's especially important for younger queer people to see that you dont need to suppress your love of STEM fields just to fit in with your community.

Some Queer STEM folks:

Sir Issac Newton

Sir Francis Bacon

Leonardo da Vinci

Florence Nightingale

Sara Josephine Baker

Louise Pearce

Alan Turing

Sally Ride

Angela Clayton

Ben Barres

Allan Cox

Niel Divine

Alexander Von Humboldt

Sonja Kovalevsky

Margaret Mead

Jim Pollack

Bruce Voeller

Clyde Wahrhaftig

Caitlín R. Kiernan

Uzi Even

Gavin Arthur

Ron Buckmire

Mary Ann Horton

Kate Hutton

A much-needed celebration.

That's just a few. Here's a website listing a bunch of living queer scientists.

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Here's another

Improving LGBT visibility in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

*I didn't not hardcore fact check anything here. A basic Google search will give you the same results I got. Feel free to research more and prove me wrong.

In conclusion, science and math is for all gays, any gays, any LGBTQ person. Dont let memes get you down. Go be an astrophysicist or a chemist or a microbiologist or a mathematician. Enjoy yourself, and embrace your interests and culture to the fullest.

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Who we are

A new visibility campaign for LGBTQ+ people and their allies working in STEM and STEM-supporting jobs — a group that collectively represents a powerful force of scientific progress and discovery.

3 goals (so far)

Ensure the next STEM generation has LGBTQ+ role models; help the current generation recognize they’re not alone; create a database that facilitates diversity among speakers and panelists.

Contribute your story

500 Queer Scientists is fueled by individual, self-submitted bios and stories intended to boost the recognition and awareness of queer scientists. Have a story to tell? Please use the "Contribute" link above.