WHEN JUNE ALMEIDA peered into her electron microscope in 1964, she saw a round, grey dot covered in tiny spokes. She and her colleagues noted that the pegs formed a halo around the virus—much like the sun’s corona.
What she saw would become known as the coronavirus, and Almeida played a pivotal role in identifying it. That feat was all the more remarkable because the 34-year-old scientist never completed her formal education.
Key points:
Researchers found the body’s immune system fights coronavirus in the same way as the flu
The findings will help scientists develop an effective vaccine
It could also help identify new treatments
Now a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, Mutlu-Pakdil analyses data collected from telescopes to help unravel the mysteries of the universe—especially how galaxies form and change over time.
While Mutlu-Pakdil and her team continue to study the intriguing object, she hopes that her work and her story will inspire other immigrants and students, especially those from underrepresented communities.
Computer used to be a job title, referring to a person who performed calculations on behalf of higher-ups who didn’t want to churn through data for hours or weeks at a time. In the early 20th century, most computers were women. (In the 1940s, one wag suggested we use the term kilogirl as a measure of digital computing power, where one kilogirl equals 1,000 hours of labor.) In 1920, a 22-year-old named Charlotte Moore, after dazzling the mathematics department at Swarthmore College, joined Princeton’s Department of Astronomy as a computer. She rose to astronomy’s highest ranks, a solar specialist who published five monographs and more than 85 papers.
In 1993, Ellen Ochoa became the first Latina to travel to space after a career in STEM that built up to that moment and yet one of her top career lessons comes from a different part of her life.
“From my Marine friends, I learned to keep focus on two things: (1) accomplish the mission and (2) take care of your people,” shares Ochoa. “If you do #2 well, then your team will take of #1.”
As she thinks back on the things that helped her when exploring a career in STEM, particularly during a time when diversity was less present, Ochoa credits professors who mentored her and helped her visualize the future she wanted for herself and encourages Latinas at the start of their careers to do the same.
Jessica Wade has added nearly 700 Wikipedia biographies for important female and minority scientists in less than two years. “Our science can only benefit the whole of society if it’s done by the whole of society.” — Dr. Jessica Wade, a physicist who adds biographies of female and minority scientists to Wikipedia daily Fewer than 20 percent of biographies on Wikipedia in English are of women, …
In 2015, Ellen K. Pao sued a powerhouse Silicon Valley venture capital firm, calling out workplace discrimination and retaliation against women and other underrepresented groups. Her suit rocked the tech world. Though Pao lost her suit, she revolutionized the conversation at tech offices, in the media, and around the world. In Reset, she tells her full story for the first time.
Princeton makes effort in being more inclusive in regards to gender in the stem field.
Unequal pay between men and women is a persistent problem in the United States. Salesforce, a tech company with 30,000 employees, is doing its part to change that 60 Minutes April 15, 2018 By Lesley Stahl The “Me Too” movement has shaken the workplace to its core. It has such power that it has come to mean more than sexual …
