Three years ago, research from YouGov showed that most UK adults were unable to name a single living female scientist.
Subsequently, several initiatives designed to champion women in science started to gain momentum, including Ada Lovelace Day and efforts to increase female scientists’ visibility on platforms like Wikipedia.
From Judi Dench to Grace Jones: 10 inspirational women over 50
Are these efforts working? Are more female role models being made accessible to young girls across the nation? I remain unconvinced.
Inspiring people requires more than simply listing academic achievements of dead scientists – it’s about connecting emotionally with the characters, which so far have been given little attention.
The same is true for male scientists too.
For example, when you think of Einstein, is your first thought about relativity? Or his crazy hair? And do you think about sailing around the world when picturing Darwin?
My point is, we are impressed by scientific achievements but inspired by personal stories.
And thanks to the increasing number of information sharing platforms, scientists who impress and inspire can be easily found among the people advancing humanity’s knowledge here and now.
So who are the inspirational female scientists who would make my fantasy dinner list?
Without question, Sue Black would be one.
Out of school at 16, three children at 23 and living as a single mother in a domestic violence refuge by 25 – this force of nature challenged all odds to become an internationally-reputed computer scientist.
Next, you’d find Victoria Foster. Having beaten cancer aged eight, she went on to become a cancer researcher.
And then there’s Goedele De Clerck, whose deafness inspired her to develop pioneering research on the capacity of deaf people to flourish in wide-ranging settings.
Sunetra Gupta, the renowned epidemiologist and novelist who spent her childhood moving between Ethiopia, Zambia, England and India, would discuss biodiversity and evolution with Georgina Mace, who led the process to develop criteria for listing species on IUCN’s Red List.
I’d sit between Lesley Yellowlees, the first female president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, who started her science career after an admin job in the NHS; and Athene Donald, who was the first female lecturer in Cambridge’s Department of Physics at 33.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who grew up in a council flat in London and struggled with dyslexia, but now sits as honorary Research Associate in UCL’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, would sit nearby, talking giant telescopes and space instrumentation.
I’d hopefully chat with Lorna Dawson, Head of the Soil Forensics Group at the Hutton Institute, about how her research helped local detectives to solve decades-old murder cases.
And I’d make sure I hear Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova’s story of how she left Bulgaria aged 30, boarding a plane for the first time with her seven-year-old daughter, to study for a PhD in applied mathematics in New Zealand before becoming one of UK’s only female maths professors.
That’s my top 10 – although that list is likely to evolve as I meet more and more of these incredible women in science.
Dr Nathalie Pettorelli is a conservation biologist at the ZSL (Zoological Society of London) and co-founder of Soapbox Science.
To meet your inspirational female scientists, head to this year’s first Soapbox Science event, on London’s Southbank between 2-5pm on Saturday May 27.
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