Not Important

FILE UNDER: #epictruth

NO NO NO NO NO

God, the physics TA in me is screaming. All of the above is wrong except that women are erased from science. But let’s get the facts straight.

The first human X-ray was taken by Wilhelm Rontgen of his wife’s hand. After he accidentally discovered X-rays, he was messing around with imaging things and used her as a test subject. You can clearly see her wedding rings in the images. He won the Nobel prize (the first Nobel prize in Physics mind you) in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays. They even used to be called Rontgen rays. So this guy is super important, and should not have his contribution to science erased.

Marie Curie is arguably more important however. She invented the theory behind radioactivity. She figured out how to isolate radioactive isotopes. She discovered radium and polonium (polonium named for her Polish roots). She also served in WWI in mobile X-ray units that she created. I could go on and on. This woman was on another level. The reason she died was because of the exposure to radioactivity she had over the course of her life. Because she discovered the stuff, she didn’t know the long term exposure would kill her. Curie won the Nobel as a joint prize in 1903. They were originally going to only give it to the men, but someone told her husband and he complained until she got the prize too. Marie Curie is one of the first (and few) examples of women making progress in science.

The only crime displayed above has to do with complete lack of education on this subject, not sexism. 

Let’s instead talk about how there has been ONE other female recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics since Curie. Let’s talk about the systemic prejudice against women in science (I recall a study from like 2012 that said female undergrads get less mentoring and job opportunities than similarly qualified male undergrads as just one off hand example). Let’s talk about Burnell, Meitner, Lederberg, and Franklin (all women snubbed by scientific institutes).