As this week is Transgender Week of Awareness (12th - 19th November) I felt it was a good time to bring awareness to some of the more well-known transgender scientists that changed science. Trans people have always been apart of scientific discovery but like most minorities within STEM have struggled to gain recognition for their contributions.  

Alan Hart (1890–1962) |  Epidemiology 

A Yale-trained epidemiologist, radiologist and physician, Hart one of the first trans men in the US to undergo a hysterectomy and live openly as a man, taking testosterone treatments when they became available after World War II. Hart also become a prominent figure in the fight against tuberculosis, which at the time was the leading cause of death in Europe and the US. He graduated with a medical degree in 1912 and later in 1928 received a master’s degree in radiology. He eventually became an expert on tubercular radiology and published several articles on X-ray medicine and its use in the detection of tuberculosis and went on to gain another master’s degree in public health in 1948. 

Hart then served as the director of hospitalization and rehabilitation at the Connecticut State Tuberculosis Commission and continued to dedicate his professional life to tuberculosis research. 

Ben Barres (1954 - 2017) | Neuroscience 

Barres was the first openly transgender scientist in the National Academy of Sciences in 2013 and talked openly about his experience of sexism pre-transition and advocated for better gender equality within science. Barres research focused on the interaction between neurons and glial cells in the nervous system. Barres showed that the gila, which at the time were often dismissed by neurologists as simple the support structure for the brain, had important functions in helping neurons to mature and producing connections between memory and learning functions. This discovery revolutionised neruobiologists understanding of the brain. 

Barres also went on to mentor many young scientists and repeatedly spoke about the systemic barriers and biases that kept marginalised groups such as women, poc and LGBT people, from succeeding or furthering their careers and research within science. 

Sophie Wilson |  Computer Science

Sophie Wilson is a British computer scientist who is known for designing the Acorn Micro-Computer, the first computer sold by Acorn Computers. She also designed the instruction set of ARM processor which is used in 21st-century smartphones and is considered one of the most important woman in tech history.  

Lynn Ann Conway | Computer Science

A pioneer of a number of technological advancements and inventions, Conway is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer and inventor. She first worked at IMB in the 1960′s designing a super computer and is credited with the invention of generalised dynamic instruction handling, now used by modern computer processors in order to improve performance. She was fired after she revealed her intention to transition and was denied access to her children. 

After she transitioned she restarted her career and authored the Mead & Conway revolution in VLSI design, that was considered groundbreaking work that quickly become a standard textbook in chip design. 

Joan Roughgarden | Biology 

known for her critical studies on Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection and LGBT biology, Roughgarden is an American ecologist and evolutionary biologist, having published over 180 scientific articles and books. Roughgarden has carried out ecological studies on barnacles, Caribbean lizards but is most known for her published book critiquing Darwin’s sexual selection theory based on the fact it fails to answer and consider animals which do not follow traditional sex roles of intrasexual and intersexual selection. She was met with bitter and  vitrioli criticism from other scientists for publishing such views, to which she was not surprised. 

Roughgarden went on to publish a second book further pointing out over 26 phenomena which the current sexual-selection theory does not explain, and instead suggests the social-selection theory. She continues to make analytical studies that social selection is a more credible explanation.

Honorable mentions to these transgender scientists: 

Audrey Tang

Angela Clayton

Kate Craig-Wood

Mary Ann Horton

Christa Muth

Malcolm X: Our History Was Destroyed By Slavery

it’s late summer, and the sky is painted in pinks and oranges. you’re in a car with your best friends, the radio is turned up loud, salt is in the air and on your tongue, the wind is whipping your hair into knots. you are undoubtedly happy.

it’s 2am, and you’re thinking about the girl that you’re in love with. it’s raining outside, a candle is crackling on the windowsill, and all you can think about is her, and how radiant she is.

the room is filled with smoke. you blink, and the room moves as if in slow motion. you’ve just graduated from high school, you’re surrounded by your favourite people in the world. you’re free, and you feel as though nothing could hold you down.

the sky is dark through the window of your bedroom; a storm is brewing. you have a cup of tea steaming by your side, your cat is purring at the bottom of your bed, and you are at peace.

it’s 2005, and you’re dancing around the lounge room with your dad. the late afternoon sun pours through the window, your Tamagotchi beeps from the couch. you can smell dinner coming in from the kitchen, and the scratchy beige carpet itches your cheek as you fall back, and listen to the music pouring through the speakers.

you’re at a shitty house party. the room is dim, the smell of alcohol and sweat cloying. you’re four drinks in, and a boy sits next to you on the couch. you don’t want to talk to him, you want to keep watching the girl across the room, with firelight in her eyes, but you turn to him anyway.

Black Mirror 4th Season 《Lockscreens》

That’s Louis Rossman, a repair technician and YouTuber, who went viral recently for railing against Apple. Apple purposely charges a lot for repairs and you either have to pay up or buy a new device. That’s because Apple withholds necessary tools and information from outside repair shops. And to think, we were just so close to change.

Have an iPhone and are in need of repairs

Have a friend with that problem

Hate Apple and are more than happy to spite them in some way

So I asked the internet, well how hard IS it to repair? And I saw this guy’s video, and while I am no techie, I AM fueled by spite, so I was all “oh, they do that shit on purpose specifically so they can charge me $1200 bucks or make me buy a new computer hunh? FUCK THEM” and I bought all the tools I needed for about $25 and I bought all the parts I needed for about another $25 and I watched a few tutorial videos, and I replaced my own keyboard.

So, once you are doing the actual deed, it becomes pretty obvious that they are finding creative ways to make this much harder than it has to be on purpose. On thing that stood out to me is, instead of all the tiny screws being the same size, there are about two dozen very slightly different sizes. They could easily be all the same size, or like, two sizes at most, but no.

These mother fuckers will take a panel that screws into place and they’ll use a different size screw for each corner. They are so close that you almost cannot tell them apart visually, but they each will only screw into the matching corner. Like, it’s a pretty clear “fuck you” to anyone trying to do repairs.

IT WASN’T JUST ANY OLD DUDE WHO DECIDED, “HEY I WANT TO CREATE A KOREAN ALPHABET.”

IT WAS KING SEJONG, WHO ORDERED HIS ROYAL SCHOLARS TO CREATE THIS ALPHABET SO READING AND WRITING COULD BE ACCESSIBLE TO EVERYONE, EVEN THE PEASANTS. IT WAS PURPOSELY DESIGNED TO BE EASY TO LEARN.

SO SHOUT OUT TO KING SEJONG, WHO REALIZED BEFORE MANY OTHERS THE IMPORTANCE OF UNIVERSAL LITERACY.

On a border between two States Someone has written, “Fuck your nationalism. We are all Earthlings.”

And on the Mexican border, Someone has ripped through a fence Of reinforced chicken wire With bolt cutters, And erected a hammock By suspending it Between two of the fence’s Concrete pillars.

After swinging gently back and forth, From Texas to Mexico and then From Mexico back to Texas, They doze off; contemptuous Of the security guards Patrolling this artificial demarcation  – For, once upon a time, Texas was Mexico And Texas didn’t exist.

When Eugene Debs was imprisoned For conscientious objection in World War One He said, on September 11th 1915, “I have no country to fight for My country is the earth I’m a citizen of the world.”