women in science

Today, most climate science is done with satellites, sensors and complicated computer models. But it all started with a pioneering female physicist and two glass tubes. Eunice Foote, the woman behind that glass tube experiment, has largely been left out of the history books. Until about 10 years ago, John Tyndall was seen as the grandfather of climate science for setting the foundation for the understanding of the greenhouse gas effect. But Eunice's experiment, done three years prior, showed that air with more "carbonic acid," or carbon dioxide, both heated up faster and cooled down slower than regular air.

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As a kid, Jasmin Graham was endlessly curious about the ocean. That eventually led her to a career in marine science studying sharks and rays. But until relatively recently, she had never met another Black woman in her field.

That all changed in 2020 when she connected with a group of Black women studying sharks through the Twitter hashtag #BlackInNature. Finding a community was so powerful that the women decided to start a group.

On today's show, Jasmin talks with host Maddie Sofia about Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) and how it's supporting women of color through hands-on workshops and community building. (Encore)

To see pictures of MISS's first workshop check out their website.

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By day, Jess Wade is an experimental physicist at Imperial College London. But at night, she's a contributor to Wikipedia — where she writes entries about women and POC scientists. She chats with Emily Kwong about how Wikipedia can influence the direction of scientific research and why it's important to have entries about scientists from under-represented communities.

Here are the Wikipedia entries of the scientists mentioned in today's show: Sarah Gilbert, Kizzmekia Corbett, Gladys West, and of course, Jess Wade.

Email us at ShortWave@npr.org.

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Encore episode: Pioneering ecologist Nalini Nadkarni takes us up into the canopy — the area above the forest floor — where she helped research and document this unexplored ecosystem. Plus: the story of her decades-long effort to get more women into science, and how she found a surprising ally in the fight — Barbie. Video and more from Maddie's trip to the canopy is here. Follow Maddie on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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Who is Ellen Richards? One of the most unsung scientists of all time, that's who. Her contribution? Bringing real science into the household and forcing the world to take "home-ec" seriously. We celebrate her today on Short Stuff. 

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