No FEMALE won the Nobel Prize in physics

[Lisa!]

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-signs029.gif

Who has changed my post?

My bad...I was talking to someone while I was posting that but honestly it's still surprising to make such a mistake

 

[Negatron]

If we had a Nobel Prize in sandwich making, watch out boys!

 

[drizzle]

If we had a [STRIKE]Nobel [/STRIKE]Prize in sandwich making, watch out boys!

Yeah, there're lots of those!



I'm serious to what delay women from achieving that prize in physics. They’ve been in the field long enough, yet not recognized as expected! What qualification/abilities/needs/whatever do men have that they don’t?

 

[f95toli]

Yeah, there're lots of those!



I'm serious to what delay women from achieving that prize in physics. They’ve been in the field long enough, yet not recognized as expected! What qualification/abilities/needs/whatever do men have that they don’t?

But again, there simply aren't that many female physicists to start with; probably less than 15% of all active physicist are female and many of those are relatively young, which is relevant since there is usually a delay of 15-20 years before the prize of awarded for a discovery.
Also, note that those 15% (or whatever, it is probably less globally) is still a huge improvement over the situation say 40-50 years ago.

Hence, statistically you would at most expect something like 5-10% of all laureates to be women.

 

[turbo]

But again, there simply aren't that many female physicists to start with; probably less than 15% of all active physicist are female and many of those are relatively young, which is relevant since there is usually a delay of 15-20 years before the prize of awarded to a discovery.
Also, note that those 15% (or whatever, it is probably less globally) is still a huge improvement over the situation say 40-50 years ago.

Hence, statistically you would at most expect something like 5-10% of all laureates to be women.

Good point. Things are getting better, but it takes time. When I entered engineering school 40+ years ago, there were 5 females out of over 300 freshmen. Not good odds if you wanted a female study-partner. ;-)

 

[ideasrule]

I'm serious to what delay women from achieving that prize in physics. They’ve been in the field long enough, yet not recognized as expected! What qualification/abilities/needs/whatever do men have that they don’t?

Have you considered the fact that few girls are interested in physics? If you were really asking why this is, that's a deep question about the anatomy of the human brain and its evolutionary history. I don't think many people, if any, can answer that question.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Have you considered the fact that few girls are interested in physics? If you were really asking why this is, that's a deep question about the anatomy of the human brain and its evolutionary history. I don't think many people, if any, can answer that question.

There's also the given that grad school and post doc years for women coincide with prime time for being awarded one of http://cornerstork.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/crying_baby.jpg" . I am told that these special projects can be a real time-suck, and can distract from research.

 

[qspeechc]

This reminds me of the thread we had a few months ago on why all the top sprinters are black. There are differences between men and women, and that's just that. Don't lose any sleep over it. No one complains that most nannies or nurses are women.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Look at it this way: she was very nice that she decided to share it with his husband!

Pierre Curie was not a mere hanger-on. Ever here of Curie temperature in ferromagnets? That's Pierre, not Marie.

 

[Lisa!]

Pierre Curie was not a mere hanger-on. Ever here of Curie temperature in ferromagnets? That's Pierre, not Marie.

I know! I was just kidding

 

[arildno]

Pierre Curie was not a mere hanger-on. Ever here of Curie temperature in ferromagnets? That's Pierre, not Marie.

Nonsense, Pierre couldn't even cross a street on his own.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Pierre Curie was not a mere hanger-on. Ever here of Curie temperature in ferromagnets? That's Pierre, not Marie.

I never realized that, thanks. All the accounts I've read did describe him as something of a hanger-on...

 

[mgb_phys]

Nonsense, Pierre couldn't even cross a street on his own.

 

[f95toli]

There are differences between men and women, and that's just that. Don't lose any sleep over it.

Possibly, but I find it hard to believe that this is the whole explanation. When I was an undergrad about 20% of the student in my class were women (this was at a technical university), but the same year about 55% of the students in chemistry were women (it was the first year they were in majority) and when they a couple of years later started a biotech program something like 80% of the students were women. As far as I remember the ratio was about the same among the PhD students. Chemistry and Physics are not THAT different.

Also, there were about 50 people in the department where I did my PhD, the majority were PhD student and of those only 3 were women. All three had the same advisor as me, and she just happened to be the only woman professor...

My point is that areas where there already are many women seems to attract even more women, and once you reach a "critical mass" the percentage of women tends to go up very quickly. Note also that some professions that are "typically male" can be "typically female" in another country, in e.g. Russia the medical profession underwent what is known as feminization after WWII and women have been in majority ever since (note that this refers to doctors, not nurses etc)

 

[muppet]

As an aside, it's worth mentioning that one other woman has won the Nobel in Physics: Maria Goeppert-Mayer, for the development of the theory of magic numbers in nuclear shell structure. (Shared, with her collaborator Jensen and with Eugene Wigner, in 1963.)

 

[arildno]

Susan Howson won the Adams prize (a Cambridge award) in 2002, as the first female.