Women’s History Month
Photos of the Month — March 2015
In honor of Women’s History month, we are celebrating the careers and contributions of women in physics and the allied sciences. No less than 100 years ago, women were rarely recognized by the scientific community, often overshadowed by their male colleagues. Nevertheless, a few scientists like Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, and Lise Meitner were independently recognized for their publications, awards, and careers. Also included in this month’s feature are modern scientists carrying the torch, such as Mildred Dresselhaus and Yvonne Elsworth. Today, the careers of women in physics and the allied sciences span government science, industrial physics and academia. Women are still under-represented in the physical sciences, but the physics community is addressing this problem. AIP’s History Programs have produced a Teaching Guide on the History of Women in the Physical Sciences , partly to provide real, recognizable role models for young, potential scientists. Please enjoy this featured selection from our historical photos collection of these talented individuals. To see more images like the ones we’ve selected, type the name of the physicist into the search engine, or try: Women in Science .
Left to right; Lise Meitner talking to Sue Jones Swisher, class of 1960, and Danna Pearson McDonough, class of 1960, at Bryn Mawr College.
Photo by Heka Davis, AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Physics Today Collection.
Portrait of Mildred Dresselhaus.
Donna Coveney, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.
Maria Goeppert-Mayer with daughter, Marianne. Summer 1935.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Maria Stein Collection.
Melba Philips at an American Physical Society (APS) meeting in Washington, DC.
Photo by Esther Mintz, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Esther Mintz Collection.
Charles Steinmetz preferred to work out deep mathematical calculations in solitude near his camp on the Mohawk River in Schenectady, New York. His fair weather office consisted of some paper, a box of pencils, a paddle, and a board stretched across his canoe.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives
Hedwig Kohn with family and friends at Konigssee, Germany. Left to right: Georg Kohn (father), Helene Kohn (mother), Hedwig Kohn, Irma Sachs, Martha Less, and Anna Less. 1912.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Kohn Photo Collection.
Photo of Yvonne Elsworth taken at the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston where she and her team work on the BiSON (Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network). In the background is a 12 foot diameter dome, similar to those deployed in the network, which is used to test equipment and for the training of staff. Photo used in book and exhibit ‘Portraits of Astronomers’ by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies.
Copyright Lucinda Douglas-Menzies, courtesy AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives.
Daughter and mother, Irène Joliot-Curie (left) and Marie Curie (right), work with equipment in a laboratory.
AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, William G. Myers Collection.
