Physics, Women in

Women in History of Physics

Hypatia (370–415) lived in Alexandria in Egypt and taught philosophy and astronomy. She is one of the earliest women scientists in recorded history. Contributions of women astronomers have been recognized for centuries. In 1786, J. K. Lalande published his “Astronomy for Ladies,” which has a history of the women astronomers. Physicist Laura Bassi (1711–78) became the first woman to be awarded a university professorship in Europe and is known for her work in fluid mechanics and devising experiments in [Page 1102]electricity. Emilie Marquise du Chatelet (1706–49) translated Newton's Principia in French. Emmy Noether (1882–1935) is perhaps the most famous woman scientist, whose mathematical theorems gave birth to modern algebra. “Noether theorem” is used in physics to obtain conserved charges in systems with continuous symmetries. Marie Curie (1867–1934) was the first woman to receive two Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry for her work in radioactivity. Maria Goeppert-Mayer is the only other women to have received a Nobel Prize in physics, awarded in 1963 for her work in nuclear physics.

Statistics of Women in Physics in Today's World

The percentage of women in physics at undergraduate and graduate levels is high (30–50 percent) in most developed countries (e.g., in the United Kingdom and the United States). The number reduces considerably for midcareer women (10–20 percent) to very low (less than 5 percent) for senior and leadership positions. This gives rise to a scissors diagram in the plot of male-female ratios in physics career graphs. The details differ in some countries. A set of illustrative examples taken from the proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Women in Physics are listed below. In Australia, approximately 24 percent of undergraduate students are female, and 28.3 percent of postgraduate students are women.

Selected universities in Australia have 22 percent women as academic staff, whereas women in government research labs are about 9 percent of the total. Across Canada, the percentage of women at undergraduate level in physical and life sciences and technology is 55.7 percent and 46.5 percent at graduate level. The percentage of women in full-time teaching positions in Canadian universities in mathematical and physical sciences is 14.6 percent (in 2004). In France, 25 percent of undergraduate and graduate students are women; 21 percent of faculty at French universities are female. The percentage of female graduates from the Physical Society of Japan (JPS) is 9 percent, and the percentage of women members of the JPS is 5 percent.

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