The Woman Scientific

I was not planning to write a blog entry on this topic right now but I found myself sharing my motherhood experiences with female colleagues and friends and it motivated me to write about it. From these conversations, I realised that my pregnant colleagues are mostly worried about two things: labour (how long and painful it’s going to be) and balancing work/career aspirations with raising children (also known as work and life balance). I usually do not give advice because I think it’s down to individual experiences and personal decisions. However I am always happy to share my experience as a working mother, in the hope that this can support other women on their journey. Myths about childbirth There are a lot of myths around the pain of labour (yes, I am sure Jeremy Corbyn can relate to that ;) ). Some are simply not true, others have an explanation. Is giving birth really painful? Should be considered as a medical emergency (in normal circumstances)? I can happily a...

Fairy tales   Have you come across a book called “Good night stories for rebel girls" ? It started as a crowd-funded initiative of two Italian writers , Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavalli ,  and it is now an acclaimed success of public and critics. I bought a copy for my children (the 12-year old daughter that you have already met and my 10-year old son, yes a book on rebel girls is highly recommended for young boys). The book is an anthology of biographies of amazing women narrated in the style of a fairy tale. “Once upon a time there was a girl named Ada who loved machines.” is the beginning of the tale of mathematician and computer scientist Ada Lovelace. And so on through the lives of well-known and less known remarkable women. I loved the book from day one. At the beginning of my journey into motherhood, I used to read the traditional fairy tales to my children but I would always alter the endings. For example, this was Cinderella’s alternati...

Poster for Women's Day in 1914. Source: Wikipedia. Back to the beginnings On Friday March 8, (some) people around the world will celebrate International Women's Day. This day was originally suggested in 1910 at the International Socialist Woman's Conference as a gathering to be held annually. The picture shows a poster for Frauen Tag in 1914 which demands women's right to vote. The t ranslation from German reads: "Give Us Women's Suffrage. Women's Day, March 8, 1914. Until now, prejudice and reactionary attitudes have denied full civic rights to women, who as, mothers, and citizens wholly fulfil their duty, who must pay their taxes to the state as well as the municipality. Fighting for this natural human right must be the firm, unwavering intention of every woman, every female worker. In this, no pause for rest, no respite is allowed. Come all, you women and girls, to the 9th public women's assembly on Sunday, March 8, 1914, at 3 pm."...

What is beauty? This is the first of a series of blog entries with the following sub-title: "How do I convince my 12-year old daughter that scientists are not all nerds without any sense of fashion (her words, no offence meant)"? Ever since she made that comment, I have been meaning to write on this topic. Here's my first attempt. Recently I came across a TED talk by Dr Anjan Chatterjee entitled "How your brain decide what is beautiful" . Dr Chatterjee makes a convincing case for a Darwinian theory of beauty (which I will refer from now on as canonical beauty) based on three main cardinal points: averaging, symmetry and level of hormones. According to this theory, features that are attractive are those that are most likely sought and passed on from one generation to the next by natural (sexual) selection. Moreover, the human brain has evolved into paying beauty a lot of attention, even at the unconscious level. According to Dr Chatterjee, when a random set ...

I have been recently asked by a colleague to talk to a young woman who is deciding whether to choose environmental sciences for her university degree. This is what he wrote to me: "Hi Angela I have a favour to ask! My God-daughter is interested in pursuing study (and a career) in some aspects of environmental / climate science and has to make some university course decisions later this year. I am going to bring her to ECMWF on Monday so she can see what we do here, but I would also really like her to meet and have a very quick chat with some inspirational females already working in different aspects of our field (she thinks science is all boys!). Is there any chance you might be available to spend just 10 minutes with her and explain what you do and the path that led you here ?" I accepted very gladly. First of all, he had ingratiated me with calling me "inspirational". Second, I thought this was a great opportunity ...