Women In Chemistry History #chemistry #science

 

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and supernatural stories to engage your emotions. And in part, I probably wouldn't be able to do that if women of science hadn't made their presence and intelligence felt over the years. It must have taken them so much more to achieve their goals, and to be recognized - many aren't being heard of until now. How many went to their graves feeling that their discoveries, their knowledge, the impact it all made meant nothing. The strength of will it must have taken to persist in a world and particularly a field dominated by men. I wish we could tell them how much of a difference it made, and particularly to me.

Because first and foremost, I consider myself a scientist. I'm not sure if my love of science fiction triggered my love for science, or vice versa, or if the two were simply inevitably entwined. And while I consider myself predominantly a writer of soft scifi in the style of Doctor Who and Star Wars rather than the hard variety, I still try to include at least some theoretically sound science into my writing. I can remember the disappointment of spending days researching the current theories behind artificial gravity to discover the rather tentative view relied almost entirely on something revolving, either part of the space craft, or potentially high powered magnets. Another day spent researching ion drives for space ships, to only use one line of my new found knowledge in a story still as yet unpublished. Or the ghoulish fascination into what exactly happens to a human body in space...

But as it's Women's History month and my place of work is just about to celebrate Science Week with SciFest, which I've been busy preparing for, I thought I'd share a few of those historical women from my particular field of specialism - chemistry! Without these women, I may not have been afforded the privilege to study science or to make a career in it, and now be a part of educating the next generations of scientists. And who knows what they might discover?! (Hopefully a better system for artificial gravity for one!).

Hopefully you will learn some new historical names from these wonderful posters (you can find much more at the Compound Interest website HERE) and what they have contributed to the world of science!