Reflections of a Female Astronomer

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Oxford University Astrophysics&

Mansfield College

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Second ICWES

• Cambridge UK

• Summer 1967 (66?)

• New Hall College

• Radio astronomy observatory

• Doughty, kindly

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Typical working conditions for a PhD Student!

2048 antennae (81.5 MHz), 1000+ wooden posts, 120 miles wire and cable, area 2.5 football pitches

The 4.5 acre* radio telescope(*2.5 football pitches)

Data analysis

No computerOutput on chart

paper• 100’ (30m) / day• 400’ (120m)/sky

scan• 3.3 miles (5.3km)

total

Pulsars (pulsating radio stars) today

• Star spins like a lighthouse, sweeping radio beam around the sky.

• We see a pulse each time beam sweeps across us.• Each pulsar has its own flash rate and pattern of flashes

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Pulsar (PSR) parameters

• Mass 1027 tonnes (1.4 – 2.0 MSun)

• R =12 km

• 1.4 ms < Prot < 10 s

• 10-12 > dP/dt > 10-21 ; serve as clocks for experimental relativity

• Magnetic field B = 108 Tesla

• Neutron-rich material – neutron stars

Reactions to the discovery

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Astronomy today

• A high-tech branch of modern physics

• Attracts people to science

• Drives industry/technology

• Provides training in modern skills

• Vehicle for Development

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WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY AROUND THE WORLD

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International Astronomical Union – countries with 100 members

Country % delegation

female

√N error

Argentina 37 5

Ukraine 27 3

Italy 25 3

France 24 2

Brazil 23 3

Spain 18 2

Mexico 17 4

Russian Fed 17 2

Greece 16 4

China 15 2

Australia 15 3

Country % delegation

female

√N error

Belgium 15 4

Poland 13 3

Sweden 13 4

Canada 12 2

USA 12 1

UK 12 2

Netherlands 12 2

S Korea 10 3

Germany 10 1

India 8 2

Japan 6 1

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All member countries: 15% female

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Cautions

• Membership is for tenured astronomers (so larger numbers of younger women are not counted)

• You have to be nominated by your country’s astronomical society – women may be more often overlooked

• Data from: www.iau.org/administration/membership/

individual/distribution/

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So.....

• Latin America and S. Europe have high % female

• N. Europe and the English-speaking countries have low % female

• Limiting factor is culture, not women’s brains

• Similar distributions for physics, maths...

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WOMEN IN PHYSICS IN UNITED KINGDOM

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Women in SET today in UK

• Numbers are growing, % improving

slowly! Largest increases at u/g (p/g) level

• Issues around work-life, family-career to be addressed

• More subtle issues around ‘climate’ in the work-place to be addressed

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Some data

• Physics (and astronomy) undergraduates in the UK are 20 - 25% female (30% in astro)

• About 15% of all physics staff are female

• Physics Professors

• 1991: from 1 to 2 female

• 2005: about 24 female

• Today: about 40 female (about 7%)

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Sensing the ambiance

• Women are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’

• More sensitive to the friendliness of a place

• Lack of (the success of) women may imply an issue that needs attention.

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Summary

• Shortage of women in senior positions could be due to one or several of:

1.Too few entering

2.Too many leaving

3.Too slow progress

• It seems that all these are true

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Progress is slow!

• Many recent studies (Europe, N America)

• Many similar recommendations

• But progress is slow (glacial!) – even is subjects where >50% of undergraduate class is female

• Royal Society of Edinburgh study

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‘Women as deficient’

• Many programmes to get more women into science assume that it is women who need to change.

• Why should women do all the changing?• Science should move towards women as

much as women change, move towards it.• Long term, ‘climate’ of science needs to

change.

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Good for all...

• Good management benefits all, but seems to benefit women more.

• Bad management affects all, but seems to affect women more.

• Poor physics teaching seems to affect girls more

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My experience

• It has been other women who (too often) asked “Are you sure you want to do physics?”

• Women are the custodians of what is proper for women

• In a male-dominated area, men determine whether or not women advance

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Family life

• Got married as I finished the PhD – husband worked in Local Government.

• He moved jobs every 7 years or so, to get promotion

• Son born 4 – 5 years later

• Few child-minding facilities as

mothers not expected to work

Another woman’s reaction

• “You’ve got a husband, a new baby and a new house and you say you’re bored – what’s wrong with you?”

• Previous generations of women did not expect to have careers outside home

• Subsequent generations do

• My generation at the turning point

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Woman scientist

• Often the most senior female in the place.

• No role model or mentor

• Had to play the men at their own game

• Has it turned me into a ‘wee man’, or a ‘shemale’

• Can one remain true to one’s own gender and succeed in a male world?

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Conclusions

For women..........

• Stories are very powerful – tell the stories.

For all of us..........

• Improve management

• Affirm women as women; don’t expect them to be ‘wee men’ or ‘she males’.

The End

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Afterword

Well behaved women rarely make history .

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich