User talk:Waterarcheress

Kayla Seyfried Period 6 4-24-09 Many women have had significant roles in the history of physics. Despite their numerous achievements, most female physicists mostly went un-credited for their works and contributions to modern science. Presently, women have finally attained the right to enter the fields of physics and chemistry under, more or less, equality alongside their male co-workers. Although finally given the opportunity to freely work in science fields, few women take up their newfound right. Women can be encouraged to take up the challenging work of studying physics, but it would require keeping them interested in science and math throughout their school career.

Once upon a time physics was considered a profession meant only for men and women faced much discrimination and ignorance. In the early 1700s, however, Émilie du Châtelet eventually proved that momentum was equal to mass time the squared of velocity (mv²), not simply mass times velocity (mv). She published a book of her findings but was given minimal recognition. Years later, Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze married Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, a taxpayer who practiced physics in his spare time. With her help, he developed the Law of conservation of Mass. Despite the contributions to physics, biology, and chemistry being taken mostly from her notebooks, which included detailed drawings of the equipment and prodecures of the experiments, Marie-Anne is mostly remembered as a mere lab assistant. Nearly 150 years, later, Mileva Maric, wife of Albert Einstein, supported Einstein mostly by checking his math. After Einstein’s rise to fame with his theory E = mc2, Mileva found herself divorced and forced to take care of her two sons. Around the same time, physicist Lise Meitner faced much discrimination in her career. After obtaining her doctoral degree, Lize moved to Germany practice physics. She got no respect, and even had to work in a wood shed. She eventually discovered nuclear fission. Her friend, Otto Hahn, however, claimed he was the one who made the discovery and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Lise was never recognized for her achievements in her lifetime.

Women faced much discrimination in the fields of science throughout history. In modern times, women are finally achieving recognition and being viewed as equals among their male counterparts. Dorothy Hodgkin, for example, won the nobel peace prize for her discovery of protein crystallography. Lisa Randall, an American theoretical physicist, is a leading expert on particle physics and cosmology who has received numerous recognitions, once being called “ one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation” by Newsweek. Margaret Chan is another famous physicist, who is presently the Director of Health of Hong Kong and WHO. Despite their achievements, there are still fewer women involved in the sciences than men. This can most likely be attributed to the schooling system. Most girls lose interests in math and science before they enter middle school. One study showed that a student will achieve about three teachers throughout their entire education who give them encouragement to push themselves to succeed. If s student were to keep an interest in every subjecct,  perhaps through different and more diverting teaching styles, girls and women could achieve scientific and well paying careers.

Physics has a long histoy full of achievements and discoveries. Many of these and more vital discoveries were made by women, but due to these women not being of the male gender, they mostly went uncredited for their findings. In the modern era, women are slowly moving up the ladder of science, and achieving more recognition for their discoveries and contributions to physics, math, and chemistry. Few women in comparrsion to men hold scientific professions, but this could change in the near future. It just takes the right teacher.