badass women in science, technology, engineering, + mathematics
June 16, 2017 8:06 PM Subscribe
Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya created 35 posters celebrating women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians.
The project, which began as a Kickstarter campaign (donating all profits after production costs to the Association for Women in Science), includes all 16 women who have won a Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine/Physiology, as well as other badass women in STEM. Each woman is featured in a print that connects their faces with their achievements.
Phingbodhipakkiya is a creative director and design strategist with a background in neuroscience. Society6 interviewed her about the project and her motivations. She partnered with the March for Science to offer a free set limited-edition protest posters featuring 6 of the Beyond Curie women.
(h/t to Two Bossy Dames, who featured the project in today's newsletter.)
The project, which began as a Kickstarter campaign (donating all profits after production costs to the Association for Women in Science), includes all 16 women who have won a Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, and Medicine/Physiology, as well as other badass women in STEM. Each woman is featured in a print that connects their faces with their achievements.
Phingbodhipakkiya is a creative director and design strategist with a background in neuroscience. Society6 interviewed her about the project and her motivations. She partnered with the March for Science to offer a free set limited-edition protest posters featuring 6 of the Beyond Curie women.
(h/t to Two Bossy Dames, who featured the project in today's newsletter.)
Love the style, love the topic. Seconding the lack of Emmy though.
posted by Samizdata at 8:52 PM on June 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Samizdata at 8:52 PM on June 16, 2017 [1 favorite]
Also, yay for more MeFi driven learnination!
posted by Samizdata at 8:55 PM on June 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 8:55 PM on June 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
Also, boo for realizing I will NEVER be able to afford these.
posted by Samizdata at 8:57 PM on June 16, 2017
posted by Samizdata at 8:57 PM on June 16, 2017
I also just came here to say I like this, but yeah where's Noether?
Although, to be fair, I often talk to physicists who don't know how crucial her contributions are to the entirety of modern physics.
posted by dsword at 9:37 PM on June 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
Although, to be fair, I often talk to physicists who don't know how crucial her contributions are to the entirety of modern physics.
posted by dsword at 9:37 PM on June 16, 2017 [3 favorites]
Love the topic, dislike the style. Of the web page, at least.
As an AP Physics teacher I'm always looking for examples of female physicists that I can share with my kiddos — "Beyond Curie" indeed. So my experience with this page is "Oh, she looks inter — oh, it grayed out, I can't read it... I'll back off... hm, something about her in tiny type, let me—grayed out again... who is she? What did she do? I'd like to tell my female students about her, I'll just — oh, that's unreadable..."
Clicking on the images works, but the main page is annoying. Interesting design-fu, but too gimmicky to be useful. When I have more patience I'll try to mine it for the names of people I want to research on my own.
posted by kikaider01 at 11:26 PM on June 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
As an AP Physics teacher I'm always looking for examples of female physicists that I can share with my kiddos — "Beyond Curie" indeed. So my experience with this page is "Oh, she looks inter — oh, it grayed out, I can't read it... I'll back off... hm, something about her in tiny type, let me—grayed out again... who is she? What did she do? I'd like to tell my female students about her, I'll just — oh, that's unreadable..."
Clicking on the images works, but the main page is annoying. Interesting design-fu, but too gimmicky to be useful. When I have more patience I'll try to mine it for the names of people I want to research on my own.
posted by kikaider01 at 11:26 PM on June 16, 2017 [2 favorites]
"This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA" - so can they be featured on Temple-Woods' WomenScientists Wikipedia bridgeheads?
posted by progosk at 1:56 AM on June 17, 2017
posted by progosk at 1:56 AM on June 17, 2017
> "I also just came here to say I like this, but yeah where's Noether?"
Well, I mean, there's lots of big names missing. Annie Jump Cannon, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Hypatia, Mary Somerville, Caroline Herschel, Sophie Germain, Jill Tarter, Maria Mitchell, and that's just the first few names that leap to mind in a couple of fields I'm acquainted with.
posted by kyrademon at 2:26 AM on June 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Well, I mean, there's lots of big names missing. Annie Jump Cannon, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Hypatia, Mary Somerville, Caroline Herschel, Sophie Germain, Jill Tarter, Maria Mitchell, and that's just the first few names that leap to mind in a couple of fields I'm acquainted with.
posted by kyrademon at 2:26 AM on June 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I for one am happy that she hasn't been able to include every woman who deserves to be included - because that means there are too many awesome women for one artist to cover. I for one am digging this. I like the style, and I like that it's not just names like Marie Curie and Ada Lovelace. (Who often get to be the token woman scientist.)
I mean, I get being disappointed if you don't get to see a poster of your favorite, but it seems like the first reaction to projects like these is negative: "Where's X? You should have included X!" instead of "Ohhh, look at the picture of Y, that's great." When I know that's not how most people feel about them.
I look forward to the day when projects like this aren't necessary, though - when we don't need to have special poster sets of female scientists to make sure they're included in science education, because they're already included everywhere else.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:18 AM on June 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
I mean, I get being disappointed if you don't get to see a poster of your favorite, but it seems like the first reaction to projects like these is negative: "Where's X? You should have included X!" instead of "Ohhh, look at the picture of Y, that's great." When I know that's not how most people feel about them.
I look forward to the day when projects like this aren't necessary, though - when we don't need to have special poster sets of female scientists to make sure they're included in science education, because they're already included everywhere else.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 3:18 AM on June 17, 2017 [14 favorites]
I wasn't complaining or disappointed -- I was trying to point out that there is the potential for hundreds more posters in this series, and it's not surprising that some obvious ones are still missing when it starts at 35.
posted by kyrademon at 3:35 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by kyrademon at 3:35 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
The lack of mathematicians is probably worth talking about, though. Unless I missed someone, it was Maryam Mirzakhani and no one else. I'd rather Mirzakhani than Sophie Germain, who feels like she's become the default choice for "quick! someone name a female mathematician", as the reliance on Germain kind of sends this message of "there are so few female mathematicians that we could only name one who's been dead nearly 200 years". But I still sort of feel like the message becomes either "no one actually is a mathematician, what a silly career ambition" or "if you're a woman, you'd better stick to physics, chemistry or biology".
posted by hoyland at 4:14 AM on June 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by hoyland at 4:14 AM on June 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I love these and hope she's able to return to the project at some point and make more of them. I'd also love to see these designs on mugs or tote bags — I don't really have room for more art at the moment, but I'd be happy to put a scientist mug on my desk.
For those who didn't like the web site, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya also has an Instagram account.
posted by rafaella gabriela sarsaparilla at 4:27 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
For those who didn't like the web site, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya also has an Instagram account.
posted by rafaella gabriela sarsaparilla at 4:27 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Completely different design sensibility, but when I started sending postcards to my representatives, I bought this box of women in science postcards, which are adapted from this book, Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. The author/ artist also has some swag at her Etsy store. I'm seeing posters, t-shirts, pillows, and onesies for babies, but no coffee mugs, sadly.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:16 AM on June 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:16 AM on June 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
I love that these are licensed under Creative Commons. I'm going to get some printed out for my students so we can use them in the classroom!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:24 AM on June 17, 2017
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:24 AM on June 17, 2017
> I'd also love to see these designs on mugs or tote bags
The designs appear to be Creative Commons licensed, so you could put them on whatever item you want!
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 11:54 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
The designs appear to be Creative Commons licensed, so you could put them on whatever item you want!
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 11:54 AM on June 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
When I was walking through our teaching lab last week, someone had hung a bunch of these in the Cell Biology lab. They are delightful, and it's really cool that they are Creative Commons licensed. I may add Rachel Carson and Barbara McClintock to my office decorations (and from my field, I would love to see Ruth Patrick in one of these series one day).
posted by hydropsyche at 12:08 PM on June 17, 2017
posted by hydropsyche at 12:08 PM on June 17, 2017
The lack of mathematicians is probably worth talking about, though. Unless I missed someone, it was Maryam Mirzakhani and no one else.
Obvious choices off the top of my head (from the generation before Mirzakhani): Ingrid Daubechies, Karen Uhlenbeck, Claire Voisin.
posted by escabeche at 6:44 PM on June 17, 2017
Obvious choices off the top of my head (from the generation before Mirzakhani): Ingrid Daubechies, Karen Uhlenbeck, Claire Voisin.
posted by escabeche at 6:44 PM on June 17, 2017
Clearly it's not meant to be a comprehensive catalog of every woman scientist. Hydropsyche's experience feels more appropriate, because why not have posters of awesome scientists on your walls? Can anyone say that their life would not be improved by periodically seeing Esther Lederberg's badass smirk every now and again?
posted by Panjandrum at 11:41 PM on June 17, 2017
posted by Panjandrum at 11:41 PM on June 17, 2017
In the same vein, there's also the wonderful Trowelblazers site for women pioneers in "archaeological, geological, and palaeontological science".
posted by eclectist at 8:17 AM on June 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by eclectist at 8:17 AM on June 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Love the concept, love the posters, hate the website. Is there already an easy-to-download archive somewhere?
I'd love to put these up on a poster outside my office - and of course Jocelyn Bell would take pride of place. (She's the guest of honor - obviously - at a meeting celebrating 50 years of pulsars later this year.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2017
I'd love to put these up on a poster outside my office - and of course Jocelyn Bell would take pride of place. (She's the guest of honor - obviously - at a meeting celebrating 50 years of pulsars later this year.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2017
RedOrGreen, you can navigate by name at the bottom of any woman's page (although I'm sure you saw that). I find that a lot easier than trying to navigate the main page. The website design is not my favorite thing, either.
I think the only archive (that I can see, anyway) is the downloadable one on the Shop page, which is $$$.
posted by minsies at 12:43 PM on June 20, 2017
I think the only archive (that I can see, anyway) is the downloadable one on the Shop page, which is $$$.
posted by minsies at 12:43 PM on June 20, 2017
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No Noether?????? Modern mathematics stands on her shoulders to an incredible extent.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:42 PM on June 16, 2017 [17 favorites]