For the next in our series of posts spotlighting underappreciated women in physics, we will be covering the crystallographer, computer scientist, and lecturer Rosemary Candlin, and her work at the University of Edinburgh.
It is no secret that the field of physics, like every science, has long been affected by sexist and colonial power systems. This has meant that, through centuries of scientific innovation, women and minority physicists have not been given the credit they deserved for their work, and have never taken their rightful place in the history books. Lack of representation is still a problem in the field. One of the primary ways this can be tackled is by highlighting the work of underappreciated physicists, both historical and contemporary, in an attempt to address the imbalances in the field. We should also interrogate why exactly it was that they never gained their rightful place in the scientific canon.
It’s World Book Day! To celebrate I’m going to take a look at some popular science fiction to see if there’s any real science to be found hidden amongst the metaphors. It is often said that the truth is stranger than fiction but when it comes to science and science fiction the two can go hand in hand.