Scientifica inspire students
On Monday 11th February two Scientifica representatives, Dr. Anja Godfrey and Dr. Sonia Cavaliere, attended a local school to give talks to students about the successes of female scientists.
The talks were a part of Scientifica’s campaign to celebrate women in science, as part of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, founded by the United Nations General assembly.
The students, aged between 13 and 15, were first asked to draw what they think a typical scientist looks like. The students imagined a scientist to have big glasses, crazy hair and holding a test tube. Sonia and Anja then explained that although most people have a certain picture in their head of what a scientist looks like, scientists are normal people.
Sonia and Anja then shared with the students the stories of female scientists past and present, from Rosalind Franklin’s contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA and Marie Curie being the first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize, to Sangeeta Bhatia developing a urine test to detect cancer.
Anja said: “The teachers and students made it a real joy to be talking at Uckfield College on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. The students were great and got really involved with contributions and lots of brilliant questions. I hope they all understand that you don’t have to be a white, male genius with crazy hair to become a scientist. The teachers were very friendly and welcoming too. It was nice to see that these students have such good female role models in their science teachers”.
The concluding message of the day was that collaboration is essential in science. Scientists would be unable to achieve breakthroughs without working together. Anja and Sonia inspired the students to realise that they can achieve what they want to, with hard work and determination.
Sonia explained: "I enjoyed attending the school and talking to two groups of students. They were curious about my research life and how I became a neuroscientist. I hope the students learnt that if they can follow their dream career if they persevere".
Take a look at Scientifica's #Womeninscience content
- Scientifica are celebrating women in science
- #Womeninscience: Dr. Tiffany Schmidt
- #Womeninscience: Plugging the leaky pipeline, how can we retain more women in science?
- #Womeninscience: Dr. Keira Melican
- #Womeninscience: The decision of when to start a family
- #Womeninscience: Dr. Anja Godfrey
- #Womeninscience: Donna Strickland, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics
- #Womeninscience: Dr. Olga Skiteva
- #Womeninscience: The under-representation of women in science
- #Womeninscience: Professor Gail McConnell
- #Womeninscience: The work of Curt Rice in promoting equality and diversity
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