Astronomy
A key reason to explain the low fraction is that the prize is usually for discoveries made many years prior to the award and there were fewer female physicists in the past. Looking at past physics awards, my guess at the typical time from discovery to award is 20 years. The age of awardees is increasing as shown in the figure below, and this time between discovery and award is increasing.
To consider the effect of this growing time lag on the fraction of women awardees, we can consider what the fraction of women physicist was in the past. This is illustrated in the figure below of percent female doctorates and postdoctorates in the past. The number of postdoctorate female physicists 20 years ago was ~9%, compare with ~18% now, indeed much lower. However, it is still hard to understand how the ratio of prize winners is as low as 1%. Even in the 1970's there were significantly more than 1% women physicists.
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Astronomy
No Women Physics Nobel Prizes in 50 Years
The number of women who have received Nobel prizes in all fields is shockingly low, particularly in physics where the only two prizes ever awarded were Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert Mayer in 1963. There have been no physics Nobel prizes in 50 years! I recently read an interesting article on the statistics and possible reasons written by Matt Petronzio in US & World on-line.
Before discussing reasons, let's look at the facts. The figure below shows the number of women and men receiving the Nobel prize in the various categories between 1901 and 2014. The ratio of men to women is amazingly small, ranging from 1% in physics to 17% in peace. In physics, this can be compared to about 20% women receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Before discussing reasons, let's look at the facts. The figure below shows the number of women and men receiving the Nobel prize in the various categories between 1901 and 2014. The ratio of men to women is amazingly small, ranging from 1% in physics to 17% in peace. In physics, this can be compared to about 20% women receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees.
A key reason to explain the low fraction is that the prize is usually for discoveries made many years prior to the award and there were fewer female physicists in the past. Looking at past physics awards, my guess at the typical time from discovery to award is 20 years. The age of awardees is increasing as shown in the figure below, and this time between discovery and award is increasing.
To consider the effect of this growing time lag on the fraction of women awardees, we can consider what the fraction of women physicist was in the past. This is illustrated in the figure below of percent female doctorates and postdoctorates in the past. The number of postdoctorate female physicists 20 years ago was ~9%, compare with ~18% now, indeed much lower. However, it is still hard to understand how the ratio of prize winners is as low as 1%. Even in the 1970's there were significantly more than 1% women physicists.
There are other factors one could imagine playing a role, such as conscious or unconscious bias. This is hard to quantify and assess. We can only hope that the fraction starts increasing in the coming decade.
- Personal Experience With Hiring
My Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at Goddard has 14 scientists, most of whom are physicists and 50% of whom are women. That is a high female fraction for a largely physics-oriented organization and I thought it would be useful to write today about...
- Aaswomen Newsletter For November 07, 2014
AAS Committee on the Status of Women AAS Committee on the Status of Women Issue of November 07, 2014 eds: Daryl Haggard, Nicolle Zellner, Meredith Hughes, & Elysse Voyer This week's issues: 1. No Women Physics Nobel Prizes in 50 Years 2. Top Five...
- Gender Bias In Guest Observer Programs
A recent paper on arXiv (1409.3528) by I. Neill Reid at STScI is an eye-opener. It presents a detailed study of gender bias in HST guest observer selection. The results are very clear: female PIs are systematically less successful in winning...
- Where Are All The Women Professors? Among The Recently Hired!
I recently wrote a series of posts entitled "Where are all the women professors?" here and here. I began with a simple premise: "men and women are equally capable of succeeding as professional astronomers. There is no inherent (intrinsic)...
- Aas Prizes ? Self-nominations
You have probably realized that the deadline for nominations for AAS prizes has shifted earlier, to June 30. This means you still have a few weeks to submit nominations. Those of us who are frustrated at the continued dearth of women prize recipients...