What do you see when you picture a scientist? Too often, it’s a man with crazy white hair, and although this may be due to the genius of one man, it is still worrying that far fewer women than men work in science.
At the Science Museum this evening, ScienceGrrl is launching a calendar to change this. Featuring 13 stunning images of scientists (both male and female), including two of our own Curators, the calendar aims to encourage girls and young women to see science as an enriching, exciting career, while also raising money for projects which break down gender stereotypes.
Tilly Blyth, our Keeper of Technologies and Engineering and Alison Boyle, our Curator of Astronomy and Modern Physics, chose to be pictured with Babbage’s Difference Engine No 2.
Tilly has a fascinating collection to look after, including Stephenson’s rocket, the Apollo 10 space capsule and Charles Babbage’s Difference engine. She thinks that science is a vital part of our culture and is currently working on the new Making Modern Communications gallery, which opens in 2014.
The objects Alison helps the museum collect today will shape future generations’ understanding of science and technology. Alison loves the variety of working in the museum, from holding a first edition (1543) of Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres to leading an exhibition on the Large Hadron Collider, which opens next year.
There’s more information on the Science Grrl website, and the calendar can be bought here.