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York celebration of female scientists past and present

York celebration of female scientists past and present

Posted on 15 October 2014

A special event at the Yorkshire Museum will celebrate the work of female scientists past and present as part of the national Ada Lovelace Day.

Organised by the York branch of ScienceGrrl - a network of people passionate about passing their love of science to the next generation - the family event will include hands-on demonstrations by female University of York scientists.

Held on Saturday, 18 October, the York event will also feature a children’s trail which will introduce museum visitors to important women scientists from the past such as Jocelyn Bell Burnell (astrophysics), Maria Goeppert Mayer (nuclear physics), Ada Lovelace (computer science), Irmgard Flugge-Lotz (engineering) and Dorothy Hodgkin (chemistry).

The event marks Ada Lovelace Day, an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and is about sharing stories of inspirational women scientists.

Organiser Dr Gemma Wilson, a nuclear physicist with the University of York’s Department of Physics, said: “The aim of the Ada Lovelace Day celebration is to create new role models for girls and women in these male-dominated fields by raising the profile of other women in STEM.

“We hope the event will help inspire more women to follow a career in science, technology, engineering or maths.”

Visitors to the museum will be able to look at hidden samples under a microscope, learn about the heat transfer properties of a planar diamond as it cuts through blocks of ice, and examine radioactivity in rocks and salts.

‘ScienceGrrls in the Yorkshire Museum’ will take place on Saturday, 18 October at the Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, York from 10am to 3pm. The event is included in the admission price to the Yorkshire Museum, which is free to York Card Holders. Further information at http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/events/event/ada-lovelace-day-yorkshire-museum/

Further information:

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was a mathematician and writer often described as the world’s first computer programmer. For further information on the Ada Lovelace Day visit http://findingada.com/
For more information on ScienceGrrl visit http://sciencegrrl.co.uk/
More information on the University of York’s Department of Physics at www.york.ac.uk/physics