Panel Features Female Astronomers

Six prominent women astronomers discussed the obstacles they faced along their career path and how they overcame them in a panel sponsored yesterday by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Superiors often discouraged these women from careers in science, according to the panel members.

Sidney C. Wolff, the first female director of a prominent U.S. observatory, was once told that aggressiveness, a necessity for being successful in the sciences, was unattractive in women. When future NASA researcher Nancy Grace Roman asked a high school teacher if she could take an additional year of mathematics, the reaction was, “What lady would take mathematics instead of Latin?”

Aside from discrimination, Yale Professor of Physics C. Meg Urry struggled with the lack of role models in the sciences. She said she had never heard of a woman scientist until she entered graduate school. Yesterday, Urry said she was excited just sitting at the same table as the other four pioneers.

“These women...were incredibly important role models,” Urry said.

Wolff said the lack of role models limited substantial upward mobility in their careers.

“We were happy, in my generation, just to be allowed to play in the same game [as men],” Wolff said.

Despite the obstacles, the panelists said they maintained a child-like passion for understanding the stars. E. Margaret Burbidge, a former University of California, San Diego professor, became interested in astronomy at the age of four after staring at the stars during a trip from England to France.

“I was sold right then and there—have been ever since,” Burbidge said.

Once Burbidge gained status in the scientific community, she took a stand to improve opportunities for women in astronomy. When offered the American Astronomical Society’s 1972 Annie Jump Cannon Award, given exclusively to women, she refused it because she wanted to be measured against everyone in her field.

Burbidge said she believes the field of astronomy has made significant progress since her career began, with the playing field now more level for female astronomers.

Other panelists said they have worked diligently to increase the number of women in the sciences.

In 1992, Urry organized the first national meeting for women in astronomy. Virginia Trimble, the University of California, Irvine professor who moderated the panel, has served as a visible role model by speaking at about 25 conferences per year. Roman, who delivered her remarks by video due to a medical condition, has volunteered teaching astronomy to both children and adults.