Earlier in October, Nobel Prize Committee announced the list of 2018 winners in all categories, including two women in the fields of chemistry and physics. Do you find this surprising? Well… it is… this is the first time in the history of the award that two women are among the winners of these two categories in the same year.
2018 is the first year in the history of Nobel Prize that two women are among the winners in chemistry and physics. Image from: Shutterstock
Since 1901 when the first Nobel Prizes in chemistry and physics were awarded, 177 people have had the honours to receive the most prestigious award in chemistry. Frances. H Arnold is only the fifth woman. Even more surprising, Donna Strickland is only the third woman out of a total of 207 Nobel Prize winners in physics.
As shown the graph below, we can easily see this trend in all science-related categories of the Nobel Prize.
Does this tell us something about the number of women in of science in general? Or maybe at least the number of women in science who have been successful enough to receive a Nobel Prize?
Relative percentages of men and women winners of Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology and Medicine, and Economics. Data from: areppim
I think this trend can be explained by the fact that in the 20thcentury women in general have been the minority in all fields of science. Just take a look at the old photos of the faculty members and graduates of chemistry and physics departments hanging from the walls of chemistry and physics buildings at UBC! Women are in absolute minority! I know… this may not be the most precise and scientific evidence, but it gives us a better idea of the men and women active in these fields back then. So, it is understandable that when there were not as many women graduates in these fields in the 70’s and 80’s, there would not be a high number of women prize winners now.
But again, using my scientific method of looking at more recent photos of chemistry and physics faculty members and graduates, I am glad to say that the trend has been changing. Nowadays, we see more women active in all areas of science pursuing their dreams.
Strong successful women such as Dr. Arnold and Dr. Strickland are good motivations for all women in science. Dr. Arnold who is a professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at the California Institute of technology in a news conference at Caltech predicted that “a steady stream” of future Nobel prizes in chemistry would be given to women. She also added “as long as we encourage everyone — it doesn’t matter the color, gender; everyone who wants to do science, we encourage them to do it — we are going to see Nobel Prizes coming from all these different groups. Women will be very successful.”
