2023-05-13 16:44:36
Science is the result of curiosity and intelligence. Curiosity has always been one of the characteristics of donne and certainly it cannot be said that men are, on the average, more intelligent than their female mates. Yet of the nearly 900 Nobel Prize awarded to date only 61 have gone to a woman. In short, looking at the statistics, in the approximately 120 years of existence, the most prestigious international recognition – awarded to scientists and writers – only once out of 15 went to a lady.
Outlining the lack of gender equality even in the folds of science and literature is Italian mathematics Elizabeth Strickland in his book
“The Mothers of Ideas. The women scientists and the Nobel Prize” (Nemapress editions), which will be presented next Wednesday, May 17, in Rome, at the Casanatense Library (4.00 pm).
Head of the Interuniversity Observatory on Gender Studies, of which she is a founding member, Strickland reflects in her book on social and cultural reasons, on the shortcomings of the education system and recalls the considerations of astrophysicist Margherita Hack who underlined how women have “all the numbers to be valid scientists” but to assert themselves, compared to their male colleagues, they must “add to their cultural baggage a further ration of grit”. Concepts that are well known and which should rightly be reaffirmed according to Strickland to defeat prejudices and remove cultural obstacles.
But Elizabeth Strickland’s book goes further. Strengthened by the ancient motto that “an example is worth a thousand speeches”, Italian mathematics in her book also tells some of the stories of those who made it: 23 examples of Nobel winners. Different women by culture, temper, way of being determined: from Maria Curie to Rita Levi Montalcini to Tu Youyou. Effective, non-trivial portraits, capable of probing the souls of women and at the same time describing how intelligence, curiosity and passion have come true.
Pages to read and not to synthesize so as not to deprive the reader of the literary taste that underlies the book. One annotation. At the end of the volume there is a chapter titled “Nobel Scientists But Not Enough. Six Unrecognized (Enough) Success Stories”. Well, this chapter alone is worth reading the book. In short, Elisabetta Strickland brings to our libraries a book that she hopes will eradicate at least some prejudices and, at the same time, corroborate the determination of the ladies.
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