Reading Connections #2

I was faced with a challenge in class that I greatly underestimated. "Where are the women of science in the seventeenth century?" I was asked. I thought someone had to have taught about them. Out there, there was a text book ridden with dates and names of women who made a difference scientifically. I asked my brother if, when covering that time period in his history classes, they reviewed any women philosophers and scientists. There were none. I asked my cousin who attends school in New Jersey, if any women of significant value to the scientific community during this time were ever mentioned during classes. Once again, there were none. I went as far as to even ask a friend of mine living in London, but he couldn't recall learning about any women other than Marie Curie in his science and history courses. 

There's no way there could be absolutely no women involved at the time. They had to be out there, they were just hiding in the bindings of overlooked books. I decided to do some of my own investigation, so I started in the place I knew I would get results: the internet. 

What I found was more than just a lack of women in 17th century science. Throughout modern history and science books, only men a greatly referenced. There are maybe two or three women mentioned as giving significant contribution in said field. This isn't to say that they didn't give significant input, but there's so little known about them. How many people could tell you where Marie Curie lived, what year she was born, and exactly what her contribution to science was? I'm sure out of those people, at least twice the number of them can tell you at least three facts about Albert Einstein or Issac Newton, and specify exactly what they did. 

After searching for a while, I found that there are a lot of women that myself or others have never heard about, but have contributed a lot to the world and it's quest for knowledge. There were women present in science, even as far back as the time of the Ancient Greeks. A good example of this, is a woman named Aglaonike, a philosopher of the Ancient Greek Era. She is one of the earliest known women in astronomy, and is known for being able to predict eclipses. At this time, people with such knowledge were seen through fearful eyes since they had knowledge of what was unknown. She was seen less as a philosopher, and more as a powerful sorceress for knowing such things. She was known enough at the time that she was even mentioned by the great Plato in his writings, but where is she today in modern teachings of astrology and philosophy?  

So why is it that we don't know about her? Why do we give all credit to men for all great discoveries, that were originally made by women? I think it's time we do some reevaluating in our textbooks, and start adding the many powerful women that added in uncovering the mysteries of our vast universe. 

Works Cited: 

Watts, Ruth. "Gender, science and modernity in seventeenth-century England." Paedagogica Historica. 2005. 41, 

        1, 79-93. 

"4,000 Years of Women in Science." University of Alabama Arts and Sciences: Department for Physics and                        Astonomy. 1999-2008. 24 October 2008. < http://www.astr.ua.edu/4000WS/timelist.shtml >