Women in Chemistry
Series: Distillations - The Chemistry Podcast
From: Chemical Heritage Foundation
Length: 00:12:27
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- Women in Chemistry
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- Chemical Heritage Foundation
Breaking through the glass ceiling can be tough, especially when you are a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field. This week?s episode takes a look at women in chemistry. First, we learn about the brave physicist after whom meitnerium is named. Then we talk with Donna Nelson, a chemistry professor and spokeswoman for women in the sciences. Finally, producer Catherine Girardeau shares an interview with her grandmother, a dietary researcher credited with changing the eating habits of Americans in the mid-20th century. Element of the Week: Meitnerium.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Breaking through the glass ceiling can be tough, especially when you are a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field. This week?s episode takes a look at women in chemistry. First, we learn about the brave physicist after whom meitnerium is named. Then we talk with Donna Nelson, a chemistry professor and spokeswoman for women in the sciences. Finally, producer Catherine Girardeau shares an interview with her grandmother, a dietary researcher credited with changing the eating habits of Americans in the mid-20th century. Element of the Week: Meitnerium.
Broadcast History
Distributed as podcast 9/26/08.
Transcript
DISTILLATIONS EPISODE 41: WOMEN IN CHEMISTRY
0:00 UP THEME MUSIC
Hello, and welcome to Distillations ? weekly extracts from the past, present and future of chemistry. I?m Meir Rinde. On today?s show we?re uncovering the history of women in chemistry. We?ll learn how women have long filled the invisible ranks in industrial labs, and we?ll talk with a scientist who?s trying to level the playing field.
That?s all coming up on today?s episode of Distillations. [:30 with music]
MONOLOGUE
Ellen Swallow Richards was the first women admitted to MIT and the first woman to receive a chemistry degree in the United States. But she isn?t generally remembered as a chemist. Instead, she?s celebrated as the founder of home economics. Historian Margaret Rossiter cites many examples like this in her 1982 book on women?s historical role in the sciences. She shows that contrary to popular be...
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Timing and Cues
00:00 Opening Credits
00:30 Introduction
01:19 Element of the Week: Meitnerium
03:21 A Conversation with Donna Nelson
07:30 Feature: The Career of Helen B. Brown
11:31 Quote: Abigail Adams
11:43 Closing Credits
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