women in Science

The world has evolved so much within the last century and human life style marks one example of tremendous change. The revolution in the world of technology and electronic accessories is incredibly impressive. Moore’s law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two tears. Thus, machines have become faster and smaller.

Although Intel announced in 2012 that the ‘Exponential growth’ rate has slowed down, the fast pace growth will continue for many more years. As the speed of the machine increased, the pattern of human life and thinking advanced. In this progress women’s contribution is nothing less than men. Along with men, women deserve the same credit and honour for their service. I would like to mention a few women, who have contributed in areas traditionally considered as the arena of men.

Today, we are very much dependent upon GPS. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The incredible mind behind secure Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth is of a woman, Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian born actress. Because of her great contribution in the field of invention, we are comfortably able to operate many devices. The list of women pioneers and contributors like Hedy Lamar is endless.

Not only in the fields of science but very much in the fields of business, arts and industry. The financial dependency of several families is upon the strong hold of female shoulder. They have moved from the level of microfinance to the level of entrepreneur. And at present girls are not left behind, they are proving that they have the potential and capability to achieve success in all the fields.

Elinor Ostrum, an American political economist, received Nobel in Economic Sciences for her analysis of “Economic governance especially by the commons.” She challenged the conventional wisdom by demonstrating how local property can be successfully managed by local Commons without any regulation by central authorities or privatization. It rejected the common sensical view among the economists than natural resources that were collectively used by their users would be over-exploited and destroyed in the long term.

The entire field of software depends upon programming. It’s quite simple to press one button of our Mobile Phones, computer or other electronic gadgets, and the actions happens very smoothly. A lot of calculations, analysis and judgements are part of the complex algorithms. Ada Lovelace is the first one to convert the commands into the form of algorithm, which is later known as program. Many regards her as the first person to recognize the potential of initial computers beyond calculation.

India has Dr. Tessy Thomas, one of the many jewels, is considered as the missile woman of India. She was the first ever women to head a missile project in India. Recently, after NITI Aayog’s tweet about Tessy’s speech at Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2017) went viral, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said, “Tessy deserves to be more famous than the biggest Bollywood star. A poster of Tessy in every Indian school will wreck stereotypes and create enormous career aspirations for girls.”

In spite of all the prejudices and lack of opportunities, many women have achieved greatness and that speaks a lot. Many have defied the dominance and overcame oppressive structures. The time have for all the women to aim higher and invest more, for the global economy desperately need their contribution.

Plato would say, “if women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.” And we must give them the equal opportunities to grow and flourish and to make their contributions for a better world.