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In a cramped Harvard University sub-basement, a team of women is working to document the rich history of women astronomers.
More than 40 years before women gained the right to vote, female "computers" at Harvard College Observatory were making major astronomical discoveries.
Between 1885 and 1927, the observatory employed about 80 women who studied glass plate photographs of the stars. They found galaxies and nebulas and created methods to measure distance in space.
They were famous - newspapers wrote about them, they published scientific papers under their own names. But they were virtually forgotten during the next century.
But a recent discovery of thousands of pages of their calculations by a modern group of women has spurred new interest in their legacy.
A worthy effort, though the correct term for "female 'computer'" is "femputer", at least according to Futurama.
(Score: 4, Funny) by rts008 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:35AM (3 children)
I would advise avoiding magnets for a while, after that comment!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:49AM (1 child)
There's no irony involved. It isn't society separating out leftists. It's the opposite: leftists intentionally separate out themselves from the rest of society. It's yet another example of the division they intentionally create. Society is united until leftists come along and first separate themselves out from everybody else, and then the leftists separate everybody else into smaller groups based on irrelevant attributes.
Science is one of the most inclusive things there is. Anyone can be a scientist. All it involves is seeking knowledge through experimentation and observation. Science is about unification, cooperation, and growing our knowledge together.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @01:29AM
Me thinks you've had one too many huffs from the science bag my friend.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:45AM
Hardly. This [youtube.com] clip from Morgan Freeman is incredibly insightful, and also realistic.
This article has very little to do with the merit of what was achieved. The reason it's being brought up is exclusively because it's something that women did. This is insulting and humiliating to women that have achieved things on their own merit. For instance calling Morgan Freeman an incredible black actor is implicitly suggesting that he's an incredible actor by the lowered standards of black actors. He is an incredible actor. Period. And it has nothing to do with the group that's being referenced. For instance calling Larry Bird and incredible white basketball player has the exact same connotation. And once again, no. He was an incredible basketball player - period. Marie Curie. Incredible female scientist? No, incredible scientist.
These labels we're attaching are discriminatory. And even worse is what we're now doing with them. 15 years ago if I was attending a conference with a [insert group name] speaker I wouldn't think twice about it. They'd be held to the exact same standards as anybody else. Now the far left is increasingly pushing for equality not of opportunity, but of result. Consequently the standards for [insert group name] are being lowered. And that in turn makes me, an individual who has absolutely 0 regard for race/gender/creed/ethos/etc, increasingly reluctant to attend conferences with large numbers of [insert group name] simply because they tend to be of a lower standard. It's ironic. In an attempt to counter quixotic discrimination, people are creating real, though justifiable, discrimination. So congratulations I suppose. The windmills are coming to life!