Sunday, October 9, 2011

Counting the women

     The stimulus for this posting appeared a few weeks ago in the Washington Post -- in an article that considers the loneliness of women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, math). 
     For me, it was never a conscious thing -- the counting.  It simply happened.  The numbers are small and you know, if you are a woman and a mathematician in a room full of mathematicians, how many women are in the room.  Any room.  It is a small counting number.  Sometimes it is 1

     When  I  look  around
     the room  --  if I don't
     know in one glance how
     many women are
     there with me, I smile.       (5 x 5 syllable-square poem by JoAnne Growney)

During this month of October, many television stations across the country are celebrating the life and work of an outstanding mathematician of the 20th century, Julia Robinson -- and here are links to information about the film and its broadcast schedule

Related to this post and of possible interest is the 6 December 2010 posting,  "Are all mathematicians equal? "

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