Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell. Image: An Post
The stamps are designed by Detail, a design studio in Dublin, while the portraits are created by artist Steve Doogan.
Earlier this week An Post released two limited edition postage stamps featuring pioneering Irish women scientists, acknowledging the achievements and challenges faced by women in STEM.
Featured on the stamps released just ahead of International Women’s Day tomorrow (8 March) are Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astrophysicist behind the 1967 discovery of the first radio pulsars and Prof Aoife McLysaght, one of the world’s leading geneticists and the chair of evolutionary genetics in Trinity College Dublin (TCD).
Prof Bell Burnell’s discovery of pulsars received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974, but at the time, her male supervisor, Antony Hewish and Sir Martin Ryle received the award instead.
In 2018, when Bell received the Breakthrough Prize for her discovery of radio pulsars, she donated the €3m cash prize in its entirety to ensure access to science education for underrepresented groups. While in 2021, she was awarded the Copley Medal, the world’s oldest scientific prize.
“I am honoured and delighted to have a stamp issue in my honour; thank you An Post,” Bell said.
While, as a professor of genetics at TCD, McLysaght has managed a cumulative research income from competitive awards of more than €5.5m.
She is a frequent contributor to radio discussions, live TV panels, science programmes, newspapers and online content. Late last year, she was appointed as a science advisor to the Irish Government.
Prof Aoife McLysaght
“I am deeply honoured and humbled to be featured in this special stamp series alongside Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, a true pioneer in astrophysics,” McLysaght said.
“It is wonderful to see An Post celebrating the contributions of Irish women in STEM, even if the two stamps represent just a small sample of the vast body of amazing work to choose from.
“Each person brings a unique perspective, and these stamps help highlight the value of diversity in STEM. I hope these stamps inspire future generations of women to pursue careers in STEM and to know that their contributions are valued and recognised.”
Figures from 2018 show that only a quarter of those working in STEM industries in Ireland were women – a number that has only marginally improved in recent years. While the numbers are even worse for women at the senior executive level in the sector. Moreover, 2020 data showed that men in Ireland are still paid 10pc more than women.
The stamps released this week are designed by Detail, a design studio in Dublin, and portraits of each scientist were created by artist Steve Doogan, alongside graphics representing their fields of expertise and achievements – a radio telescope and a classic double DNA helix with a diagram of the molecule.
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless, TD, unveiled these stamps on 5 March and in his statement, he highlighted the importance of recognising the vital role women have played in the STEM sector, which has often gone underreported.
He said that this is an “important aspect of the ongoing work of supporting gender balance across STEM disciplines, ensuring that all our research and innovation talent has the scope to see and realise their full potential”.
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