As anyone who reads Siliconrepublic.com regularly will know, diversity, equality and the promotion of women in STEM is a subject that we regularly champion.
So, we were tickled when we saw that a Twitter user called @Daurmith had caused a bit of a stir by tweeting bios of famous male scientists as if they had been written about women scientists.
The tweets had originally been written in Spanish but when Daurmith saw the interest they were inspiring he translated them into English.
I started to write small bios of famous (male) scientists as they’d be written had they been women.
— Daurmith (@Daurmith) January 30, 2016
By paying homage to the male scientists’ looks, personalities and marital statuses, Daurmith managed to highlight perfectly the sort of writing professional women are subject to all the time.
«Pierre Curie, married and proud father of two, found time for love and family during his short scientific career.»
— Daurmith (@Daurmith) January 30, 2016
«A devout husband and father, Darwin balanced his family duties with the study of the specimes he brought from his travels.»
— Daurmith (@Daurmith) January 30, 2016
«His dour personality made everyone think he’d never marry. Even so, Schrödinger got a wife and a Nobel Prize."
— Daurmith (@Daurmith) January 30, 2016
And the tweets inspired others to get involved.
.@Daurmith Can I play? "A shrewish harridan on Twitter, Richard Dawkins wrote important books before he married the third time."
— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) January 30, 2016
.@Daurmith Surviving the tragic death of his first wife, the creative and wandering genius Thomas Edison would find love and marry again.
— Ali Branscombe (@alibranscombe) February 1, 2016
.@gsciencelady @Daurmith Despite Einstein's unkempt hair and unusual wardrobe choices, he is lauded for his theory of relativity today.
— Adam Lauretig (@lauretig) February 1, 2016
Daurmith told Buzzfeed he was inspired to write the tweets when he was “a bit irked” to read a piece about British poet Sarah Howes, who had just won the TS Eliot Prize, which he felt focused more on her looks than her poetry.
“I got to thinking about that and about all the other times I’ve seen articles written about notable women in which their looks/makeup secrets/wardrobe advice were discussed, sometimes instead of – not besides – her work.”
Yup. An excellent point well made.
If you want to see some great women scientists – and women involved in tech – being celebrated for their achievements, then you should check out our Women Invent section.
Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic.com’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.
Image of Pierre and Marie Curie via Shutterstock