Only 17 female scientists have won the Nobel Prize, why?

Although they only account for 3% of the winners, they have made great contributions in the field of science and human health care.

Since it was founded in 1901 until now, the Nobel Prize - a global symbol of intelligence, has only 17 award-winning women in the fields of science. This number only accounts for 3% of the winners, why?

Christophe André, a psychiatrist at Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, shared his views on this issue on the Scientific American page.

Marie Curie is the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (in 1903), also the only one to have won 2 Nobel Prizes in 2 different fields - (Photo: Getty Images).

Due to social prejudice

According to Christophe André, there are at least 3 reasons.The first is the obstacle of subjective distinctions but quite common in ancient society when women always ranked second in men after men and often prevented them from coming to science.

In Western countries, this has more or less ended today, but the sequela it leaves is still a natural thing.

Although girls have more and more opportunities to approach the world of science, it still takes several generations before they can reach higher rates on par with men in the field of science. study or politics.

The second is a stereotypical stereotype about women in the eyes of men, something that nowhere else in the world can disappear completely. A survey in 2015 suggested that 67% of men believed that women were not smart enough to become top scientists.

Medal of the Nobel Prize - (Photo: AFP).

At the same time, the cause also comes from a part of the orientation of parents and teachers advising girls not to follow this field.

However, the most worrisome thing is the third obstacle and the underlying barrier : women's subjective thinking about their own role, leading to most of them limit themselves and withdraw themselves. from areas like science or politics.

This phenomenon, known as " stereotype threat ," is very common in society. American researchers proved this in 1995 regarding the issue of African Americans.

Specifically, when assigned intelligence-demanding tasks to solve, African-Americans accomplished as well as white people except when they were included in a group of both blacks and whites and I was told in advance that I would take a smart test.

That seemingly harmless message has evoked images of racism in blacks when they are generally invested less intellectually than whites. Due to obsession with this thought, a significant number of blacks performed poorly on the test.

Scientists believe that the same phenomenon happens with girls in computing or technical skills when compared to boys.

Ms. Maria Goeppert-Mayer (USA) won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1963.

This phenomenon is quite common, although these harsh and harsh prejudices are often misunderstood by society, which leads to mistakes in the evaluation of women. For example, from the fact that "there are few female scientists" , many believe that women are not good at science by men.

Another example, if based on body size, women's brain size is smaller than that of a man (1.130 cm ³ in women compared to 1,260 cm ³ compared to men) and this is often used to compare intelligence between the sexes.

However, scientifically, there is no conclusion about this, because we all know that big or small brains do not really affect efficiency. Typically, Einstein only has a normal size brain.

Eliminate stereotyping to pursue passion

Ada E. Yonath (Israel) received the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - (Photo: Zimbio).

In the United States in the 1970s, boys and girls in elementary school showed the same level of math. Then, starting at age 12, boys tend to do better.

Thirty years later, following feminist freedoms and calling for equality, a new study has been conducted on 7 million students, showing that gender differences have almost diminished in the subject. learn this.

At the same time, many other studies also show that the level of balance between men and women has increased, especially the achievement of mathematics of both sexes can gradually compete with each other.

In addition, today, female students are no longer afraid of advanced courses, although many of them choose applied science such as medicine or biology rather than somewhat abstract directions. Other like math or physics.

Ms. May-Britt Moser (Norway) received the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine - (Photo: ntnu.edu).

The old conceptions of the greater intelligence of men are being removed and fighting with higher frequency shows one thing we are on the right track of development. However, women need to recognize their inherent inferiority about "stereotypical fear" and eliminate them to pursue passion.

Women who are passionate about science can get the motivation from female scientists who have won the Nobel Prize, especially Marie Curie (French of Polish origin): the only one who has won 2 Nobel Prizes in 2 different fields ( one for Physics in 1903, one for Chemistry in 1911).

Nearly 2,500 years ago, the Egyptian mathematician and philosopher Hypatia was murdered under the bishop's orders of Alexandria. According to the bishop, Hypatia has too many unacceptable things in contemporary society: being a smart female scientist and not Christian.

However this is not the only case. In many societies since ancient times, people value men more and have done many ways to prevent women from accessing knowledge and power.

This only diminished in the Renaissance, when women were gradually allowed, then encouraged to pursue studies like men. However, the journey was still quite long and still seems quite difficult to this day.

List of female Nobel Prize winners:

1. 1903: Marie Skłodowska Curie (Poland and France) Physics Nobel / Year 1911: Marie Skłodowska Curie (Poland and France) Chemical Nobel
2. 1935: Irène Joliot-Curie (France) Nobel Prize in chemistry
3. 1947: Gerty Theresa Cori (USA) Nobel medicine
4. 1963: Maria Goeppert-Mayer (US) Nobel physics
5. 1964: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (USA) Nobel Prize in chemistry
6. 1977: Rosalyn Sussman Yalow (US) Nobel medicine
7. 1983: Barbara McClintock (USA) Nobel medicine
8. 1986: Rita Levi-Montalcini (Italian and American) Nobel medicine
9. 1988: Gertrude B. Elion (USA) Nobel medicine
10. 1995: Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (Germany) Nobel medicine
11. 2004: Linda B. Buck (US) Nobel medicine
12. 2008: Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (France) Nobel medicine
13. 2009: Elizabeth Blackburn (Australia and America) Nobel medicine
14. 2009: Carol W. Greider (US) Nobel medicine
15. 2009: Ada E. Yonath (Israel) Chemical Nobel
16. 2014: May-Britt Moser (Norway) Nobel medicine
17. 2015: Tu Youyou (China) Noel medicine

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