Todos os dias o desenvolvimento tecnológico e as novas descobertas científicas tornam a vida humana mais prática, automatizada e confortável.
Because of these researches and innovations, we were able to increase human life expectancy through medicine, bring humanity to the moon, communicate with people on the other side of the planet in seconds, and many other unbelievable and fascinating things.
In today's post we will talk about the impact of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) in our lives and how women have used these areas of knowledge to change the world.
Do you want to understand more about the participation and trajectory of women in STEAM? Just keep reading!
Revolutionary Women
Even though they are a minority, women have always been involved in science and technology.
To prove this to you, we brought you some examples of women who, over the centuries, have revolutionized the world.
Hypatia of Alexandria (360 – 415)
Considered the first female mathematician, Hypatia managed to do what was not usually seen in antiquity, a woman attracting men from other regions to listen to her teachings.
During her life, she studied astronomy, religion, poetry, arts and exact sciences and left works of her mathematical studies and inventions, such as the astrolabe, as a legacy.
Unfortunately, almost all of her works were lost during the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. One of the few survivors was the book “Astronomical Canon”, and because she was cited by other authors, we know that she wrote several other works.
In 2009, the movie “Ágora” was released, which narrates her trajectory in detail. If you are interested in knowing more about her, how about taking a look?!
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799)
She was an Italian mathematician, linguist and philosopher. Since she was a child, she demonstrated to be very advanced for her age.
At 13, she already mastered 7 languages: Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Spanish and German. By the age of 14, she was already able to solve extensive problems involving geometry.
Even though she mastered many areas of knowledge, her passion and greatest achievements were in the area of mathematics.
She is recognized primarily for her two-volume work entitled “INSTITUZIONI ANALITICHE”, which covers algebra, trigonometry, analytic geometry, calculus and differential equations.
Because of one of these books, the Cartesian curve x²y + a²y =a³ is now known as the "Witch of Agnesi”.
To learn more about Maria's life and other important mathematicians, we recommend you to read the book “The history of Hypatia and many other mathematicians” (to access it, just click on the link).
Ada Lovelace (1815 – 1852)
From a very young age, she was always in love with mathematics. Ada became the world's first female programmer and is now considered the mother of programming.
At the age of 12, fascinated by mechanical engineering, she wrote a book on this subject and titled it “Flyology”, where she also placed illustrations of her own projects.
Her greatest achievement was, for sure, her Analytical Machine project, developed together with the scientist Charles Babbage. Unfortunately, she didn't live long enough to see her machine completed and her algorithm put into practice.
But in 1953, after her death, her notes were published and her project was considered the first computer model in history.
Hedy Lamarr (1914 – 2000)
Another woman who helped revolutionize the world was Hedy Lamarr, who for a long time was recognized only for her acting career.
In addition to shining on screen, she was also a talented inventor. Her greatest achievement was the discovery of wireless communication. At that time, it prevented military radios from being tapped.
Even though she has patented it, other people started to develop technologies based on her design, without giving her any credits.
In 2000, a researcher unveiled an original patent and she won the Electronic Frontier Foundation Award.
Withouther, today we wouldn't have things like WI-FI, Bluetooth and GPS.
Mary Winston Jackson (1921 – 2005)
Graduated first in mathematics and physics, and years later in space engineering, Mary was NASA's first black woman engineer. She was present and studied hard in the construction of the first spacecrafts launched into space.
Throughout her career, she has focused her researches on wind tunnels and data analysis from experimental aircraft, an area in which she was the author and co-author of several articles.
But, all of her work was only really recognized in 2016, when the movie “Stars Beyond Time”, which honored her and colleagues Dorothy Vaughn and Katherine Johnson, came out.
I think we have managed to show you a little bit of the importance of women throughout history, right?!
In case you're curious to meet more amazing women, here's a list of other women who are well worth researching and having their research recognized.
- Joan Clarke;
- Grace Hopper;
- Johanna Döbereiner;
- Mary Keller;
- Ruth Sonntag Nussenzweig;
- Karen Spärck;
- Margaret Hamilton;
- Radia Perlman;
- Edith Clarke;
Among many others!
Conclusion
Even doing impressive things, as it can be seen in the examples given above, the number of women involved with STEAM is still very small.
Currently, only 25% of women in the world work in technology areas. In Brazil we face an even worse reality, only 15%.
And it's time for us to change this!
FIRST is one of the tools for change, showing us, girls, from an early age, that these areas are ours too!
So, if you still don't have much contact with technology and want to start having it, how about getting to know FIRST's projects and participating in some of them?
There are several girls who are interested in these areas, but choose not to study or pursue a career due to the obstacles that they have to face.
If you are a girl and are interested in being an engineer, math, programmer, scientist, never let anyone say you can't, because we can!
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