Izay Ayesha describes an
inexplicable neglect
Five women who should have won a Nobel Prize is decisively tilted towards males and in many years it is noticed that the prizes, particularly in disciplines of medicine, physics and chemistry, contain no female winners such as 2021. Critics detect evidence of systemic bias in science, with women already less likely to be given credit or named as lead author on scientific papers despite more and more women participating in scientific research. However, others say that 2021 was a blip in a broadly positive trend, pointing to a lag effect that results from the Nobel committee typically honoring advances that happened three or four decades ago, when there were fewer women in senior positions in scientific fields.
Two decades ago it would be rare that the committee would find a woman to designate as a citation laureate but now more women are included in the top ranks of researchers but they are still few and far between. In 2020, two women, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of the CRISPR method for genome editing while Andrea Ghez was part of a trio that won the prize in physics for discovery of a super-massive black hole. Winners in 2019, when the Nobel committee asked nominators to consider diversity in gender, geography and field were all men while 2018 saw the first female winner for physics since 1963, Donna Strickland.
It is notoriously tricky to predict who will win a Nobel Prize as the short list is secret, as are the nominators and documents revealing the details of the selection process are sealed from public view for 50 years. However, there is no shortage of worthy female candidates to be the next science laureates. In this context it is noted that many deserving female scientists have missed out in winning the prestigious honour despite life-changing discoveries they have made.
Dr. Mary-Claire King the American geneticist identified a gene that increases vulnerability to breast cancer in its mutated form. In the 1970s, while it was understood that cancer sometimes ran in families, cancer research was focused on viruses. With a background in researching the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees, Dr. Mary-Claire King, now a professor of medicine and of genome sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, took a fresh approach. She discovered the role a mutation of the BRCA1 gene played in breast and ovarian cancer. The discovery enabled genetic testing that can identify women who are at increased risk of breast cancer, as well as steps to reduce their risk, such as additional screening and preventive surgeries.
Dr. Katalin Kariko played a key role in the development mRNA vaccines. She as a senior vice president at BioNTech based in Germany and won a 2021 Lasker award an honour which is often seen as a precursor to the Nobel prize. Along with Drew Weissman, a professor in vaccine research at the University of Pennsylvania, she pioneered a method of using synthetic messenger RNA to fight disease that involves changing the way the body produces virus-fighting material. While their paper received little attention when first published in 2005, their research is now the basis of two widely used Covid-19 vaccines.
Acclaimed Northern Irish astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the pulsar, a puzzling astronomical phenomenon, as a postgraduate student at Cambridge University. However, it was her supervisor Antony Hewish, who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1974, who got credit for the discovery. In interviews, Bell Burnell has been magnanimous about being overlooked saying she was proud the stars she observed had convinced the prize committee. In 2018, she was awarded a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for which she received 2.3 million pounds. She donated the money toward helping people from underrepresented groups become physicists.
Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, a professor at Stanford University, has pioneered a new field called bio-orthogonal chemistry which focuses on chemical reactions within living cells that can be conducted without interfering in innate cellular processes. She sought to understand why cells are coated in sugar and how these sugar molecules contribute to conditions such as cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection. Modifying these cells through bio-orthogonal chemistry has led to new ways to treat many diseases. She won the Wolf’s Prize for chemistry and is also an active campaigner for LGBT rights.
Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston dedicated much of her life to understanding sickle cell disease, an inherited condition in which the body is unable to produce normal hemoglobin. Affecting children, it results in tissue damage, causing weakness and even death. Gaston became interested in the condition while interning at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1964. In 1986, she published the results of a groundbreaking national study that proved the effectiveness of giving children with sickle cell disease long-term penicillin treatment to prevent septic infections resulting from the disease. As a result of Gaston’s work, every child is screened for sickle cell disease at birth. She was also the first African American to direct the US Bureau of Primary Health Care. TW
Five women who should have won a Nobel Prize
ByIzay Ayesha
linguistics
Dated
December 17, 2022
Izay Ayesha describes an
inexplicable neglect
Five women who should have won a Nobel Prize is decisively tilted towards males and in many years it is noticed that the prizes, particularly in disciplines of medicine, physics and chemistry, contain no female winners such as 2021. Critics detect evidence of systemic bias in science, with women already less likely to be given credit or named as lead author on scientific papers despite more and more women participating in scientific research. However, others say that 2021 was a blip in a broadly positive trend, pointing to a lag effect that results from the Nobel committee typically honoring advances that happened three or four decades ago, when there were fewer women in senior positions in scientific fields.
Two decades ago it would be rare that the committee would find a woman to designate as a citation laureate but now more women are included in the top ranks of researchers but they are still few and far between. In 2020, two women, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of the CRISPR method for genome editing while Andrea Ghez was part of a trio that won the prize in physics for discovery of a super-massive black hole. Winners in 2019, when the Nobel committee asked nominators to consider diversity in gender, geography and field were all men while 2018 saw the first female winner for physics since 1963, Donna Strickland.
It is notoriously tricky to predict who will win a Nobel Prize as the short list is secret, as are the nominators and documents revealing the details of the selection process are sealed from public view for 50 years. However, there is no shortage of worthy female candidates to be the next science laureates. In this context it is noted that many deserving female scientists have missed out in winning the prestigious honour despite life-changing discoveries they have made.
Dr. Mary-Claire King the American geneticist identified a gene that increases vulnerability to breast cancer in its mutated form. In the 1970s, while it was understood that cancer sometimes ran in families, cancer research was focused on viruses. With a background in researching the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees, Dr. Mary-Claire King, now a professor of medicine and of genome sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, took a fresh approach. She discovered the role a mutation of the BRCA1 gene played in breast and ovarian cancer. The discovery enabled genetic testing that can identify women who are at increased risk of breast cancer, as well as steps to reduce their risk, such as additional screening and preventive surgeries.
Dr. Katalin Kariko played a key role in the development mRNA vaccines. She as a senior vice president at BioNTech based in Germany and won a 2021 Lasker award an honour which is often seen as a precursor to the Nobel prize. Along with Drew Weissman, a professor in vaccine research at the University of Pennsylvania, she pioneered a method of using synthetic messenger RNA to fight disease that involves changing the way the body produces virus-fighting material. While their paper received little attention when first published in 2005, their research is now the basis of two widely used Covid-19 vaccines.
Acclaimed Northern Irish astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered the pulsar, a puzzling astronomical phenomenon, as a postgraduate student at Cambridge University. However, it was her supervisor Antony Hewish, who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1974, who got credit for the discovery. In interviews, Bell Burnell has been magnanimous about being overlooked saying she was proud the stars she observed had convinced the prize committee. In 2018, she was awarded a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for which she received 2.3 million pounds. She donated the money toward helping people from underrepresented groups become physicists.
Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, a professor at Stanford University, has pioneered a new field called bio-orthogonal chemistry which focuses on chemical reactions within living cells that can be conducted without interfering in innate cellular processes. She sought to understand why cells are coated in sugar and how these sugar molecules contribute to conditions such as cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection. Modifying these cells through bio-orthogonal chemistry has led to new ways to treat many diseases. She won the Wolf’s Prize for chemistry and is also an active campaigner for LGBT rights.
Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston dedicated much of her life to understanding sickle cell disease, an inherited condition in which the body is unable to produce normal hemoglobin. Affecting children, it results in tissue damage, causing weakness and even death. Gaston became interested in the condition while interning at Philadelphia General Hospital in 1964. In 1986, she published the results of a groundbreaking national study that proved the effectiveness of giving children with sickle cell disease long-term penicillin treatment to prevent septic infections resulting from the disease. As a result of Gaston’s work, every child is screened for sickle cell disease at birth. She was also the first African American to direct the US Bureau of Primary Health Care. TW
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