Women have been astronomers since forever, but they have needed to be made of iron. Vera C. Rubin, who got her Ph.D. in 1954, was advised in school to stay away from science. She kept going anyway by telling herself she was just different from other people. She did her graduate studies where her husband’s job took them, raised children and then got a position where she was the only woman.
It has been more than half a century since Rubin attained her Ph.D. — we’re in a whole new millennium now. Has astronomy changed for the women in its ranks? Or have the women in its ranks changed astronomy?
In the April 2022 issue of Scientific American, Ann Finkbeiner profiled more than a dozen women who graduated with Ph.D.s in astronomy since 2000, including our own Sarah Tuttle, deputy director for science payloads and high altitude balloons.
Read the full article: Women Are Creating a New Culture for Astronomy. Scientific American; April 2022.
More Sarah Tuttle in the news
- For half a decade now, influential young scientists have denounced NASA’s decision to name its deep-space telescope after James E. Webb, who led the space agency to the cusp of the 1969 moon landing. Webb, critics insist, was a homophobe who oversaw a purge of gay employees. The controversy cuts to the core of who is worthy to memorialize and how past human accomplishment should be balanced with modern standards of social justice. Sarah Tuttle, assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is mentioned.
- A new generation of scientists is challenging the biased, hierarchical status quo in astronomy. The UW's Jessica Werk, associate professor of astronomy, and Sarah Tuttle, assistant professor of astronomy, are quoted.
- The James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to Hubble, is mired in controversy over its namesake. Sarah Tuttle, assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.
- The long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in December. But the NASA official for whom it is named has been accused of homophobia. Sarah Tuttle, assistant professor of astronomy at the UW, is quoted.