Okay – I’m ‘just’ an amateur astronomer (and I even had to get used to that ‘title’ when the newspapers first wrote it), but I contribute to astronomy. And I’m a woman. So, now I’m supporting the ‘She’s an astronomer’ project.
The aim of ‘She is an astronomer’ is to address the issue around gender imbalance in astronomy and zookeeper Karen had the idea of interviewing woman – professionals and amateurs – who are involved in Galaxy Zoo, to participate in promoting gender equality.
She interviewed a group by e-mailing us and the first results of that are already on the Galaxy Zoo Blog. It is going to be a frequently returning item, where at least every month one woman will stand in the spotlight. I had the honours of being first to see my profile and answers in that light.
And I recommend to stay tuned…
5 Comments
Thanks to all for the nice responses on that site!
Great piece HH. Very cool. And great start to that series
Hoi hanny,
It’s about time….!! I have always wondered why on earth women seem to be so absent in the world of both amateur and professional astronomy.
When I joined our local astro-society, a long time ago, there were simply no girls at all…..and at present our society counting 70 members, I believe only two (!!) are women.
OK, we have almost unraveled all the big secrets in cosmology….but..ah…only one still seems to be unsolved….and that’s the problem of the “missing female mass”!!
Are we, stargazing guys, all considered a bunch of “male chauvinist pigs” or…is astronomy really still just a pastime for nerdy blokes who would rather marry their telescope than fraternize with the opposite sex??
Anyway…..for whatever reason there indeed still seems to be, even nowadays, this (unsolvable??) huge gender imbalance.
The strange thing is that astronomy nontheless does have seen quite a few very famous woman astronomers…..like Caroline Herschell for instance….the should be famous sister of the chap who discovered Uranus.!
And now we have YOU!!….and…ah..take it from me..Hanny, you’ve got all the PR-qualities needed to solve that stupid “missing female mass” problem!!
And also don’t forget that one immensly famous guy by the name of Patrick Moore is also “just an amateur astronomer”……but what an Amateur astronomer!!
So Do us (the male astronomers) a favour and become just as famous and “gravitate in” all these “missing women”…..We, stargazings guys, are so longing for that tidalwave of girls armed to the teeth with astronomy books and telescopes!!!
Have fun in Middelburg!
Thanks!
Dit interview is er nu ook in het Nederlands! (This interview is now also available in Dutch!)
http://www.galaxyzooblog.org/2009/12/11/zij-is-een-astronoom-hanny-van-arkel/
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