March 2008
March 5, 2008
You’re probably aware of Hillary Clinton’s current bid to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States but,
DID YOU KNOW…
In 2000, Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first “First Lady” ever elected to national office.
March 6, 2008
We all know that popular culture can reveal, reflect, and even shape how society views mathematics. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The following recent movies and television shows feature portrayals of mathematically talented female characters, but not always in a balanced presentation:
- FUTURAMA- Amy Wong is an engineering student at Mars University, who is doing her internship at the Plant Express Interstellar Delivery Company in New York, but she rarely contributes to the scientific discussions.
- MEAN GIRLS- The main character in this movie struggles to balance her mathematical talent with social pressures and her attempts at being popular, so she pretends to be bad at math in order to impress a boy.
- THE SIMPSONS- While Lisa is definitely not portrayed as the most popular girl in school, she is a mathematically talented character that many find very likeable.
- PROOF- The main character in this movie struggles with the possibility of becoming a mathematician. When she shows work to a friend, people question whether she was really the author.
March 7, 2008
On July 3, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the act included a prohibition against discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The inclusion of sex was a result of action taken by women's rights activist Congresswoman Martha Griffiths (D-MI), with the unwitting assistance of southern members of Congress who had hoped that including sex would keep the Act from being passed altogether.
March 10, 2008
A total of 19 people have attempted to ride Niagara Falls in a barrel or other contraptions. Six were stopped before they could try it. Nine made the fall and lived to tell of it. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The first person to make the daring attempt (successfully, I might add) was a forty-three year old schoolteacher from Michigan named Annie Edison Taylor on October 24, 1901.
March 11, 2008
The gender gap is a powerful tool for the feminist movement which demonstrates that women are a formidable force in national politics, and has put women and women's issues on the political agenda. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The gender gap was first identified and popularized in 1980 by Feminist Majority Foundation President ELEANOR SMEAL who, as President of the National Organization for Women, noted an 8% difference between men's and women's support for Ronald Reagan in his election over Jimmy Carter. Since 1980, the gender gap has become a staple of modern election analysis.
March 12, 2008
Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was an Academy Award-winning Canadian motion picture star, as well as one of the first Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood and one of film's greatest pioneers. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
Mary was also a co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pickford earned the right not only to act in her own movies, but to produce them and (through the creation of United Artists) control their distribution. She was also the first actress to receive more than a million dollars per year.
March 13, 2008
Astronomer and physicist, JOCELYN BELL BURNELL is credited with discovering a new kind of star in our Milky Way galaxy. What she discovered were “pulsars”, which are dense, spinning stars that send out radio waves as they rotate, much like lighthouse beacons. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
Jocelyn’s graduate school advisor, Dr. Anthony Hewish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974 for the discovery of pulsars, a prize that Dr. Burnell did not share because she was a graduate student at the time of the discovery.
March 14, 2008
Shortly after the Civil War, Congress authorized the establishment of all-black military units, paving the way for creation of the Army’s “Buffalo Soldiers” But,
DID YOU KNOW…
Cathay Williams, in 1866, enlisted in the U.S. Army as a man (William Cathay) and joined the 38th U.S. Infantry, Company “A”, thus becoming the first and only known female Buffalo Soldier. At the time of her enlistment, women were not allowed to serve as soldiers, but medical exams were not required so she was able to get away with the disguise. Ms. Williams was honorably discharged in 1868.
March 18, 2008
You may be aware that some of the first computer programmers were women (i.e. Ada Lovelace) But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The first MODERN programmers were also women! When the Army agreed to fund an experimental project, the first all-electronic digital computer, six women were selected in 1945 to be its first programmers. They were Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli, Jean Jennings Bartik, Frances Snyder Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Frances Bilas Spence and Ruth Lichterman Teitelbaum.
(The ENIAC programmers: http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac.php)
March 19, 2008
You may be aware that WILMA RUDOLPH was the first American woman to win 3 Gold Medals in the Olympics (1960 in Rome) but,
DID YOU KNOW…
There was one "first" accomplishment that was more special to Wilma than any of the others. Wilma insisted that her homecoming parade in Clarksville, Tennessee not be a segregated event as was the usual custom. Her victory parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in the town. And that night, the banquet the townspeople held in her honor was the first time in Clarksville's history that blacks and whites had ever gathered together for the same event.
March 20, 2008
Women from all around the world have participated in professional athletics for hundreds of years, but
DID YOU KNOW…
LORENA OCHOA became the #1 ranked golfer on the LPGA Tour in 2007, becoming the first Mexican to ever hold that position. In fact, Ms. Ochoa is the first Mexican, male or female to be ranked #1 in professional golf, and was the first LPGA Tour golfer to earn more than $3 million in her first season.
March 21, 2008
Women have always played prominent roles in organized religion throughout history, but
DID YOU KNOW…
The Church of England voted to ordain women as priests on November 10, 1992. The first women priests were ordained March 11, 1994 and performed their first priestly duties on Mother's Day, Sunday March 13, 1994, in England.
March 24, 2008
Recently, the number of female students enrolling at HMC has increased significantly, but
DID YOU KNOW…
The first female admitted at HMC, JENNIE RHINE '61, was the only woman in the founding class but, she did not graduate from Mudd. She left after her second year and received her B.A. from S.F. State and her J.D. from Hastings College.
The only woman in first four-year graduating class was LORI (Wilcox) IVES '61, but she was a transfer student, so she didn't attend HMC all 4 years.
Though not one of the members of the first four-year class of HMC, JANET COOK '60 is recognized, officially, as the college’s first female graduate, receiving a degree in mathematics in 1960.
March 25, 2008
You might have known that Janet Guthrie (b. 03-07-1938) was the first woman to drive in the Indianapolis 500, finishing ninth in 1978, but
DID YOU KNOW…
Ms. Guthrie, before she achieved fame as an Indy car driver, was an aerospace engineer, and was one of the first four women to qualify for the scientist-astronaut program of NASA and then was disqualified when a Ph.D. was made a requirement, although dozens of men were part of the program who did not have advanced degrees. Also, Guthrie could fly more than 20 types of aircraft, and was named to the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
March 27, 2008
Women in the U.S. military have always had a "tough row to hoe" and we owe a lot to those women who literally broke ground, opened doors, and made the choice of a military career easier for those who followed. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
The first, and only, woman to receive the Medal of Honor was Dr. Mary E. Walker, a contract surgeon during the Civil War.
March 31, 2008
As we’ve seen from this month-long tribute, well-known women from around the world have done incredible things to benefit society. But,
DID YOU KNOW…
There are countless other amazing women whom you’ve probably never heard of who deserve our attention, such as:
RACHEL SCDORIS: In 2006, she became the first legally blind dogsled racer to finish the 1,150-mile Alaskan Iditarod.
MARIE C. WILSON: Founder of The White House Project, which is committed to promote the advancement of women in politics and business, with the ultimate goal of seeing a woman move into the White House as president. She also created the popular “Take Our Daughters to Work Day”.
WARIS DIRIE: When she was 5 years old, she was subjected to the ritual female circumcision that was commonplace in her native Somalia. To help prevent other girls and women from suffering her same fate, she created the Waris Dirie Foundation to shine a light on this cruel procedure. As a result of her work, she was named the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation in 1997.
DR. JULIE GERBERDING: As Director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Dr. Gerberding and her staff have spent years studying and preparing for an anticipated bird flu pandemic. In February 2007, she led a drill to test the country’s readiness in the event of a human outbreak of avian flu.
DR. RUTH SIMMONS: In 2001, Dr. Simmons became the first African-American woman to lead an Ivy League university when she was named president of Brown University.
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