Physics HERstories

“I think the thing about physics, what makes it so fun, is every day I get to play. It’s like my playground. There are so many neat pieces of equipment that I can use to come up with some great answers to questions that I have about how things work.”

“If you do have support, I find that you get further along, simply because you build a network of people that are willing to push you forward . . . The knowledge you gather will be amplified by the knowledge you gather from other people.”

“I think more women need to go into leadership positions, not to behave as men, but to bring a new way of behaving and [to show] that there is not only one way of doing things, only one way of doing science. There are many ways. They are all very valuable.”

“Be yourself. Keep going. It’s all worth it, and you’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.”

“When I was 12 years old I picked up a copy of Discover magazine that my mother had gotten as a subscription for my older brother, and I read about Albert Einstein and the twin paradox. I thought it was amazing that we could know so, so much about the world. I told my mom that I wanted to be a physicist, and she said, ‘Oh, if you’ll be a physicist you’ll be stuck all day in a room with a bunch of nerdy boys.’ I [said], ‘You know, I don’t know who you think I am, Mom, but I’m pretty sure I’m the biggest nerd ever.’”

“I walked into my introductory physics course . . . My professor, who was old and male, looked at the room [of 12 students] and said, ‘Physics is something few men and no women understand.’ And that was enough motivation for me to try to prove him wrong. And so by the time I got to my senior year I was the only physics major left out of that group of 12.’” //

More information about the IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics and the ICWIPs .