Equality between races and sexes is a long and storied debate. It isn't a single revolution by a single man, a campaign of suffrage in a single nation or parallel between fields. It is a progression of the tide, washing away the loose sands and weathering away the weakest of stones, leaving a bed rock representing the truths of ourselves. No single wave can move a beach, nor can any beach withstand centuries of exposure to the tide. Each wave, each tide will carry a grain with it out to sea, where it can settle and be forgotten from our memories. Martin Luther King Jr. was a tide marker, making millions aware now was when sands would be carried out to sea. We thank him for his courage in marking the times for us, but we should never forget, there were those before him that fought for equality and won, and people who came after him and still fight today. I want to present to you three people who helped expose the bedrock in science and set for people to follow, broke the social norms and laid a path for others like them to proceed into the hollowed courts of our greatest pursuit.
While many examples of black women and men breaking barriers down in modern society will be cheered for in the media, and I do pay tribute to Arnaldo Tamoya Méndez and Carol Moseley Braun, they have their equality thanks to many before them who fought for peer ship. Not all fit the image we have of pioneers on this day, but Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of a time when race, gender and age wasn't taken into account, not just equality between black and white men. I will start by presenting to you a female scientists for the 18th Century, a period when theories on womens' place in society and relation to men ranged from total equality to complete inequality and included the Equal but Different line the world most famously knows from South Africa. It is a time when academic pursuits were seen as incompatible with the domestic duties expected of women.
Maria Margarethe Kirch was the first significant astronomer of her time, on top of being the only significant female astronomer at the time. What is impressive about her contribution to science doesn't only include her discovery of a comet, but the fact women were not allowed to attend universities at the time; Maria Kirch was taught by her father and her uncle. She later met her future husband, Gottfried Kirch through her employer, who gave her further instruction in astronomy. While she never attended the university, she would join Gottfried in his field work and many saw Maria Kirch as his assistant rather than equal. It wasn't until later in her career she was accepted as a peer, but several factors still limited her; she never was published in Germany's journal of science nor was she accepted into the German Royal Academy of Science. She was slighted by the Academy, when they replaced her recently departed husband with an inexperienced man; they Academy did not want to set a precedent by accepting her as a peer, but were happy to further insult her by suggesting she becomes her late husband's replacement's assistant. The British Royal Academy, in a wise decision, accepted her as a peer later in life. While she may not have rocked the boat, she quietly carried a handful of sand away and helped women in science by example. Her contributions to equality shouldn't be forgotten below the more brazen people who fought for equality before the public eye.
My next example is not a bold or difficult fight. I wish to illustrate the humble side of equality in science. During Martin Luther King Jr.'s most famous work, this man quietly contributed to academic pursuits as a physicist, graduating with a Ph.D. in the 30's. His gradual rise shows areas of our society were well on their way to the equality Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt about. Herman Brandson started his career in 1941 as an assistant professor of physics and chemistry at Howard University. He worked at Howard University for 27 years, becoming the head of the physics department, program director and working for the Office of Naval Research and Atomic Energy Commission Projects in Physics at Howard University. This is all during the riots, protests and civil liberty demonstrations that mark Martin Luther King Jr.'s contribution to equality. Herman Brandson shows us, it isn't great minds who make the greatest of progress, but it is the progress made by each and every individuals', accumulating with the contributions of others, that drives the tide. Every choice you make every day can help or hinder the tide.
Contemporary physicists come from a rich background. To pick one is futile in proving anything about equality in science today for the individual. Instead, this example in an entire field. Physics today is blind to race, where ideas are presented and tested, with no prejudice over who came up with the idea first. While many laboratories can be profiled, the ideas these laboratories work with today come from every part of the world, where small parts contribute to grander theories. No one part can be removed without collapsing a theory as a whole and no one nation leads the pack. The call of science has helped transplant many families who carry with them the ideas and concepts we cherish so. It has helped drive multi-cultural societies for centuries and brought us out of the dark ages when all we saw were the grains of sand the privileged relaxed on. Each physicist today brings a small hand full of sand out to sea to be forgotten. On this day, when we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., please take a moment to celebrate those who have worked towards his dream, one grain at a time.
-Servus
While many examples of black women and men breaking barriers down in modern society will be cheered for in the media, and I do pay tribute to Arnaldo Tamoya Méndez and Carol Moseley Braun, they have their equality thanks to many before them who fought for peer ship. Not all fit the image we have of pioneers on this day, but Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of a time when race, gender and age wasn't taken into account, not just equality between black and white men. I will start by presenting to you a female scientists for the 18th Century, a period when theories on womens' place in society and relation to men ranged from total equality to complete inequality and included the Equal but Different line the world most famously knows from South Africa. It is a time when academic pursuits were seen as incompatible with the domestic duties expected of women.
Maria Margarethe Kirch was the first significant astronomer of her time, on top of being the only significant female astronomer at the time. What is impressive about her contribution to science doesn't only include her discovery of a comet, but the fact women were not allowed to attend universities at the time; Maria Kirch was taught by her father and her uncle. She later met her future husband, Gottfried Kirch through her employer, who gave her further instruction in astronomy. While she never attended the university, she would join Gottfried in his field work and many saw Maria Kirch as his assistant rather than equal. It wasn't until later in her career she was accepted as a peer, but several factors still limited her; she never was published in Germany's journal of science nor was she accepted into the German Royal Academy of Science. She was slighted by the Academy, when they replaced her recently departed husband with an inexperienced man; they Academy did not want to set a precedent by accepting her as a peer, but were happy to further insult her by suggesting she becomes her late husband's replacement's assistant. The British Royal Academy, in a wise decision, accepted her as a peer later in life. While she may not have rocked the boat, she quietly carried a handful of sand away and helped women in science by example. Her contributions to equality shouldn't be forgotten below the more brazen people who fought for equality before the public eye.
My next example is not a bold or difficult fight. I wish to illustrate the humble side of equality in science. During Martin Luther King Jr.'s most famous work, this man quietly contributed to academic pursuits as a physicist, graduating with a Ph.D. in the 30's. His gradual rise shows areas of our society were well on their way to the equality Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt about. Herman Brandson started his career in 1941 as an assistant professor of physics and chemistry at Howard University. He worked at Howard University for 27 years, becoming the head of the physics department, program director and working for the Office of Naval Research and Atomic Energy Commission Projects in Physics at Howard University. This is all during the riots, protests and civil liberty demonstrations that mark Martin Luther King Jr.'s contribution to equality. Herman Brandson shows us, it isn't great minds who make the greatest of progress, but it is the progress made by each and every individuals', accumulating with the contributions of others, that drives the tide. Every choice you make every day can help or hinder the tide.
Contemporary physicists come from a rich background. To pick one is futile in proving anything about equality in science today for the individual. Instead, this example in an entire field. Physics today is blind to race, where ideas are presented and tested, with no prejudice over who came up with the idea first. While many laboratories can be profiled, the ideas these laboratories work with today come from every part of the world, where small parts contribute to grander theories. No one part can be removed without collapsing a theory as a whole and no one nation leads the pack. The call of science has helped transplant many families who carry with them the ideas and concepts we cherish so. It has helped drive multi-cultural societies for centuries and brought us out of the dark ages when all we saw were the grains of sand the privileged relaxed on. Each physicist today brings a small hand full of sand out to sea to be forgotten. On this day, when we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., please take a moment to celebrate those who have worked towards his dream, one grain at a time.
-Servus
