Especially as a counterpoint to the recent “memo” from a certain large tech company, this is a great reminder that many women are, in fact, really good at computers, engineering, science, etc. and have a passion for it.
It’s also a great reminder that science today is a massive endeavor that goes far beyond the science itself. So much technology is involved, and so many people, at so many different levels, that no new discovery is really by just one or two people – it’s virtually always a group endeavor.
Thanks to Brian Koberlein for giving us a peek behind the curtain and for sharing the story of a woman who loves computers and became involved in one of the biggest scientific endeavors on the planet.
Originally shared by Brian Koberlein
A Girl Who Loved Computers
One of the goals of Big Science is to tell the stories you don’t hear about scientific research.
For example, when I was visiting the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), I met a young woman who worked on computer security for the project’s data center. ALMA is a billion dollar facility, and it collects so much data that it has to be distributed to other systems in the United States and Europe. All of this data has to be kept secure, and the data system has to be running smoothly or else the project fails.
In talking to this woman, she wasn’t a genius professor from a prestigious university. She wasn’t even a scientist. She was just a girl who loved computers, went to college to study computer security, and got an internship to work on ALMA’s network. She took the internship because the work was interesting and she got to visit Chile. Her love of computers led to vital work on a billion dollar project.
On your typical science show her story is never told. She’s not an important scientist, and she doesn’t manage big equipment. But her story is fascinating, and it’s worth telling.
There’s a lot of talk about encouraging girls to keep their interest in STEM. We can do that by emphasizing the brilliant scientific discoveries women have made and continue to make. But we can also do that by showing the story of a girl who just loved computers, and who followed that love on a wonderful adventure.
There are lots of stories just like hers all over the world, and you can help us tell them.
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