Back when she was a self-described hippie graduate student in flowers and beads, Tanya Atwater figured out how the theory of seafloor spreading applied to geological features on land. It was a seismic—get it?—discovery. And it didn’t come easy:
When a recruiter from the California Institute of Technology visited Atwater’s high school, she asked about science degrees. But Caltech didn’t accept women; they would just get married, quit and waste their educations, Atwater remembered being told. She visited Harvard next, which pointed her toward the neighboring women’s college, Radcliffe — a nonstarter, as she lacked the Greek or Latin prerequisites.
Never mind: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology would do.
MIT welcomed women into its science programs. When Atwater asked a professor why, he replied MIT-educated women would raise great children, which she took to mean boys.
More picks about science
Recreating the Smells of History
“Using chemistry, archival records and AI, scientists are reviving the aromas of old libraries, mummies and battlefields.”
Let This Darkness Be
“Losing self and finding sanctuary under Montana’s night sky.”
Baby-Making on Mars
“In the depths of the Cold War, scientists from the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. joined forces to answer a still-urgent question: Can mammals reproduce in space?”
