Well, the White House finally got around to naming the winners of the 2006 National Medals of Science. Of the 11 winners named, two - count 'em, two! - are actually women! Rita Colwell and Nina Federoff made the cut. Here's how the Chronicle of Higher Education summarized their accomplishments:
Rita R. Colwell, a professor of microbiology and biotechnology at the University of Maryland at College Park. Ms. Colwell, who was director of the National Science Foundation from 1998 to 2004, will receive the prize for creating a better understanding of marine microbes -- the agent that causes pandemic cholera, in particular.
Nina V. Federoff, a professor of biology and life science at Pennsylvania State University at University Park. Ms. Federoff is being honored for pioneering the molecular biology of plants, and for her efforts to clone several kinds of plant genes.
This is definitely an improvement over the 2005 crop, when we had a bunch of men honored for science stuff again. Who knows, maybe if they ever get around to naming the 2007 winners, we might even see THREE women on the list.
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WOW, finally...but did you notice that in the descpription of each professor they were adressed as Ms instead of Dr.?
Hmmmmmm
Whaaaat? That's Dr. Bimbo to them.
Zuska, you're the one with the way with words. I'm so glad you're my blogging neighbor.
"they were adressed as Ms instead of Dr."
They call the men Mr., so it's equivalent, but still odd.
The Chronicle of Higher standard is to refer to everyone as Mr or Ms, not Dr.
Peggy's right about the Chronicle's way of referring to everyone as Ms. or Mr. You can be sure I would have been mighty peeved if they would have referred to the women differently than the men...
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Nina Federoff being awarded a Medal of Science is an embarrassment, not a sign of progress. She's made a career of repeating dishonest industry claims about genetically modified crops. Dr. (or Ms.) Federoff is an average scientist and a screeching idealogue, not a researcher worthy of this honor.