Scientists love their toys. Monster machines, delicate precision devices, even those finicky electronic brats that spend more time sulking in a heap of malfunction than collecting data: we love the equipment that allows us to explore the world around us.
Top image: Staff astronomer Juna Kollmeier with her 6.5 meter telescope. Credit: Carnegie Institution for Science
In a frustratingly familiar story a prominent scientist made an offhand sexist comment perpetuating chronic alienation, declaring that astronomers were “boys with toys.” Luckily, in what is becoming an equally familiar epilogue, the aftermath is a celebration of woman in science that is downright delightful as we get photos of “girls with toys.”
Carnegie staff astronomer Juna Kollmeier with the 6.5-meter (256 inch primary) #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/hwXd4JrrRa
— Carnegie Astronomy (@CarnegieAstro) May 16, 2015
This is what an astronomer looks like. And this member of the #girlswithtoys club has been around for a long time. pic.twitter.com/NryOAv5Xkh
— Aomawa Shields (@aomawa) May 17, 2015
#girlswithtoys cabling up for continuous wave at @AreciboRadar. Girls like 20 terawatts EIRP (with 10^7 power gain). pic.twitter.com/F03eVZdrgo
— Alessondra Springmann, PhD (@sondy) May 16, 2015
Me & biggest equatorial 'scope in the world. #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/B5Vh4qbqfu
— Tania Burchell (@TaniaBurchell) May 17, 2015
I play with Mars rovers. #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/j6N5tscc8U
— Dr. Tanya Harrison (@tanyaofmars) May 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/embed/status/599724488884953088
https://twitter.com/embed/status/599748213483053056
These women work in uplink, downlink and digital terrain model production. Piece of cake. #GirlsWithToys pic.twitter.com/vn6tQI4Lcb
— HiRISE: Beautiful Mars (NASA) (@HiRISE) May 18, 2015
My two favorite toys: 64-m telescope and antique violin #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/gSWBDOz7C8
— Dr. Emily Petroff (@ebpetroff) May 17, 2015
The photos cover everything from scientists strutting with their equipment like something out of a perfectly-posed movie poster, to the more gritty aspects of the practice of science. I’d never contemplated just how irritating it would be to use a massive dish during a snowstorm!
https://twitter.com/embed/status/599737983370006529
#Geophysics: break your toys, fix your toys. #GirlsWithToys Protip: Always pack electrical tape & a hair dryer. pic.twitter.com/GeBSer9NNz
— Mika McKinnon (@mikamckinnon) May 16, 2015
Following my #GirlsWithToys tweet, here's me and @TititiPounamu getting our toys out. #FieldBiolFemales 🙂 pic.twitter.com/f6x5wH2oOb
— Helen Taylor (@HelenTaylorCG) May 18, 2015
Women are not a recent addition to the practice science, or even to astronomy. The human computers who stared at blurry glass plates made amazing strides in observational astronomy, and the first Mars maps required an eye for detail that I can’t match. That they still get overlooked, ignored, or erased isn’t just foolish; it’s tiresome and predictable.
https://gizmodo.com/these-17-women-changed-the-face-of-physics-1689043918
https://gizmodo.com/1940s-computer-power-1538842990
https://gizmodo.com/manual-map-making-for-mariner-9-1554249986
Jocelyn Bell – discovered pulsars, *not* nominated for Nobel with her PhD advisor. #girlswithtoys is not new. pic.twitter.com/lufc00mmj4
— Ash Jogalekar (@curiouswavefn) May 17, 2015
Vera Rubin – discovered problems in galaxy rotation rates pointing to dark matter. #girlswithtoys is not new. pic.twitter.com/XUqhnruq2C
— Ash Jogalekar (@curiouswavefn) May 17, 2015
Also: "Just over here w/ my toy, inventing modern stellar classification scheme, nbd" -Annie J Cannon #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/P4KKYg8WzW
— Prof. Emily Levesque 🤓✨🔭📚 (@emsque) May 17, 2015
Jeanette Clarke using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer to test for toxic lead exposure, c. 1970. #GirlsWithToys pic.twitter.com/Z3f7ts7CAu
— Science History Institute (@SciHistoryOrg) May 18, 2015
The women of ENIAC. In 1946, six brilliant women programmed the 1st digital computer for the US Army #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/s7NWlFyrzZ
— Bibiana Cristòfol (@BibsBcn) May 17, 2015
Sometimes the toys steal the spotlight. Other times, it’s the environments. But what I love about this is that every one of these photos is a story of the humans behind the science, the tales hidden within the carefully-glossed-over methods sections that pretend science is some abstract process. With each caption, we get hints of the passion that drive these people to deal with long hours, uncomfortable conditions, broken equipment, tedium, repetition, and outright hostility. This is where data comes from:
https://twitter.com/embed/status/599769217705988096
Science is more fun with power tools! @joepalca @nprscience #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/fLptWxMuFu
— Dr. Amanda Stanley @astanley.bsky.social (@AmandaConsSci) May 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/embed/status/599678210482122753
My #girlswithtoys is red, shiny & BIG: 2014 fieldwork at my silcrete site, with colleague Dr Lafarge looking on 🙂 pic.twitter.com/MLxFSv3rkj
— Dr. Rebecca Wragg Sykes (@LeMoustier) May 18, 2015
Just back from fieldwork #drone flying in Western Australia #girlswithtoys #womeninscience pic.twitter.com/uF8UYmceJm
— Zoë Thomas (@ZoeAmberThomas) May 17, 2015
Testing iron and silicate fluidization in zero gravity (a long time ago!) #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/Ogk6lWchhu
— Dr. Amber Straughn (she/her/hers) (@astraughnomer) May 18, 2015
Hey look I'm helping build a new dark matter detector. #GirlsWithToys http://t.co/jE92aUbpJO pic.twitter.com/gk25jvxsM0
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) May 17, 2015
At @NASA we're #JWST…here's me in the @NASAGoddard cleanroom with one of the mirrors #girlswithtoys pic.twitter.com/TaY13psFBh
— Dr. Amber Straughn (she/her/hers) (@astraughnomer) May 17, 2015
I worked on @MarsPhoenix as a freshman in college. It was super awesome! This was the testbed one. 🙂 #GirlsWithToys pic.twitter.com/3RZh8vej8i
— Keri Bean (she/her) (@PlanetaryKeri) May 17, 2015
Best part of my job is pushing the button to blast the dynamite #girlswithtoys #volcanology pic.twitter.com/7ZdaPCgUak
— Alison Graettinger (@AlisonGraetting) May 16, 2015
Me with my 'scopes on top of Mauna Kea. #GirlsWithToys @bealagram pic.twitter.com/jF1QtlY2Kz
— Catherine Q. (@CatherineQ) May 17, 2015
Meteorite hunting in Antarctica! #girlswithtoys #ANSMET pic.twitter.com/65QnSNPlK3
— Dr Marianne Mader (@MarianneMader) May 17, 2015
While I am absolutely loving these photos and stories, and I hope that you’ll add your photos of scientists of any variety at work with fantastic machines and confounding devices, I really hope that one day we’ll skip the obnoxious triggering event, and just skip straight to the celebration of people who love science.
