| Winning Women on the Rise By: Rebekah Maple Women are becoming increasingly successful each year, and the 2009 Nobel Prize winners prove this. According to the Nobel Prize Web site, since 1901, the Nobel Foundation has been awarding outstanding individuals for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The year 1903 marked the first year a woman was awarded a Nobel Prize. Marie Curie of France, received one-quarter of the prize in physics for her collaborative research on radiation after radioactivity was discovered in 1896. She was also awarded the prize in 1911 for chemistry. Over the past 108 years, there have been a total of 40 women Nobel Prize winners and 765 men. This year, five women took home prizes in chemistry, medicine, literature and economics, making it the most successful years for women. In the past, there was rarely an instance when more than one woman would take home a prize in a single year, and years would go by without awarding a woman the Nobel Prize in any category. Suzanne Holt, director of women's studies at Kent State University, believes that this year’s winners are cause for celebration. “These are women who are making the news for reasons that should give us pause,” she said. “Our current images and definitions of women are so limited and limiting. And they (the women) challenge it in the most effective way possible.” Holt has been involved in women’s studies since 2002, and received her Ph.D from Kent State in 1994. Her accomplishments include creating new program courses, improving existing programs, enlisting new faculty and teaching. In the past, it was quite common to see men making the astounding discoveries and being awarded for their hard work, but today things are changing. Women are becoming increasingly involved in work outside of the home and are guiding men in positive directions. Holt said she believes in changing the views and definitions that some people have toward women in today’s society. They are capable people who deserve to be honored for their achievements, and as time goes on, they will be breaking out with more and more of those achievements. Carol Greider of John Hopkins University School of Medicine and Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California shared the prize in medicine with Jack Szostak in 2009. According to John Hopkins’ Web site, Greider received her Ph.D. from the University of California in Berkeley. She is a professor of molecular biology and genetics and has been part of nine different scholarly publications. According to the University of California San Francisco Web site, Blackburn earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in England. She did her postdoctoral work in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Yale. She is currently a professor of biology and physiology. An October Huffington Post article by Malcolm Ritter said these three Americans won “for discovering how chromosomes protect themselves as cells divide, work that has inspired experimental cancer therapies and may offer insights into aging.” Also in 2009, Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel took home one-third of the prize in chemistry, Herta Müller of Germany received the only prize in literature and Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University won half the prize in economics. Yonath graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1962, and a master's degree in biochemistry in 1964. In 1968, she earned a Ph.D. in X-Ray crystallography at the Weizmann Institute of Science. According to Weizmaan’s Web site, Yonath is the Martin S. and Helen Kimmel professor of Structural Biology at Weizmann Institute. According to the Nobel Prize Web site, Müller is a German native who has completed 39 works in German, English, French, Spanish and Swedish. Müller made her debut with the collection of short stories Niederungen, which was censored in Romania. Two years later, she published the uncensored version in Germany. “In this work, Müller depicts life in a small, German-speaking village and the corruption, intolerance and repression to be found there.” Ostrom received a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA in 1965 and started work at Indiana University the next year. According to IU’s Web site, she is involved in many things for the university. She is a professor, the founding director of the Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change and founder of the Center for the Study of Institutional Diversity. “Parents and teachers should direct young women’s attention to the Herta Mullers, the Elizabeth Blackburns, the Ada Yonaths, and the Elinor Ostroms to help balance our maniacal fixation on the sexiest woman of the current day,” Holt said. “And the more women who aspire to this sort of achievement, the more Nobel Prize winners we’ll see.” Holt also said that as long as women are increasingly present in every field, doing extraordinary things, then the future women Nobel Prize winners will increase. Women from all over the globe are becoming successful, and today, the chances for success are continuing to grow. You never know where your hard work will lead you later in life, and whether you’re in high school, college or your career, you may be laying the groundwork for a Nobel Prize! |
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