• If you are in Paris (France) this March 2009, please go and see this wonderful play by the renown science playwright Norbert Lechat entitled " Monsieur Sophie Germain...femme de science".

• On March 30, 2009, I will give a public lecture at the University of Texas at Arlington. It will be part of the educational events included in the International Year of Astronomy. Please join me, as we celebrate the achievements of women scientists and mathematicians of the past, hoping to inspire the women scholars of the future.

Stories of Women Stargazers

Dora Musielak

Today we know that there are billions of galaxies in the Universe. We now have proof that there are planets circling other stars. But at the dawn of the seventeenth century, astronomers knew of no more celestial bodies than the ancient stargazers. Until the advent of the telescope, the sky contained one sun, one moon, five planets, and a fixed array of stars arranged in whimsical constellations. Then, when Galileo turned his telescope skywards, the narrow view of the cosmos widened. For the first time in the history of the world, physics, astronomy, and much of mathematics went from mythological musings to rigorous disciplines. And women were part of the discovery and wonder of that era when the telescope opened up a new window to the heavens and put humankind a bit closer to the stars.

The veil of time now falls over the faces of many women stargazers of the past and many of them may never be known by us. But for sure their names are written in the stars they observed in the stillness of night. This talk will also examine the lives of two women scientists of the seventeenth century. One who understood the planetary laws of Kepler and provided a more elegant solution to Kepler’s Problem. And another who became a skillful astronomer collaborating with the great Hevelius.

Place: Main Library Parlor, 6th Floor, University of Texas at Arlington
Time: 12:00 - 13:00 hs (Lecture will be followed by a reception) 

More info: http://www.uta.edu/physics/main/phys_news/iya/2009/index.html

Download flyer:

http://libraries.uta.edu/publications/NYCU/Library-News-images/Dora_Flier.pdf