Dr. Breitenberger gave an interesting lecture on the influence of women in science, including the history of some key players. The most interesting woman Dr. Breitenberger discussed, in my personal opinion, was Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673). Cavendish was a philosopher and writer who wrote about naturalism. I found it particularly humorous that if other philosophers, who were mostly male, would not responded to her discussion, she would publish critiques to a fictitious correspondent as if they had responded. Cavendish also caused an uproar for being invited to the Royal Society. Cavendish was my favorite because she did not gender roles and social expectations stop her from contributing to science. Although times have changed quite significantly since Cavendish’s time, there are still struggles for woman scientists due to societal expectations. Although Dr. Breitenberger discussed how few women in science there are in history, I was still surprised by the amount of women who were mentioned and thoroughly enjoyed getting to learn about their contributions.
Yes, it does seem like despite the time period, there are always those bold personalities among us (like Cavendish) capable of breaking through and defying social expectations. They in turn have inspired many others to seek to change and to succeed in science and other fields.