Italian physicist Gianotti first woman to lead Cern

Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti was chosen on Tuesday to lead the Cern particle physics research centre, the first woman to head up the globally renowned laboratory. Gianotti, who joined Cern near Geneva in 1987, was project leader from 2009 to 2013 of the Atlas collaboration, one of two teams tasked...

Sally Ride, first US woman in space, dies at 61 (Update)

(AP) — Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. She was 61. Ride died at her home in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla, said Terry McEntee, a spokeswoman for her company, Sally Ride Science. She was...

Latinos, Blacks less swayed by college-bound friends

Close friends are important drivers of adolescent behavior, including college attendance, according to Steven Alvarado, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. In new research published March 4 in American Educational Research Journal, Alvarado reports that having college-bound friends increases the likelihood that a student will...

Rare open-access quantum computer now operational

A new Department of Energy open-access quantum computing testbed is ready for the public. Scientists from Indiana University recently became the first team to begin using Sandia National Laboratories' Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed, or QSCOUT. Quantum computers are poised to become major technological drivers over the coming decades....

Women in physics: Why there’s a problem and how we can solve it

WHEN we were 16 years old, my friend Karen and I were interviewed for an educational video. With our hair thick with styling mousse, pale blue eyeliner and misplaced teen swagger, we explained why we had chosen to study physics. We were the only two girls in our school that...

12 female physicists you need to know about

In 2018, the NSW Higher School Certificate physics syllabus is undergoing changes for the first time in 17 years, but students will not be taught about the contributions of female physicists to the field. Image credit: Jessica Chapman/WikimediaRuby Scott-Payne, the only female, at the International Union of Radio Science conference...

Four women who changed the face of physics

Hertha Ayrton, British physicist and mathematician Birthplace: Born in Portsea, Hampshire, in 1854; died in 1923. Known for: British physicist who was the first woman nominated to become a fellow of the Royal Society (although women could not be elected). Education: She attended Girton College, Cambridge University, where she studied...