Social nature of science: women in physics

Mikel Olano

Supervisor: Matthias Heymann

05/12, 14:15
Physics Auditorium

There seems to a problem with women in physics. Having a historical perspective, we can see that their position has improved in many aspects, not only in science but also in the rest of social aspects. However, there is still room for improvement, and there are studies that suggest a counter-intuitive better position of women in physics communities in South-Eastern compared with North-Western countries. The possible explanation for what it seems an odd situation may come from a closer view of the social construct in our
science. Physicists are usually not aware of the cultural input in their working environment, one of the study cases of Science and Technology Sociology (STS). Through some of the historically relevant concepts that this field developed, several ways of studying and understanding these behaviours are proposed.