Some profiles of women in planetary science

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2010/08/03 05:18 CDT

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I had a childcare crisis today that is now resolved but which prevented me from getting any writing done. So it seems like a good time to feature the profiles of women space scientists that have been gracing the pages of Susan Niebur's Women in Planetary Science Blog. Susan plans eventually to feature 51 women. Here are links to just a few of the recent ones, with just one brief indication of what they do; most of these women wear many hats.

Rachel Klima, Chandrayaan-1 Moon Mineralogy Mapper team member
Amy Simon-Miller, Goddard Space Flight Center Planetary Systems Laboratory chief
Amy Barr, Southwest Research Institute senior research scientist
Bonnie Buratti, Jet Prpulsion Laboratory principal scientist
Fran Bagenal, New Horizons co-investigator
Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team director
Catherine Johnson, MESSENGER participating scientist
Amy Jurewicz, former Genesis project scientist

Here's an index to these and other posts in the 51 Women in Planetary Science series. Susan writes regularly about the challenges that still seem to be preventing more women from achieving senior roles in planetary science. There are a lot more women in this field than there used to be, for sure. But in an age when far more women than men are getting college and more advanced degrees, it's really puzzling why there aren't more women studying the planets, and taking leadership roles in exploring them.