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SISSA MATHEMATICAL COLLOQUIUM - Women and Mathematics

Speaker: 
Emilia Mezzetti
Institution: 
Universita' di Trieste
Schedule: 
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - 14:30 to 16:00
Location: 
A-005
Abstract: 

In the fourth century BC., Plato, in the Republic, wrote "... so, my friend, there is no special faculty ... which a woman has because she is a woman, or which a man has by virtue of his sex..." Yet, the number of women holding important roles in scientific research is still small, despite the scientific departments of universities are frequented by a growing number of girls.On the other hand, authoritative recent studies have shown that males and females have the same mathematical skills, thus dispelling the widespread belief that women have no capacity for math. So the causes of under-representation of women in so-called "hard sciences" such as physics, chemistry and, of course, mathematics, must be sought elsewhere.
I will try to retrace the history of women in mathematics, presenting some interesting stories, from Hypatia to Sofia Kovalevskaya, Emmy Noether, Julia Robinson. Then I will present some statistics that give a better idea of the current situation in relation to the different geographical areas.I will attempt to analyze the various causes, constraints, stereotypes that are the basis of this imbalance,and finally I will mention the various initiatives that seek to encourage the involvement of women in science.

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