Short Stories 1 - Sameera Moussa | Nuclear Physicist

Alternate Title: Communist Cancers

This week we change up the format and talk about TWO historical women in science! Emlyn tells Emma about Dr. Yvonne Barr, who helped discover the first cancer-causing virus in humans, and Emma tells Emma about Dr. Sameera Moussa, an egyptian nuclear physicist who worked to make the medical use of nuclear technology affordable to all! 

PLEASE FILL OUT THE SURVEY: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwuYfCujp_voMx1I37E4MB1Tk_UbncK6z8Khn4DC683fV-3A/viewform?usp=sf_link

 

Sources

Story 1 - Dr. Yvonne Barr

1. The Cancer Virus: The story of Epstein-Barr Virus. D.H. Crawford, A. Richinson, and I. Johnnessen. 2014. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
2. Video of Dr. Yvonne Barr for 50th anniversary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MXFUHBRQjo 
3. UK Cancer Research Institute, https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/03/26/50-years-of-epstein-barr-virus/ 
4. “Viral Causes of Lymphoma: The History of Epstein-Barr Virus and Human T-Lymphotropic Virus” by Daniel Esau, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5621661/pdf/10.1177_1178122X17731772.pdf 
5. Cancer virus discovery helped by delayed flight, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-26857610 

Story 2 -  Dr. Sameera Moussa 

1. Sameera Moussa by Ignite Global Fund for Women http://ignite.globalfundforwomen.org/be-the-spark/sameera-moussa
2. Decou, Christopher. 2018. “This Week in Science: Sameera Moussa, the Egyptian Mother of Nuclear Energy.” https://medium.com/@ccdecou/week-science-history-sameera-moussa-egyptian-89cdc6312838

Further reading on gender equality issues in STEM:

1. Old boy's club of 1989: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277539589800111
2. Negative and marginalizing interactions limiting women's access to important resources: http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,31a33a3e53bad464,08629c0a217631d5.html
3. Sexism and microaggressions: https://journals.aps.org/prper/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.12.020119
4. Research labs described as a “chilly place” for women: http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,3d9029c134ca6690,734a6ef163b4eb9c.html
5. Lack of female gatekeepers for research funding:  https://www.ingenere.it/en/articles/gate-keeping-and-gender-challenge-science
6. More ways in which STEM graduate environments disfavour women: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/0308018815Z.000000000112
7. An article in science magazine about the issue:  https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/10/when-you-re-only-woman-challenges-female-phd-students-male-dominated-cohorts

Music

“Mary Anning” by Artichoke