Blogs

This week’s great highlight was Ada Lovelace Day on March 24th. The day celebrates the contribution women have made to science and technology, and is an encouragement for bloggers everywhere to write about inspiring female researchers. Nature Network contributors didn’t disappoint.

Eva Amsen champions Beatrix Potter, who initially attempted a career in botanical science:

Beatrix Potter could draw scientifically accurate lichens as well as fluffy bunnies, but it was the latter that was more acceptable for women a century ago. Today, she would have been encouraged to study, to submit papers, attend meetings. Some fields are perhaps further behind than biology, or maybe there aren’t as many womentrying to get in, like Potter did in botany, but even the most male-dominated fields let women attend their meetings these days, so nobody has to revert to becoming a famous illustrator as a backup plan.

Cobi Smith nominates Florence Nightingale, but not for the reasons most people would think:

What I admire about Florence specifically, and what I think makes her distinct from the Rosalind Franklins and Ada Lovelaces of history, is that her work didn’t sit away in some drawer waiting to be discovered. She saw the need for change, and she made it happen. She put herself and her work out there where and when it was needed. She had the confidence and skills to get her messages across. She was a great science communicator as well as a great statistician.

Other excellent contributions come from Steffi Suhr, who highlights the career of pioneering Antarctic scientist Dr. Mary Alice McWhinnie, Austin Elliott celebrates Jean Hanson, one of the discoverers of the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction, and Nicolau Werneck puts forward his own mother, an Ada-loving electrical engineer.

Outside of the Adasphere, Frank Norman lays out his thoughts on the features of a good e-reader, while Elizabeth Moritz laments the ornithological pleasures she’ll miss when she moves to the city for her postdoc.

Forums

Nature Jobs have launched an International Salary Survey, which you can read about over on the Careers Advice forum. Participants stand the chance of winning one of three netbooks.

And Finally…

A big ‘well done’ to Richard Grant, whose blog Confessions of a (former) Lab Rat, was chosen as the Best Blog on Philosophy, Scholarship or Research by Research Blogging. He wins $50 and a slew of congratulatory comments.