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Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Supersmart Astro Women - 10/18/17 05:40 PM
Is this an accolade that goes beyond the usual awards? Four women of NASA are now featured in a Lego set! They are astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, computer scientist Margaret Hamilton and astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison.

Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Re: Supersmart Astro Women - 10/20/17 04:39 PM
Nancy Grace Roman, born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1925, Dr Ronan was NASA's first Chief of Astronomy in the Office of Space Science. She had earned her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College and her PhD in astronomy at the University of Chicago. She's often known as the "Mother of Hubble" for her efforts in making the Hubble Space Telescope a reality.







Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Re: Supersmart Astro Women - 10/21/17 04:25 PM
Margaret Heafield Hamilton is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program.

This fascinating article, "Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—And Invented Software Itself", is well worth a read. No nonsense about how women aren't suited to this type of work - suck it up, Silicon Valley!
Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Re: Supersmart Astro Women - 11/04/17 07:21 PM
Sally Ride was the first American woman astronaut and at 32, the youngest American ever to go into space.

Ride graduated from Stanford University with a degree in English and physics, followed by a master's degree and a PhD in physics.

After NASA, she worked at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Arms Control, then at the University of California, San Diego as a professor of physics. She was the only person who served on both the committee to investigate the Challenger disaster and the one to investigate the Columbia disaster.

She founded a company to create entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students, with a particular focus on girls.And she wrote a number of books on space for children.

Sadly, Sally Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.
Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Re: Supersmart Astro Women - 11/06/17 03:48 PM
Mae Jemison - engineer, physician, astronaut. (Also dancer!)

Her studies at Stanford University began when she was 16. She graduated with a degree in chemical engineering and also having fulfilled the requirements for a degree in African and Afro-American Studies.

But then went onto Cornell Medical College to study medicine. She worked as a doctor, including as a Peace Corps Medical Officer, before being accepted to NASA's astronaut program. Jemison was the first African American woman to travel into space.

After leaving NASA, she has been an academic and also founded companies working on the social application of technology. And Jemison dances, choreographs, promotes science and is an amazingly creative person.
Posted By: Mona - Astronomy Re: Supersmart Astro Women - 11/09/17 04:18 PM

According to Business Insider
Quote:
Lego's new "Women of NASA" set ... has already risen to the top of Amazon's list of best-selling toys.

The set of 231 plastic pieces costs about $25 and went on sale [on November 1st]. Its instant popularity is not surprising to those who have been following Lego's laudable — and presumably profitable — trend of selling toys that are more inclusive of women.

"Women of NASA" features four mini figurines of pioneering women from the space agency: the astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, the astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, and the computer scientist Margaret Hamilton.

Each figurine comes with her own backdrop of relevant NASA work, including a mini-space shuttle Challenger for the astronauts and a mini-Hubble Space Telescope.
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