BROADENING SCIENTIFIC THINKING THROUGH DIVERSITY

• BY VALÉRIE LEVÉE

The history of physics and astronomy remembers the names of Newton, Einstein, Hubble, Hawkins and many others, but they overlook the contribution of women. In the shadows of men, women astrophysicists, physicists and mathematicians have nevertheless advanced knowledge in their disciplines.

Today, science is becoming more egalitarian, opening doors for more women, and more generally for people from diverse backgrounds. But the biases of white male dominance persist, says astrophysicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, who was born to a black mother and a Jewish father and who describes herself as gender neutral. An assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire, she is also a senior faculty member in women's and gender studies there. With this dual role, she observes the place of women and minorities in science and advocates for more inclusion, as she wrote in her book The Disordered Cosmos.

She notes that even today, discriminatory behaviors are rampant in all scientific disciplines, and that the dominant presence of white men continues to guide scientific thinking and knowledge development. Physics is no exception. Taking the example of the concept of dark matter, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein wonders if a scientist of colour would have qualified this matter as "black", which is neither strictly speaking black nor dark, but rather non-luminous since it does not emit light. In the same way, the binary gender of physicists could prevent us from seeing nuances in the wave-corpuscle duality or misinterpret the changing identities of neutrinos.

Thus, it is not only for the sake of equality that science must be more inclusive, but also to broaden thinking. More generally, Prescod-Weinstein argues that the social, historical and political context influences the development of knowledge. Consequently, to deny cultural diversity is to deny a diversity of perspectives and ideas to advance knowledge.

The scientific research community must therefore be inclusive and embrace plurality. This means democratizing access to science. The Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan is committed to this goal through activities aimed at young girls. Through the Aldebaran project, the Cod'Elles program, and its involvement with the Montreal movement Les filles et le code, girls can discover programming without feeling intimidated by the presence of boys. Other activities feature women in science who become inspiring role models for girls by giving them the desire to pursue scientific studies and enrich science with their thoughts. In a spirit of full inclusion, the Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan wants to open the sky to the population in all its diversity with free activities, on site and online, and invite citizens to get involved in a participatory science program. After all, science is for everyone.