In the seventh article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Viviana Gammaldi (researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) gives us a glimpse into the achievements of Sally Ride, who was the first American female astronaut and a committed scientist to gender equity.
In the sixth article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Eugenia Gatti (CTAO HR Specialist and member of the CTAO Gender Equality Plan Group) gives us a glimpse into the life of Frank Kameny, who was banned from working as an astronomer due to discriminatory anti-homosexuality policies in the 1950’s. Nonetheless, even though his scientific career was cut short, Kameny became a notable activist who helped pave the way to the LGBTQIA+ rights we have today.
In the fifth article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Anna Wolter, in collaboration with Claudia Mignone (INAF), delves into the personality and social impact of the astronomer Margherita Hack, of whom the first statue of a female scientist in Italy was recently erected.
On 17 June, the CTAO gGmbH published its Gender Equality Plan (GEP), which implements actions within the CTAO to reduce gender inequalities and to enhance diversity regarding sex, gender, age, culture, different physical and mental capacities and multilingualism, among others. The document includes an evaluation of existing initiatives and policies, as well as an analysis of an anonymous survey that gathered CTAO employees’ opinions on gender, inclusion and discrimination. Based on these results and sex/gender-disaggregated available data, an action plan was created with measures to achieve various inclusive goals that affect all departments.
In the fourth article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Anjana Kaushik Talluri (PhD Student at the University of Minnesota) presents the story of how Vera Rubin provided the first strong evidence of dark matter and how her life is both intriguing and inspiring for many generations to come.
In the third article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Simone Iovenitti (Post-doc Researcher at the INAF-OAB and CTAC member) delves into the history behind Henrietta Leavitt’s discovery that allowed to measure extragalactic distances.
In the second article of the CTAO’s “Building from Diversity” series, Dominik Elsässer (Researcher at the TU Dortmund and CTAC member) delves into the academic career of Cecilia Payne-Gasposchkin and her scientific discovery.
In 1967, Jocelyn Bell discovered the first radio pulsar, changing the history of astronomy forever. In the first article of the CTA’s “Building from Diversity” series, Michael Burton (Director of the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium) shares a little-known story: how Jocelyn Bell found the constellation that hosted her great discovery by looking up into a planetarium dome.
On 11 February 2022 at 18:30 CET, the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will broadcast live its fourth Women of CTA event in the CTA YouTube and Facebook channels, in recognition of the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
In recognition of the United Nations’ International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) will host its third Women of CTA meeting on 11 February 2020 virtually in its YouTube channel.