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November 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Author Archives: Athene Donald
Practice and Experience
It seems appropriate in this 250th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s birth to use a quote from Pride and Prejudice to kickstart this post. ‘If I had ever learnt, I should have been a great proficient.’ says Lady Catherine de … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in critical thinking, Curriculum and Assessment Review, education, Jane Austen, Science Culture
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What Voice?
It is more than 40 years since the American psychologist Carol Gilligan wrote her book, In a Different Voice, challenging the view that women were morally less developed than men, pointing out this difference arose because the schema had been … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Carol Gilligan, Caroline Herschel, Gene Machine, Jennifer Doudna, Let Toys be Toys, Roger Highfield, Women in science
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Botanists in the Family
It is difficult to know where to begin with this post, since several strands have got intertwined. I guess the prompt for this is, as with my last post, the meeting at the Royal Society celebrating women from the past … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Ellen Wilmott, Erasmus Darwin, Francis Boott, Lucy Hardcastle, Women in science
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Where Were the Women?
I know that many people feel the Royal Society is a stuffy, white male institution, unwelcoming to women and other minorities, but I cannot agree. It may have had a long history of excluding women, but no more and, in … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Eleanor Ormerod, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Royal Society, Stella Butler, Women in science
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The Importance of Community
I mentioned the book by Jeffrey Abbott and Andrew Maynard, AI and the Science of Being Human, in a previous blogpost. I love its optimism about how all of us could work with AI without letting it take us over … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in AI, Brian Pippard, Ray Dolby Centre, Research, Science Culture, screens, tea break
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Being Practical (Or Not)
Last week I attended a workshop on the future of practical science in schools at the Royal Society. Driven in part by the findings of the 2023 Science Education Tracker, that students at secondary school were frustrated they had little … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Curriculum and Assessment Review, education, Science Education Tracker, teachers
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Is That What Makes Me Human?
I have been reading the recently published book AI and the Art of Being Human by Jeffrey Abbott and Andrew Maynard. I found it a fascinating – and indeed optimistic – book, which prompted a lot of reflection, although not … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in AI, Anthony Maynard, memories, Peter Scott, Science Culture
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Civic Responsibilities
The University Vice Chancellor Debbie Prentice, with Lord Patrick Vallance and Minister Pennycook at this week’s Innovate Cambridge Summit This week saw various significant announcements for and from the University of Cambridge, the Cambridge region and the wider so-called Ox-Cam … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in apprentices, careers, Equality, inequality, Innovate Cambridge, Patrick Vallance, transparency
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Mrs Handley and the Whippets (Learning to be Difficult)
No, not the name of a pop-group (although it might be quite a good one), but an episode from my early life. In later life I’m sure people had me in the category of those difficult women I wrote about … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Camden School for Girls, careers, feisty, teenagers, Women in science
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Difficult Women
Tributes poured in following the death of Jane Goodall, with stories of her remarkable life and doings, the way she set out new paths in research and lived a different kind of life. The quoted remark of hers that most … Continue reading Continue reading
Posted in Equality, feisty, Jane Goodall, Jess Phillips, Lisa Jardine, Women in science
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