Webinar: ​​Popularizing science without gender bias

The presentations concentrate on two specific challenges:

• How to contribute to popularize mathematics in a museum among the youth of all origins and gender?
• How to write an astronomy book for men and women and why is it important?

This hybrid webinar is the participation of the Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science to the Global Women’s breakfast.

The event will be held in hybrid format (online and in-person) on February 27th, 2024.

Venue
Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP)
11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005 Paris

Agenda

• 8:30 AM (in person only): Global Women Breakfast
• 9:30 AM (in person only): Group visit of Maison Poincaré led by Sylvie Benzoni-Gavage, IHP director
• 10:45 AM – 12:45 (in person and online): Popularizing science without gender bias

Please fill in the registration form below to receive the link to access the Webinar.

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Speakers:

• Sylvie Benzoni-Gavage, professor of mathematics at Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and director of the Institut Henri Poincaré (Paris, France)

Maison Poincaré, how to create a museum about mathematics in the light of gender gap issues.

Designing a whole museum about mathematics is tremendous endeavour, in which pitfalls regarding gender gap are lurking. If we are to contribute popularizing mathematics among the youth of all origins and gender, we must address the issue of which image of mathematicians we aim at showcasing. Geniuses, mostly white men, winning prizes and medals for their outstanding results? Or a more accessible and more balanced world of mathematics, made of diverse people cooperating, of different backgrounds and making their way in a wide variety of manners? The alternative seems easy to settle. Let us talk about it!

• Léa Griton, associate professor at Sorbonne University (Paris, France) and researcher in astrophysics at Paris Observatoire PSL

Writing a pop science astronomy book for everyone: questions I asked myself & answers I gave to others

When Léa was solicited by Quanto/EPFL Press to write a book about scientific exploration of the Solar System, the first thing that came to her mind was: why should I write a book? Writing a book is very time-consuming and, as a young (mum and) scientist, time is something rare and precious. However, she also thought that, when she was a teenager herself, reading books about science helped a lot in deciding to pursue scientific studies. Moreover, most of the popular science books she could read were written by men, for instance Hubert Reeves or Jean-Pierre Luminet. She accepted to write the book as a challenge: how to write an astronomy book for men and women? why is it important? In her presentation, Léa will explain the choices she made with Quanto for “En quête de planètes” and be happy to debate about it.