Insider: "Inventions by women credited to men". What do you think of this article? I know I'm bringing up a dead topic, but I'm curious on what you guys make of it?

5th_Law_of_Robotics · 2020-03-19T17:54:36+00:00

I am certain it happened.

I think currently we're over correcting by attributing everything to some uncredited woman.

Like "Roz Franklin discovered DNA and Watson and Crick stole it! "

No. She didn't.

Kuato2012 · 2020-03-20T07:47:14+00:00

It's cool that we, as a species, are becoming more inclined to give women credit where credit is due. It's super not cool when articles like these engage in historical revisionism because they have an ideological axe to grind.

The article relies on half truths in order to paint a picture of grrrl power and patriarchal oppression. Anyone trying to set the record straight is then put in the uncomfortable position of looking like they're being spiteful toward women. Oh well, I'm doing it anyway.

"Watson and Crick received credit for DNA's double helix — but it was Rosalind Franklin who discovered it." Rosalind Franklin did good x-ray crystallography work but didn't reach that interpretation of the results. The A-ha moment did belong to Watson and Crick. (she didn't agree to share those unpublished results though, her boss did. So that's sketchy by today's standards)

"Nettie Stevens discovered sex chromosomes, but E.B. Wilson is credited for it." This one is almost right. She figured out sex chromosomes first, and she isn't as widely known as E.B. Wilson because he credited himself for it, and he published some very influential work. He also didn't credit a number of his male peers. Scientists back in the day had a bad habit of claiming sole credit for joint efforts and simultaneous discoveries. Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace both hit on evolution at the same time, and were even in correspondence about it, but fewer people know about Wallace for similar reasons. If Wallace had been female, I'm sure we'd be hearing all about how sexism was solely to blame.

"Ada Lovelace invented an early model of the computer." That's just a lie. Charles Babbage (who the article describes as her partner in the venture, lol), invented the difference engine. Lovelace was a mathematician who corresponded with Babbage. She translated one of his publications and wrote a program that the difference engine could theoretically run (which is why she is typically credited as being the first computer programmer). The article tries to paint that as a 50/50 collaboration toward the invention of the computer, which is the same kind of gendered erasure that they're accusing others of doing.

"Hollywood legend Hedy Lamarr invented wireless communication" This one is more of a lie by exaggeration. The idea she came up with was frequency hopping, which is a clever idea that modern wireless communication uses. But wireless communication (radio) was already invented, and the application of frequency hopping to modern communication systems wouldn't come until later.

"Esther Lederberg's husband claimed the Nobel Peace Prize for their discoveries in the field of microbial genetics." That's because Joshua Lederberg was the Primary Investigator. That is to say, it was his lab that she worked in, and Nobels always, always go to the PI. Never the postdocs, senior scientists, technicians, or grad students. And these historical revisionist articles always, always suggest that any women present in the lab were snubbed due to sexism. I'm not trying to diminish Esther Lederberg's legacy (she was also a Ph.D and a smart, talented scientist), but she would have needed to have her own laboratory in order to secure that Nobel.

"Lise Meitner discovered how to split atoms — but her male lab partner took all the glory." Again, half truths and lies. There were three people involved in the work, and only one got the Nobel. Funny how the article has nothing to say about Otto Frisch also getting overlooked. According to Meitner's biography, apparently there was also some fuckery in that year's Nobel prizes due to WWII: "during the war the Swedish scientists relied on their own limited expertise. Meitner's exclusion from the chemistry award may well be summarized as a mixture of disciplinary bias, political obtuseness, ignorance, and haste."

Strikester101 · 2020-03-19T16:40:07+00:00

/u/cromulent_weasel /u/spudmix

As well as taking a look at this article, can I talk to you about this phenomenon?

Strikester101 · 2020-03-19T16:24:55+00:00

I think I'll bite: A: Yes author, plagiarism of inventions did occur, even to women. No, it's not specific to just women. So yeah, please take this ironically sexist BS out of your femdom fantasy. B: Ah yes, Lise Meitner, the sole discoverer of nuclear fission! Clearly she's the only one who made this discovery, and was never helped by anyone else (Otto Hirsch). Also, Otto Hahn and Lise Meitner were still on good terms. C: No author, Ada Lovelace couldn't be called the first programmer. It depends on your definition (and bias). It's more complicated than that.

Title	Insider: "Inventions by women credited to men". What do you think of this article? I know I'm bringing up a dead topic, but I'm curious on what you guys make of it?
Author	Strikester101
Upvotes	5
Comments	24
Date	March 19, 2020 4:04 PM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/flch1t/insider_inventions_by_women_credited_to_men_what/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/insider-inventions-by-women-credited-to-men-what.1063807 https://theredarchive.com/post/1063807

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