Brandeis exhibition showcases Cambridge women scientists

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

From 1977 to 1998, photographer Georgia Litwack created 32 black and white portraits of women scientists. The collection, which includes 22 women who either live or work in Cambridge, will be showcased in “Celebrating Women in Science,” an exhibit which will run from Aug. 11 – Sept. 25 at Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center’s Kniznick Gallery. A reception will take place on Sunday, Sept. 14, from 2-4 p.m. at the Center, located in the campus’ Epstein Building. Speaking at the event, co-sponsored by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science and ShalomBoston.com, will be MIT physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, IBM Research technician Irene Greif, Brandeis biologist Eve Marder and philanthropist Sara Lee Schupf, an advocate of equitable science education for girls.

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute created the calendar series "Jewish Women Around the World”; its 2003-2004 edition focuses on Jewish women scientists and is dedicated to the memory of Rosalind Franklin, who contributed to the discovery of DNA. Many of Litwack’s subjects, including Dresselhaus and computer scientist Shafira Goldwasser, are featured in the calendar.

The inspiration for the exhibition is twofold; it both recognizes Brandeis University's tradition of promoting women scientists to senior level faculty positions and the 50th anniversary of Franklin's groundbreaking work in DNA research.

“Franklin, a brilliant young Anglo-Jewish scientist, was airbrushed out of the greatest scientific discovery of the 20th century,” said the Center’s Founding Director Shulamit Reinharz. “Her X-ray images revealing a double helix were critical to the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953,” she explained. Franklin’s male colleagues used her unpublished data in a Nobel Prize-winning study. “Even today, the fiftieth anniversary of this momentous breakthrough, Franklin's name is missing from most published accounts,” said Reinharz.

“The showing of these women in science portraits at Brandeis University highlights scientists around Greater Boston and the world, women whose commitment and intelligence fuel their groundbreaking work in fields historically defined as ‘male,’” said the Center’s Director of Communications Nancy Vineberg.

Litwack, known for her portraits of important women in the arts and sciences, was commissioned in 1986 by the Radcliffe College's Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America to create a photographic compilation of prominent historic women. During the 1990s, Litwack expanded the series to focus on women in science and engineering.

Dresselhaus, the first woman elected as an officer of the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1990. As a Clinton appointee, she directed the Department of Energy's Office of Science, overseeing a $3.1 billion budget and five national labs. Dresselhaus is also the first and only woman of twelve professors to hold the title of Institute Professor (of Electrical Engineering and Physics. Goldwasser, the RSA Professor of Computer Science at MIT, has risen to the top in a numbers-oriented, traditionally male-dominated field. "I believe that many of my career choices were impacted by the way I think as a woman,” she observed. “I made certain my life as a scientist would never be a solitary one."

Enlargements of the original artwork created for the calendar will be exhibited together with the Litwack portraits. Copies of the calendar will be available free of charge at the exhibit; kosher refreshments will be provided as well.

Celebrating Women in Science Exhibit will run free of charge from Aug. 11 – Sept. 25 at the Kniznick Gallery, Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center, The Epstein Building, 515 South St., Waltham (Brandeis/Roberts Station commuter rail stop). Reception Sunday, Sept. 14, 2-4 p.m. Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9-5 p.m., Thursday, 9-7 p.m. For more information, email hbi@brandeis.edu or call 781-736-8114.