Women in science and scienti­ fic research

Abstract

Over the course of the century that has just ended, there have been profound changes in attitude with respect to women scientists and to education in the sciences. Until the Spanish Republic, women's educa­tion was truly an obstacle course and after the Spanish Civil War that same hackneyed pattern was repea­ted and stayed In place until the return to democracy. Fortunately, women researchers have finally cea­sed to be the targets of overt rivalry, though certain imbalances in the standing they are accorded continua to persist, both in Spain and interna­tionally. Nevertheless, grant holders and doctoral candidatas now gene­ rally appear to be mildly uninterested. Quite a few women have pro­bably found safe havens in public research centers. Still, research can be powerfully attractive when viewed from the perspectiva of distinguished women scientists, as in the present instance, from the perspectiva of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1964.