joan feynman
1 May 2002
in my mother, the scientist charles hirshberg talks about the sexism encountered by geophysicist joan feynman, sister of the more famous richard.
at oberlin, her lab partner was ill-prepared for the advanced-level physics course in which they were enrolled, so my mother did all the experiments herself. the partner took copious notes and received an A. my mother got a D. “he understands what he’s doing,” the lab instructor explained, “and you don’t.”