53 years since a woman won the Nobel Prize in physics. What’s the holdup?

It’s been 53 years since a woman won the Nobel Prize in physics. What’s the holdup?

This is your annual reminder that it's been an embarrassingly long time since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to a woman. Only two women have ever won the prize: Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria Goeppert-Mayer in 1963. One of the most puzzling snubs is Vera Rubin, whose work measuring galactic rotation speeds convinced scientists that most of the matter in the universe comes in the form of dark matter.

Rubin and her colleague Kent Ford did their research in the 1960s and 1970s. For comparison, the three scientists who discovered dark energy, another major component of the universe, snagged a Nobel 13 years after their pivotal work. There are plenty of other accomplished women physicists who so far have been passed over for the prize, including Lene Hau, Helen Quinn, and Mildred Dresselhaus.

Interesting reading via The Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/10/04/its-been-53-years-since-a-woman-won-the-nobel-prize-in-physics-whats-the-hold-up/