The Women at CPL: Part 1
Last month was Women’s History Month.
With visibility for women consistently having been a problem for generations, and diverse role models for youngsters lacking in popular media, scientific newsletters as well as in general news, it often causes young women in their primary and secondary education — their most formative years, question their worth and question whether they are cut out for the world of technology, science, engineering, and innovation! Nothing could be further than the truth. Everyone is familiar with the story of Marie Curie, who was not just the only woman to win two Nobel prizes in two different STEM subjects, but the only person to ever have done so.
However, apart from the names of a select few women scattered few and far in the annals of history, since time immemorial, women have been at the forefront of innovation in all spheres. However, due to systemic cultural and structural discrimination, their names have been kept out of media and often credit transferred to others for women-led innovations. Think Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter and was never credited. Think Ada Lovelace, the first woman programmer. Think beer, which was invented and produced by women, before it became the “manly” drink. Think Hedy Lamarr and wireless communications. Think Frankin and the discovery of the DNA.
If you know your V for Vendetta references and as someone rightly said,
“Throughout history, anonymous has been a woman”.
With changing times and after many many scientific and cultural struggles led by women and allies around the world, the world is now slowly coming to terms with the fact that a diverse and gender-equal workforce is to the mutual benefit of everyone, if not just the decent thing to do. In recent times, we have Katie Bouman, the woman behind the first blackhole image, or Katalin Karik, the woman who refused to give up despite being demoted, doubted and rejected — and gave the world the cutting edge mRNA work behind the Covid vaccine.
As a company with a kick-ass team of women at various levels, leading and supporting different parts of quantum, AI, mission architecture, we wanted to take the chance to highlight their profiles.
In the next few blog posts, you will find the profiles of the women behind some of the amazing work done at Craft, what motivates them, and some wisdom they can impart from their diverse journeys. Be it in payload manufacturing, modelling and simulation of quantum technologies, coding up of neural nets, making sure small satellite missions have a robust operation lifecycle by model-based systems engineering or even managing a big office with diverse working requirements as the operations manager, the women at Craft are making a difference and are strong role models for anyone wishing to make a career in the space industry or otherwise and so without further ado: we present you the series “Women at Craft”.
