Women in Science

I previously wrote about the whole idea that Virginia Woolf brought up about what if Shakespeare had had a sister who was also blessed with the same genius for writing. Would she have been able to find the time or even the opportunity to write? Even if she did, would she have been able to publicly acknowledge that the works were hers, or would she have had to write under a male pen name as did so many other women writers throughout history? The idea of women being ignored, or having their work appropriated by their male counterpart really saddens me. We have undoubtedly come a long way since the time of Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf, but I thought it would be interesting to focus my next few blogs on ‘Women in Science.”

Someone I really admired growing up in South Korea was So-Yeon Yi. She became a household name in South Korea and my personal hero when she became the first Korean to fly in space. Since I was young, whenever someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always the same, “I’m going to be an astronaut.” This would usually garner a few laughs and even comments about how unrealistic my dream was. First of all, South Korea had never sent anyone into space since we didn’t really have a Space Program. Secondly, everyone naturally assumed that if a Korean was going to go to space, it would most definitely be a ‘he’. I never really let it bother me, but as I got older, I learned it was easier to just say, “I want to work for NASA” than to say ‘astronaut’. People found it easier to believe that I would eventually work in a lab than fly in space. This is why Yi was such an important role model for me.

Yi was born in Gwangju South Korea on June 2nd, 1978. In 2006, Korea announced a nationwide contest to select the best candidate to train in Russia and fly to the International Space Station. There were over 36,000 contestants, and Yi initially joined on a whim, thinking that it would look great on her resume, never dreaming that she would actually win. Unlike most astronauts who are military trained, physically imposing, and usually in their 30s or 40, Yi broke all the typical stereotypes. A scientist and doctoral student working on completing her degree, Yi was more accustomed to long shifts at the lab rather than undergoing the rigorous physical and mental training in preparation for space.

Yi was asked to undertake 18 different experiments during her 10 days in space. Though she was told that she was not be expected to complete all the experiments, Yi’s determination to successfully carry out all the experiments were twofold. Having experienced the silent but persistent sexism as an undergrad, graduate, and doctoral student in Korea’s most prestigious but male-dominated school, Yi was determined to show and pursue what a woman was capable of and to serve as a role model for budding scientists and future astronauts, especially young girls. So, Yi took full advantage of her once in a lifetime opportunity and carry out all 18 experiments. She mainly used observation, experimentation, and mathematics as her scientific basis. Of particular interest and importance to her were her experiments on the impact zero gravity had on living organisms. She carried 1,000 fruit flies in a specially air-controlled box, and observed their growth from larvae to adult fly, and documented how zero gravity affected their behavior as well as their genome. She also took the seeds of native Korean orchids to see how they would be altered by exposure to gravity and space radiation. Finally, she also kept meticulous documentation on the effects of zero gravity on herself, including the swelling to her face, effects on her heart and eyes, as well as the painful stretching of her spine which she found out was due to gravity. During landing, Yi experienced an off-nominal ballistic re-entry and had to endure up to 8 times her body weight. Think of it this way, first of all, if this happened on Earth, anyone with a weak heart, bones, or who is overweight would die fairly rapidly. If you weighed 85 pounds it would approximately feel like carrying a grand piano or two giant pandas while crashing into the surface of Earth at an unimaginable speed. While some spinal stretching is normal, Yi experienced a much greater pull. Thanks to her careful research and meticulous written, photographic and video record-keeping in space, the experiments she started are still ongoing, led by scientists in Korea who are continuing to observe the effects of gravity, the descendants of the fruit flies and the seeds that Yi took up with her in the spaceship.

I admire the knowledge her experiments and her interest in the effects of zero gravity on living organisms has given us, which could potentially lead to farming in space or new DNA/ genome alterations which can lead to new medical breakthroughs and treatments. But I admire her even more for her courage and determination in spite of all the naysayers who felt she should step down and let a man take her place. Soyeon recounted that in South Korea she had to encounter the public and social opinion that female astronaut candidates shouldn’t go into space and instead go home and cook for their family. In fact, many older male generations “thought Korea’s first astronaut should be a military guy, not a civilian girl.” Societal expectations influence public opinion and were something that she had to fight to change. Whenever I feel that my dreams are unrealistic and unreachable, I think about the many remarkable women throughout history who faced even greater challenges than I have, and how they paved the way for girls like me, so that our dreams can someday become a reality.