Five Inspiring Hispanic Scientists

One of many inspiring Hispanic scientists: Dr. Helen
Rodriguez-Trias, physician, educator, and advocate
for women's health and equal access to medical.
care. Image Courtesy: National Library of Medicine

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the Hispanic population in the U.S. will reach 132.8 million (or 30 percent of the total U.S. population) by the year 2050.   But Hispanic students (as well as other minorities) continue to be underrepresented in the STEM disciplines and to receive STEM degrees at a lower rate than their White counterparts. In K-12 education, Hispanic students are more likely than Whites to be exposed to funding inequities and to have science teachers who did not major in science.

In the face of these disparities and in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we're highlighting five Hispanic scientists that have had a major and lasting impact on the world around them.   In many cases they overcame obstacles, including racism and sexism, poverty, cultural and family expectations, and lack of mathematics background, in order to work and excel in the fields that they love.  Our hats are off to all of them, and to anyone out there who is studying or working in a STEM field.  May these stories inspire you.

Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias (1929 - 2001)
"We cannot achieve a healthier us without achieving a healthier, more equitable health care system, and ultimately, a more equitable society."

Helen Rodiriguez-Trias combined the two things she loved most--science and people--by pursuing a career in medicine. Born in New York city in 1929, Rodiriguez-Trias moved back and forth between New York and her parents' native Puerto Rico during her childhood and early career.  She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico Medical School in 1960 and established the island's first center for the care of newborn babies, which dramatically lowered the death rate for newborns at the hospital where she completed her residency.

In 1970, she moved back to New York where she became head of the pediatrics department at Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx.  In addition to her work as a physician, Rodiriguez-Trias fought to improve medical care for people who had limited access due to poverty, cultural and language barriers, and discrimination. Among her many leadership roles, Rodiriguez-Trias served as the (first Latina) president of the American Public Health Association and the medical director of the New York State AIDS Institute. She also became a tireless advocate and leader in the women's health movement, fighting for equal access to healthcare for poor women and children and fighting against the horrifying practice of forced sterilization. In 2001, less than a year after receiving the Presidential Citizen's Medal, Helen Rodriguez-Trias succumbed to cancer.

For more, visit the National Library of Medicine and the American Journal of Public Health


Dr. Francisco Dallmeier (1953 - )
"In this century we will make the final decisions about how this sixth species extinction currently in progress will end… It is a tremendous responsibility."

At a very young age, Francisco Dallmeier knew that he wanted to follow in his great-grandfather's footsteps and make a career out of working with plants and animals.  At 14, he began volunteering at the La Salle Museum of Natural History in his hometown of Caracas, Venezuela.  He moved up the ranks with remarkable speed, and by age 20, he was appointed director of the museum.  At the same time, he was working toward a biology degree at the Central University of Venezuela, and he eventually moved to the United States to pursue a masters and then a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology at Colorado State University. 

From Colorado, Dallmeier went to Washington, DC to work at the Smithsonian Institution.  As the head of the Smithsonian's Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity (MAB) program, he has developed important and widely-recognized techniques for measuring and tracking changes in biodiversity. Dallmeier has worked all over the world in places as far reaching as Gabon and Peru focusing on ways to help environmental advocates and industry work together to reduce the impacts of human development.  MAB now has more than 300 research plots and trains scientists around the world in the tools and techniques of conservation biology.

For more, visit the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Friends of the National Zoo


Ynes Mexia (1870-1938)
Ynes Mexia found her true passions--botany and exploring--a bit later in life.  The daughter of a Mexican diplomat and an American socialite, Mexia was born in Washington, DC in 1870.  She made her first career as a social worker, and it wasn't until age 51 that she began taking classes in botany at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1925, she joined a botanical collecting expedition to Mexico sponsored by Stanford University but decided to break off from the group to collect on her own.  She returned with more than 1,500 plant specimens, but that was only the beginning.

Mexia went on to conduct collecting expeditions (often solo) in Alaska, the western U.S., Mexico, and South America, including a 4,800-kilometer canoe trip along the Amazon River. During her last expedition to Mexico, she became ill and was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died in 1938 shortly after her diagnosis.  Mexia's career in botany was short, but her contribution was large: in 13 years of work she collected nearly 150,000 specimens.  Among those, roughly 500 were new species, and two were new genera.

For more, visit JSTOR Plant Science and the UC Berkeley Jepson Herbaria


Dr. Ellen Ochoa (1958 - )
As a child growing up in La Mesa, CA, Ellen Ochoa loved math and music.  She earned her undergraduate degree in physics from San Diego State University, and was contemplating a career in business or as a classical flutist. In the end, she decided to go to graduate school for electrical engineering at Stanford University. In 1983, two years before Ochoa completed her Ph.D., Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, made her first shuttle mission.  Ochoa was inspired, in part by Ride, to apply for the astronaut program.  She was accepted and became an astronaut 1991.  She would soon become the first Latina to go to space.

Since then, Ochoa has logged 978 hours in space, earned three patents, and held a slew of leadership posts at NASA that include assignments on four space missions (at least one of which involved a flute recital in space).  Ochoa now serves as Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center and has received many awards for her work as an engineer, physicist, astronaut, and leader.  She has also traveled around the country sharing her experiences with students in the hopes that they will be inspired to dream big and follow their passions.

For more, visit Latina Women of NASA, the Lemelson-MIT Inventor Archive, and NASA News


Dr. Mario Molina (1943 - )
"I am heartened and humbled that I was able to do something that not only contributed to our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, but also had a profound impact on the global environment."

By age 11, Mario Molina had already decided that he wanted to be a research chemist.  Born in Mexico City in 1943, Molina was hooked on science the first time he peered through a microscope and saw tiny amoebas swimming around. He converted a little-used bathroom in his family's home to a chemistry lab, and, with the help of an aunt who was a chemist, began conducting chemistry experiments appropriate for college freshmen. After attending boarding school in Germany, Molina returned to Mexico to study chemical engineering at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).  When he graduated, Molina knew he wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, but he also knew his math and physics skills would be behind other students who had majored in physical chemistry.  He did some graduate coursework in Germany, spent several months studying math on his own, and taught at UNAM before eventually applying to get his doctorate at University of California at Berkeley.

With his Ph.D. in hand, Molina went to work in the lab of F. Sherwood Rowland at the University of California at Irvine. There, he began studying what happens to a class of nonreactive chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFC's, when they are released into the air.  Molina and Rowland quickly realized that when the sun breaks down CFC's in the upper atmosphere, the chlorine atoms released catalyze a reaction that destroys ozone molecules. That reaction, repeated over and over again, would eventually deplete and lead to thin spots in the Earth's protective layer of ozone.  This realization, combined with work by another scientist named Paul J. Crutzen who was studying the ozone layer over Antarctica, eventually led to a global ban on CFC's--and to the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the three researchers.

For more, visit the Nobel Prize Foundation


These are just a handful of the many, many inspiring stories out there, and it was extremely difficult to pick five.  Please share your thoughts with us: which Hispanic scientist(s) do you find most inspiring?


LEARN MORE
If you are interested in learning more about these and other Hispanic leaders in science, check out these resources.

Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science

SACNAS Biography Project

The Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES)

SHPE Foundation (Advancing Hispanic Excellence in Technology, Engineering, Math, and Science)

Latinos in Science, Math, and Professions by David E. Newton (book)

Tragedies in Science: The Crash of the Mars Climate Orbiter

In science, as in the rest of life, things don't always go as planned. From time to time, accidents, mistakes, and tragedies happen. In the worst cases, these experiences result in serious losses or even catastrophes that can affect many people. In less severe cases they are the painful (and sometimes expensive) blunders that we can eventually look back and laugh about.

But in almost every case--whether caused by bad luck, bad planning, lack of understanding, simple human error, or systemic problems in a research team or a society--there is something to be learned from these experiences. Always double check your unit conversions. Train your field crew for the harshest possible conditions and the worst case scenario. Recognize your colleagues and their contributions before it's too late.

The tragedies of science often don't appear in text books or journal articles, but they are just as much a part of science as any discovery or triumph. And, as you'll see in the first installment of our new Tragedies in Science blog series, even "rocket scientists" make mistakes. By taking a closer look at some of the accidents and tragedies of the past, we can find both practical lessons for the future and inspiration for how to persevere and learn from tragedy.


The Crash of the Mars Climate Orbiter 

An artist's concept showing NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter, which was
lost due to a unit conversion error 13 years ago. Image courtesy: NASA/JPL

September 23, 1999 should have been a day of excitement and celebration for researchers and science enthusiasts everywhere. That was the date--13 years ago this Sunday--that NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was supposed to claim its spot in orbit around the Red Planet, roughly 180 km above the Martian surface. From that vantage point, the Orbiter would monitor conditions and send information back to Earth as part of the Mars Surveyor Program, which launched a series of missions in the 1990's and 2000's to study one of our closest neighbors in the solar system.

But the $125 million Orbiter was doomed.

As the spacecraft neared its destination, the engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who were guiding the Orbiter thought everything was on target. Then, when the craft made it's final maneuvers to enter orbit, they lost communications. Something was wrong.

By examining data from the previous eight hours of the Orbiter's journey, NASA realized that the craft's approach had been much lower than intended--about 60 km above the planet's surface instead of 150 to 180 km. The altered course meant a rough ride through the Martian atmosphere that the Orbiter was not designed to withstand. The following day, the engineers concluded that the spacecraft had not survived the miscalculation, and the search for the Orbiter was abandoned.

Within a week of the accident, two committees (one internal and one composed of outside experts) had been formed to investigate what had gone wrong. They concluded that a simple mathematical and communications error was at the heart of the problem: one part of the mission team had used English units while the another part of the team had used metric units when making calculations related to the jet thrusters used to correct the Orbiter's trajectory during it's journey. A flubbed unit conversion had cost them a $125 million spacecraft, years of work, and untold scientific knowledge.

Luckily, unit conversion errors are an easy problem to fix, and you can bet NASA won't be repeating that mistake. In a statement released shortly after the crash, Dr. Edward Weiler, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science, said: "The problem here was not the error, it was the failure of NASA's systems engineering, and the checks and balances in our processes to detect the error. That's why we lost the spacecraft."
 

LEARN MORE 
Check out our Unit Conversion module for more about the Orbiter's demise and a primer on how to avoid a mistake like NASA's.

See Time's picks for the "Top 10 NASA Flubs."
 
And please let us know what you think of the first installment and the series as a whole! We are also always on the lookout for other tragic stories in science, so please share your ideas.

Image of the Week: Has the Elusive Higgs Boson been Found?

Unless you were hiding under a rock this week, you likely heard the buzz about the Higgs boson (or perhaps more accurately the "Higgs-like particle"). The sub-atomic particle, proposed in 1964 by Peter Higgs and other theorists, has eluded scientist for decades. But on Wednesday July 4th, scientists announced that they had amassed enough evidence to officially describe a new sub-atomic particle--one with characteristics closely matched to the long-sought-after Higgs boson.

Image © 2012 CERN

For two years, physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland have been smashing protons together at high speeds and observing the crash sites with sensitive detectors. They were looking for signs that the collisions had (at least occasionally) emitted a Higgs boson, which according to its theoretical properties would immediately decay into other particles. Our image of the week is a computer rendering of one of the experimental collisions. The yellow dotted lines and green towers radiating out from the crash show characteristics matching what scientists would expect to observe as a Higgs boson decayed into a pair of photons.

By examining the subatomic shrapnel from trillions of collisions, the scientists were able to conclude that they had indeed shaken loose this new Higgs-like particle.  This is big news because the Higgs boson is the last piece "missing" (undetected by science) from the "Standard Model" of particle physics that describes the structure of matter and our universe.

While the researchers are cautious about saying that the particle they have observed is definitely the Higgs boson, they are certain that it's a huge discovery for physics. And the possibility that it's a different, as-yet-unpredicted particle is equally as exciting. To gain a clearer picture of the discovery, the research teams will gather as much data as possible before the LHC shuts down for a two-year period of maintenance and upgrades.


Bonus footage! We selected an image of the week, but we couldn't resist sharing this video as well. NOVA produced it last year when scientists were still searching for evidence of the Higgs boson. It's a little dated in that respect, but it gives a nice, quick explanation of the Higgs boson and an interview with Peter Higgs.

Watch The Higgs Particle Matters on PBS. See more from NOVA.

Dig Deeper
Learn more about the LCH, the massive (27-kilometer-long) particle accelerator, where scientists labored to find evidence of the Higgs boson

Read the Science News story "Higgs Found" by Alexandra Witze

Beach Reads of the Science Variety

Looking for some titles to add to your summer reading list?
Check out some of the Visionlearning team's favorite books.  
Photo courtesy: Flickr User cmcgough. (CC)

Temperatures are on their way up and the swimming suits are coming out of hiding, which can only mean one thing: summer break. Before you buy the latest "beach lit" paperback to while away those sunny hours or download the entire Twilight saga to your e-reader, consider this humble suggestion: this summer, try a page-turner of the science variety.

Think we're joking? Not hardly.  The stories of science are full of complex and intriguing characters who experience, and are shaped by, all the same things as their fictional counterparts--conflict, mistakes, rivalry, passion, doubt, discovery, and luck, to name a few.  But these stories are even more compelling because they are true.

To get you started, we took a quick survey of the Visionlearning team's favorite (nonfiction) science books. They are a combination of recent releases and trusty classics, spanning the range of disciplines. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and we hope you will help improve it by critiquing our suggestions and offering up favorite titles in the comments section below. Happy reading!

ASTRONOMY
Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson
This collection of witty essays from well-known astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson runs the gamut, exploring what would happen if you actually fell into a black hole, the most egregious astronomy errors on the big screen, and everything in between.

The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak
In a book that is part scientific thriller, part character-driven drama, Marcia Bartusiak describes the exciting early days of modern astronomy in the United States. The characters, some of whom are rarely mentioned in pages of textbooks, show how breakthroughs are often not single moments of brilliance, but a collection of hard work, imagination, rivalry, and luck.


BIOLOGY
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
One of science's unsung heroes, Henrietta Lacks was a poor tobacco farmer from Virginia whose cells (taken without her consent) were grown in culture and used throughout decades of medical research on polio, cancer, the effects of radiation exposure, and much more. Yet Lacks died virtually unknown, and her family never received compensation from the multi-billion dollar industry that her cells made possible. Science writer Rebecca Skloot offers a riveting look at Lacks' story and her legacy, weaving together biology, business, ethics, and the ties that bind families together.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Science writer Mary Roach blends humor, science, and old-fashioned grossology as she explores the fascinating exploits and scientific contributions of human bodies--after they're dead.

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen
As a winner of the John Burroughs Medal, David Quammen is known for his nature writing, but his ability to write about human nature and all our quirks and foibles is equally impressive. This book takes readers back to the 19th century to trace the journey of Charles Darwin--not so much his fabled voyage aboard the HMS Beagle,  but his intellectual and emotional struggle to understand the evidence for natural selection piling up before him.

Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden
Evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden takes readers on a fascinating tour of sexual diversity among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, challenging traditional notions of gender and sexuality in the animal kingdom and human society.

The Journey of Man by Spencer Wells
Using DNA as a guide, population geneticist Spencer Wells maps all of human history, from our earliest common ancestor to the global diversity we see today, and illuminates the surprising links that connect all of humankind.


CHEMISTRY
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
Prolific author Steven Johnson tells the quirky, dramatic story of Joseph Priestley--an 18th century scientist, minister, and associate of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, whose intellectual contributions spanned chemistry, theology, and politics.

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi
Writer, chemist, and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi blends memoir and science writing to tell the beautiful, poignant stories of his life and community--using one element from the periodic table to anchor each chapter.


EARTH SCIENCE
The Two-Mile Time Machine by Richard Alley
Climatologist  Richard Alley offers a glimpse into the world of a climate sleuth and a history of Earth's climate as written in the rings of Greenland's ice cores.

Basin and Range by John McPhee
A classic from Pulitzer Prize-winner John McPhee, Basin and Range is a poetic exploration of the rugged terrain along Interstate-80 through Utah, Nevada, and California--and the geologic processes that created it. A great book for anyone who has ever looked at a landscape and wondered how it came to be.

The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester
Prolific journalist and author Simon Winchester chronicles the story of William Smith--a British coal miner whose on-the-job observations of patterns in rock layers and fossils beds led him to develop the first geologic map of the strata beneath the Earth's surface. The map was not greeted with the acclaim one might expect, but Smith and the power of his idea ultimately triumphed.


ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & NATURE WRITING
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Journalist Richard Louv examines the body of research showing how healthy childhood development is linked with direct exposure to the natural world and makes a compelling case that the current "wired generation" is seriously threatened by "nature deficit disorder."

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
From the dizzying overabundance of a modern supermarket to the quiet intensity of wild mushroom gathering, Michael Pollan tackles the seemingly simple but ultimately profound question: what should we have for dinner?

The Sea Around Us by Rachel Carson
Today, marine biologist Rachel Carson is probably best remembered for her book Silent Spring and its role in chronicling the effects of pesticides and jumpstarting the American environmental movement. But a decade earlier, in 1951, Carson penned this beautiful, best-selling treatise on the science and poetry of the sea.

The Whale and the Supercomputer by Charles Wohlforth
Journalist and lifelong Alaskan Charles Wohlforth takes readers on a journey to the far North, where climate change is very tangible--to both the scientists studying it and the native people struggling to cope with it.


PHYSICS
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog by Chad Orzel
Physicist Chad Orzel, and his curious dog, Emmy, offer a fun, engaging, and truly unique way to explore quantum mechanics. By considering such practical questions as how to catch a squirrel or locate a bone, Orzel and Emmy dig into the history and technical details of weighty topics like particle-wave duality, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and quantum entanglement.

Einstein: His Life and the Universe by Walter Isaacson
Acclaimed biographer Walter Isaacson examines the life and world-changing ideas of Albert Einstein. Like many icons of history and science, Einstein is surrounded by legends, and Isaacson offers an interesting new take on what is fact and what is folklore.


TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
The Code Book by Simon Singh
Physicist-turned-award-winning-journalist Simon Singh explores the history and science underlying the secret world of codes and cryptography from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Internet security.

The Human Factor by Kim Vincente
If you've ever felt confused, frustrated, or even endangered by the very technology that is supposed to make life easier and safer, you are not alone. Scientist and engineer Kim Vincente offers a compelling look at how technology has failed us and how we can make dramatic improvements in our satisfaction and safety by factoring the realities of human needs, limits, and habits into technology design.

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature by Janine Benyus
Writer, educator, and sustainability consultant Janine Benyus presents a simple but powerful strategy for good design: ask nature. She argues, using compelling examples, that we can learn to design cleaner, more efficient products and technologies by studying nature's 3.8 billion-year record of innovation.


INTERDISCIPLINARY READS
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
Renowned travel and nature writer Bill Bryson offers a quick and cheeky tour of, well…everything, from the beginning of the universe to the rise of modern human society. Not content to simply rehash what we know, Bryson takes readers on a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening quest to understand how we know what we know.

Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway
Science historians Naomi Oreskes and Eric Conway shine the light on a group of high-level scientists who have repeatedly been the voices of dissent on topics like acid rain, climate change, DDT, and secondhand smoke and examine what can happen when scientific research is at odds with political motives.

Finally, we would be remiss not to mention Visionlearning's own book: The Process of Science by Anthony Carpi and Anne Egger
Using examples drawn from everyday life as well as historical case studies from nearly every branch of science, Carpi and Egger offer a clear and concise explanation of how science really works. While that may not sound like the first thing you'd normally toss in your beach bag, The Process of Science is an easy read and great way to reinvigorate (or start) a thirst for scientific thinking. If you're a student considering a career in science or a teacher looking for resources to help students engage in science, this is a must-read.