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Two-thirds of the world can't pass this basic financial literacy test. Can you? - Quartz - 0 views

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    "We could all use a crash course in personal finance. Two-thirds of people around the world failed a short test of basic financial concepts. The five-question test-created by Standard & Poor's, Gallup, the World Bank, and George Washington University-was posed to 150,000 people in more than 140 countries last year. It tests understanding of risk, inflation, interest, and compound interest. To pass, people had to demonstrate competency in three out of four topics. Yet just 33% of people were able to do that. See how you fare on this slightly modified version of the quiz. After each question, we'll tell you how various countries did on it, too."
izz aty

EFL/ESL Teaching Techniques from The Internet TESL Journal - 0 views

  • Adults
  • Adapting the L2 Classroom for Age-related Vision ImpairmentsBy Jessica A. ThonnTeaching Adult ESL LearnersBy Yi Yang
  • Authentic Materials / Realia
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  • Effective Ways to Use Authentic Materials with ESL/EFL StudentsBy Charles Kelly, Lawrence Kelly, Mark Offner and Bruce VorlandAuthentic Materials and Cultural Content in EFL ClassroomsBy Ferit KilickayaUsing Creative Thinking to Find New Uses for RealiaBy Simon Mumford
  • Autonomy
  • My Philosophy for Teaching English for BusinessBy Lawrence BaronUsing Authentic Business Transcripts in the ESL ClassroomBy Jonathan CliftonTeaching Business Communication to LEP StudentsBy Ken LauFrameworking in Business English ClassesBy John AdamsonTeaching Tips for ESL University Business English InstructorsBy William BrooksMethodology for Using Case Studies in the Business English Language ClassroomBy Peter Daly
  • Becoming a Better Teacher
  • Matching Teaching Styles with Learning Styles in East Asian ContextsBy Rao ZhenhuiTeam Teaching Tips for Foreign Language TeachersBy Rebecca Benoit and Bridget HaughThe Importance of Eye Contact in the ClassroomBy Robert Ledbury, Ian White and Steve Darn
  • Business English
  • Three Activities to Promote Learners' AutonomyBy Galina KavaliauskienëGetting Students Actively Involved Using "The Mistake Buster" TechniqueBy Hai K.P. Huynh
  • Classroom Management
  • Perpetual Motion: Keeping the Language Classroom MovingA technique that allows students to practice with as many different partners as possible.By Christopher KelenInteresting Ways to Call Roll in JapanBy Lawrence KlepingerLet Your Students Teach Their ClassBy Naoyoshi Ogawa and Dennis WilkinsonEncouraging Students to Interact with the TeacherBy Roger NunnWhat to Do with Failing StudentsBy Marty DawleyCultural Kickboxing in the ESL Classroom: Encouraging Active ParticipationBy Jan Guidry LacinaA Group Introduction Activity to Create a Safe AtmosphereBy Clay Bussinger
  • Computers
  • Using Presentation Software to Enhance Language LearningBy Miriam Schcolnik and Sara KolQuick Tips for the CALL LaboratoryBy Brian Cullen and John MorrisUsing PowerPoint for ESL TeachingBy Don L. Fisher
  • Culture
  • Encouraging English Expression through Script-based ImprovisationsBy Manette R. BerlingerTeaching Conversation Skills With Content Based MaterialsBy Greg GoodmacherUsing Pair TapingBy Peter H. SchneiderTeaching Conversation Strategies Through Pair-TapingBy Nancy Washburn and Kiel ChristiansonBoosting Speaking Fluency through Partner TapingBy David E. Kluge and Matthew A. TaylorOvercoming Chinese-English Colloquial Habits in WritingBy Ted KnoyCommunicative Language Teaching in a Multimedia Language LabBy Shih-Jen Huang and Hsiao-Fang LiuIt's on the Cards: Adapting a Board-game Communicative ActivityBy Bob Gibson Leaving the Room: An Introduction to Theme-Based Oral EnglishBy Stewart Wachs
  • The Talking Stick: An American Indian Tradition in the ESL ClassroomBy Kimberly FujiokaRole Playing/SimulationBy Patricia K. TompkinsBrainstorming Before Speaking TasksBy Brian CullenTeach Students to Interact, Not Just TalkBy Gerard CounihanFive Steps to Using Your Textbook to Build a More Dynamic EFL Conversation ClassBy Stephen B. RyanDialog Performances: Developing Effective Communication Strategies for Non-English Majors in Japanese UniversitiesBy Susan Gilfert and Robert CrokerOvercoming Common Problems Related to Communicative MethodologyBy Stephen B. RyanDesigning Simple Interactive Tasks for Small GroupsBy Roger NunnTips for Teaching Conversation in the Multilingual ESL ClassroomBy Cara PulickTeaching "How are You" to ESL StudentsBy Brendan DalyUsing Games to Promote Communicative Skills in Language LearningBy Chen, I-JungFacilitating English Conversation Development in Large ClassroomsBy Gerry GibsonHelping EFL/ESL Students by Asking Quality QuestionsBy Nasreen HussainSuccessful Classroom Discussions with Adult Korean ESL/EFL LearnersBy Hye-Yeon Lim & W. I. GriffithIncreasing Authentic Speech in Classroom DiscussionsBy Georgia SmyrniouDesigning Simple Interactive Tasks for Small GroupsBy Roger NunnA Practical and Effective Way to Enhance the ESL Students' Oral CompetenceBy Yichu Qi
  • Conversation / Oral English
  • Practical Techniques for Teaching Culture in the EFL ClassroomBy Brian Cullen and Kazuyoshi SatoRole Play in Teaching Culture: Six Quick Steps for Classroom ImplementationBy Maria A. KodotchigovaCompliments: Integrating Cultural Values into Oral English ClassesBy Chou, Yen-LinRole Play in Teaching Culture: Six Quick Steps for Classroom ImplementationBy Maria A. KodotchigovaGuidelines to Evaluate Cultural Content in TextbooksBy Ferit Kilickaya
  • Drama
  • Drama Techniques for Teaching EnglishBy Vani Chauhan
  • Four Skills
  • Using Picture Dictation Exercises for Practising All Four SkillsBy Sylvia Sao Leng IeongTeaching the Four Skills in the Primary EFL ClassroomBy Marcos Peñate Cabrera and Plácido Bazo
  • Ideas
  • The Structural Drill in Remedial TeachingBy Felix MosesClassroom Techniques for Contextualization:How to make "This is a pen." a pragmatically motivated utterance.By Yoshinori SasakiA Technique for Practising Conditional SentencesBy Galina KavaliauskieneGrammar Correction in ESL/EFL Writing Classes May Not Be EffectiveBy Ronald GrayDoing Things with Sentences in the ESL ClassroomBy Simon MumfordTeaching ESL Students to "Notice" GrammarBy Francis J. Noonan IIIUsing Simple Poems to Teach GrammarBy Hawanum HusseinCommunicative Grammar -- It's Time to Talk.By Noriko NishiguchiEmpowering English Teachers to Grapple with Errors in GrammarBy Caroline Mei Lin HoHelping Students with ModalsBy Michael ThompsonA Technique for Practising Conditional SentencesBy Galina Kavaliauskiene
  • Humor
  • Using Humour in the Second Language ClassroomBy Paul-Emile Chiasson
  • Grammar
  • Using the Internet in ESL Writing InstructionBy Jarek KrajkaSome Possibilities for Using On-line Newspapers in the ESL ClassroomBy Jarek KrajkaGetting Your Class ConnectedSome ideas on using e-mail and homepages.By Dennis E. WilkinsonActivities for Using Junk Email in the ESL/EFL ClassroomBy Suggested ways to use junk mail and some ready-to-use handouts for the classroom.By Michael IvyLet the E-mail Software Do the Work: Time Saving Features for the Writing TeacherBy Ron BelisleDiscussion Forums for ESL LearningBy Peter ConnellReport on a Penpal Project, and Tips for Penpal-Project SuccessBy Vera MelloUsing E-mail in Foreign Language Teaching: Rationale and SuggestionsBy Margaret Gonglewski, Christine Meloni and Jocelyne BrantHow to Build a Multimedia Website for Language StudyBy Randall S. DavisMaking Chat Activities with Native Speakers Meaningful for EFL LearnersBy Jo MynardInteractivity Tools in Online LearningBy Chien-Ching LeeTeaching Search Engines to ESL Students: Avoiding the AvalancheBy Kirsten LincolnTeaching EFL/ESL Students How to Use Search Engines and Develop their EnglishBy Rupert HeringtonInteractivity Tools in Online LearningBy Chien-Ching LeeMaking Chat Activities with Native Speakers Meaningful for EFL LearnersBy Jo MynardHow to Build a Multimedia Website for Language StudyBy Randall S. DavisQuick Tips for the CALL LaboratoryBy Brian Cullen and John MorrisCreating a Learning Community Through Electronic JournalingBy Anne BollatiA Model of Team Teaching in a Web-mediated EAP CourseBy Mihye Harker & Dimitra KoutsantoniUsing LiveJournal for Authentic Communication in EFL ClassesBy Aaron Patric CampbellWeblogs for Use with ESL ClassesBy Aaron Patric Campbell
  • 75 ESL Teaching IdeasBy Hall Houston
  • Redesigning Non-Task-Based Materials to Fit a Task-Based FrameworkBy Kevin RooneyA Holistic Classroom Activity - The Class SurveyBy Roger NunnThree Activities to Promote Learners' AutonomyBy Galina Kavaliauskienë
  • Music and Song in DiscussionBy Brian CullenSong DictationBy Brian CullenTeaching Phrasal Verbs Using SongsBy Subrahmanian UpendranHelping Prospective EFL Teachers Learn How to Use Songs in Teaching Conversation ClassesBy Natalia F. OrlovaFocused Listening with SongsBy Isaiah WonHo Yoo
  • Getting the Most from Textbook Listening ActivitiesBy Thomas LavelleTraining for Impromptu Speaking and Testing Active Listening With a Focus on Japanese StudentsBy Cecilia B-IkeguchiDictation DrawingBy Brian GroverReal Audio to Augment Real Listening in the ESL ClassroomBy Frank TuziSelf-Instruction by Audio CassetteBy John SmallDictation as a Language Learning DeviceBy Scott AlkireFocused Listening with SongsBy Isaiah WonHo YooListening Activities for Effective Top-down ProcessingBy Ji LingzhuDictation as a Language Learning DeviceBy Scott Alkire
  • Material Development / Activity Ideas
  • Internet
  • Motivation
  • Sustaining an Interest in Learning English and Increasing the Motivation to Learn English: An Enrichment ProgramBy Supyan Hussin, Nooreiny Maarof, and J. V. D'CruzHelping ESL Learners to See Their Own ImprovementBy Upendran SubrahmanianCommunicating SuccessBy Trevor SargentCreative and Critical Thinking in Language ClassroomsBy Muhammad Kamarul KabilanLearner Training for Learner Autonomy on Summer Language CoursesBy Ciarán P. McCarthyEncouraging Students to Become Stakeholders in the ESL ClassroomBy Karen BordonaroMotivation in the ESL ClassroomBy William T. Lile
  • Music and Songs
  • Listening
  • Pronunciation
  • Some Techniques for Teaching PronunciationBy David F. DaltonTesting Some Suprasegmental Features of English SpeechBy Mehmet CelikTeaching English Intonation to EFL/ESLStudentsBy Mehmet CelikReverse Accent Mimicry: An Accent Reduction Technique for Second Language LearnersBy Laurence M. HiltonA Quick Way to Improve /r/ and /l/ PronunciationBy Tim GreerTeaching English Intonation to EFL/ESLStudentsBy Mehmet Celik
  • Teaching Debate to ESL Students: A Six-Class UnitBy Daniel KriegerGuiding ESL Students Towards Independent Speech MakingBy Françoise Nunn and Roger NunnA Genre Approach to Oral PresentationsBy Fiona Webster
  • Public Speaking
  • Teaching EFL/ESL Students How to Read Time and NewsweekBy J. Ignacio BermejoGraffiti for ESL ReadersDescribes an activity using content-based articles.By Brent BuhlerReading and Writing through Neuro-Linguistic ProgrammingBy Tom MaguireHow to Read Nonfictional English Text Faster and More EffectivelyBy Helmut StiefenhöferWhat Do We Test When We Test Reading Comprehension?By Akmar MohamadTeaching ESL Reading Using ComputersBy Saad AlKahtaniAn Integrated Approach to Teaching Literature in the EFL ClassroomBy Christine SavvidouA Fun Reading Quiz GameBy Madhavi Gayathri RamanReading Aloud (Out Loud) in Conversational English Classes By Derek KellyUsing Children's Literature with Young LearnersBy Eowyn BrownUsing News Stories in the ESL ClassroomBy Robin Antepara
  • Reading
  • Testing
  • A Method for Oral Testing in University English Programs at Korean UniversitiesBy David B. KentMeasuring Word Recognition Using a PictureBy Jungok Bae
  • Video
  • Developing Film Study GuidesBy Donna Hurst TatsukiDeveloping an English for Specific Purposes Course Using a Learner Centered Approach: A Russian ExperienceBy Pavel V. SysoyevVideotaping an English Mini-drama in Your ClassroomBy David G. MagnussonUsing CNN News Video in the EFL ClassroomBy Alan S. MackenzieContent Video in the EFL ClassroomBy Michael FurmanovskyCaptioned Video: Making it Work for YouBy Randall S. DavisUsing Movie Trailers in an ESL CALL ClassBy John GebhardtVideo Production in the Foreign Language Classroom: Some Practical IdeasBy Sebastian Brooke
  • Vocabulary
  • Personal Vocabulary NotesBy Joshua KurzweilLearner-centered Vocabulary Building PracticeBy Sadia Yasser AliA Learner-Centred Approach to Vocabulary Review Using BingoBy Galina KavaliauskienëSongs, Verse and Games for Teaching GrammarBy Arif Saricoban & Esen MetinDeductive & Inductive Lessons for Saudi EFL Freshmen StudentsBy Mohammed Y. Al-KharratWarm-up Exercises in Listening ClassesBy Zhang Yi JunGetting Japanese Children to Make Use of Naturally-sounding English in the ClassroomBy Junko YamamotoVocabulary Teaching Using Student-Written DialoguesBy Alice Dana Delaney WalkerTeaching Vocabulary to Japanese Students: A Lexical ApproachBy Kwabena AsareDrilling Can Be FunBy Simon MumfordThe Use of Corpora in the Vocabulary ClassroomBy Yu Hua ChenBuilding Vocabulary Through Prefixes, Roots & SuffixesBy William PittmanPersonal Vocabulary NotesBy Joshua KurzweilTeaching Vocabulary to Japanese Students: A Lexical ApproachBy Kwabena AsareMeasuring Word Recognition Using a PictureBy Jungok Bae
  • Writing
  • Secret Partner Journals for Motivation, Fluency and FunBy Timothy StewartReading and Writing through Neuro-Linguistic ProgrammingBy Tom MaguireA Peer Review Activity for Essay OrganizationBy Bob GibsonMaking Jigsaw Activities Using Newspaper ArticlesBy David DycusUsing Postcards in the ClassroomBy Peter LobellLess Is More: Summary Writing and Sentence Structure in the Advanced ESL ClassroomBy George L. GreaneyTeaching Integrated Writing SkillsBy Cecilia B-IkeguchiCorrecting Students' WritingBy Bryan MurphyUsing E-mail in EFL Writing ClassesBy Eui-Kap LeeApproaching Writing Skills through Fairy TalesBy Silvia BrutiTeaching ESL/EFL Students to Write BetterBy Yesim CimcozEnglish Writing Program for Engineering StudentsBy Hui Mien TanFreewriting, Prompts and FeedbackBy Kenneth J. DicksonPortfolios and Process Writing: A Practical ApproachBy Simon ReaInteractive Writing in the EFL Class: A Repertoire of TasksBy María Palmira Massi
  • Using Cooperative Learning to Integrate Thinking and Information Technology in a Content-Based Writing LessonBy Gabriel Tan, Patrick B Gallo, George M Jacobs and Christine Kim-Eng LeeEncouraging Engineering Students to Write Simple EssaysBy Thevy RajaretnamIntegrating Writing with ReadingBy Yang ShuyingThe Process Writing MethodBy Daniel J. JarvisSuggestions for Evaluating ESL Writing HolisticallyBy Matthew W. CurrierDeveloping Writing Skills in a Foreign Language via the InternetBy Roger C. KenworthyCreating a Writing Course Utilizing Class and Student BlogsBy Andrew JohnsonA Fun Way to Generate Ideas for Comparison ParagraphsBy Melodie CookSeeing is Understanding: Improving Coherence in Students' Writing By Chien-Ching LeeDeveloping Task-based Writing with Adolescent EFL StudentsBy Maria CabralProviding Feedback on ESL Students' Written AssignmentsBy Jason Gordon WilliamsSimple Steps to Successful Revision in L2 WritingBy Catherine ColemanTeaching TESOL Undergraduates to Organize and Write Literature ReviewsBy Roberto CriolloThe Process Writing MethodBy Daniel J. JarvisIntegrating Writing with ReadingBy Yang ShuyingEncouraging Engineering Students to Write Simple EssaysBy Thevy Rajaretnam
  • Other
  • Maximizing Study Trips AbroadBy Howard HigaThe Application of Universal Instructional Design to ESL TeachingBy Kregg C. StrehornBaFa BaFa: Does it Work with University EFL Learners?By Donald Glenn CarrollA Tutor-Guided Learning Scheme in a Self-Access CentreBy Lai Lai KwanImproving Science Students' Fluency through Project WorkBy Nebila Dhieb-HeniaUsing Service-Learning as Part of an ESL ProgramBy James M. MinorIncorporating Critical Thinking Skills Development into ESL/EFL CoursesBy Andy HalvorsenHelping ESL Learners to Minimize Collocational ErrorsBy Rotimi TaiwoUsing Concept Maps to Gauge Students' UnderstandingBy Lee Chien ChingContent Based ESL Curriculum and Academic Language ProficiencyBy Clara Lee BrownUsing Pictures from MagazinesBy Joep van der WerffEnhancing Critical Thinking with Structured Controversial DialoguesBy Hanizah Zainuddin & Rashid A. MooreUsing Expectations to Improve LearningBy Gena BennettIntegrating Language Learning Strategy Instruction into ESL/EFL LessonsBy Catherine Y. KinoshitaUsing Checklists to "Standardise" ContentBy Chien-Ching LeeGames in the ESL and EFL ClassBy Angkana DeesriOvercoming Common Problems Related to Communicative MethodologyBy Stephen B. Ryan
izz aty

YouTube: Folk High Schools, Adult Education, and the Philosophy of Nicholaj Grundtvig - 0 views

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    ""Grundtvig is our man for this time. He's still relevant," says Clay Warren, a professor of communication at George Washington University and author of The School for Life: N.F.S. Grundtvig on the Education for the People. Nikolaj Grundtvig, a 19th century Danish educator and a contemporary of Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard, helped pioneer the folk high school, an adult educational institution that is common in Scandinava. The school does not grant academic degrees but rather fosters intellectual thinking and discussions through community engagement. Warren sat down with Reason's Nick Gillespie to discuss his book, the educational philosophy underpinning Grundtvig's work, as well as Grundtvig's emphasis on individual potential and development. "
izz aty

(1) Malaysia's English language crisis ---- - this... - We are NOT Malaysian Zombies - 0 views

  • During the British colonial era, schools used English as the medium of instruction. This continued after independence in 1957 and many English teachers either came from the United Kingdom or were trained there. "In the 1960s, one of the books read and discussed in English classes by sixteen-year-olds was George Orwell's "Animal Farm", recalled Andrew Yip, 60, a shopkeeper in Ipoh, Perak. In 1970, the Malaysian government began requiring all state-funded schools to use Malay to teach, to build nationalism; though English remained a compulsory subject. Many English teachers were phased out. Over the years, students' academic performances declined.
  • In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment, an international benchmark on students' performance in reading, science and mathematics, Malaysian students were in the bottom third among 74 countries. By contrast, 15-year-old students in Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea appeared to have the equivalent of another three or more years of schooling compared to Malaysian students.
  • To compensate, middle-class parents are increasingly sending their children for tuition, or to private schools, as they lose confidence in the quality of education in national schools.
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  • According to Jobstreet.com Malaysia, a recruitment agency, poor English is among the top complaints that employers have about fresh graduates.
  • Teachers who spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity said it was impossible to meet the ministry's English "must-pass" target in two years. Habibah said they aim to prove sceptics wrong. Her agency is named Padu, or the Performance and Delivery Unit. Starting in November last year, some 14,000 teachers have been enrolled on crash courses in English. After school hours, they take lessons online and attend classes taught by teachers from the British Council and English university lecturers. Upon finishing 480 hours of studies, they are reassessed. Those who fail are redeployed to teach other subjects.
  • Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has called for a return to teaching science and mathematics in English, a policy introduced by him in 2003 and scrapped by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009. Such flip-flops, said Dr Kua Kia Soong, an educator, have hurt students. "They have affected students' concentration in grasping the language," he said.
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    "Govt anxious to counter slump in test results by local students IN PERAK on the northern Peninsular Malaysia, an English teacher uses textbooks meant for seven-year-olds to teach her Form One class of students, mostly aged 13. "When I first taught them, they could not even tell the difference between 'when' and 'what'," the teacher, who wants to be known only as Yee, told The Straits Times recently. "I had to put my planned lessons aside and start with the basics." It is the type of story many English teachers in Malaysia share, but are reluctant to speak openly about because they worry about being sanctioned by the education ministry."
izz aty

Malaysia's English language crisis - The Nation - 0 views

  • when the ministry recently announced that from 2016 onwards, students in Form Five - the equivalent of a GCE O-level class in Singapore - must pass English before they can obtain their school-leaving certificates, it set tongues wagging. After all, last year, almost a quarter of 470,000 Form Five students failed English, and only 16 per cent of them scored highly in the language.
  • The ministry is now working overtime to re-train thousands of English teachers around the country to try and meet the 2016 deadline.
  • "It is an ambitious goal, but we cannot tolerate students not being able to communicate in English any more," Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim, head of a new agency within the ministry, told The Straits Times in a recent interview. "Something needs to be done."
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  • During the British colonial era, schools used English as the medium of instruction. This continued after independence in 1957 and many English teachers either came from the United Kingdom or were trained there. "In the 1960s, one of the books read and discussed in English classes by sixteen-year-olds was George Orwell's "Animal Farm", recalled Andrew Yip, 60, a shopkeeper in Ipoh, Perak. In 1970, the Malaysian government began requiring all state-funded schools to use Malay to teach, to build nationalism; though English remained a compulsory subject. Many English teachers were phased out. Over the years, students' academic performances declined.
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    "IN PERAK on the northern Peninsular Malaysia, an English teacher uses textbooks meant for seven-year-olds to teach her Form One class of students, mostly aged 13. "When I first taught them, they could not even tell the difference between 'when' and 'what'," the teacher, who wants to be known only as Yee, told The Straits Times recently. "I had to put my planned lessons aside and start with the basics." It is the type of story many English teachers in Malaysia share, but are reluctant to speak openly about because they worry about being sanctioned by the education ministry. And so, when the ministry recently announced that from 2016 onwards, students in Form Five - the equivalent of a GCE O-level class in Singapore - must pass English before they can obtain their school-leaving certificates, it set tongues wagging. After all, last year, almost a quarter of 470,000 Form Five students failed English, and only 16 per cent of them scored highly in the language."
izz aty

6 Women Scientists Who Were Snubbed Due to Sexism - 0 views

  • Several people posted comments about our story that noted one name was missing from the Nobel roster: Rosalind Franklin, a British biophysicist who also studied DNA. Her data were critical to Crick and Watson's work. But it turns out that Franklin would not have been eligible for the prize—she had passed away four years before Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the prize, and the Nobel is never awarded posthumously.But even if she had been alive, she may still have been overlooked. Like many women scientists, Franklin was robbed of recognition throughout her career (See her section below for details.)
  • Pulsars are the remnants of massive stars that went supernova. Their very existence demonstrates that these giants didn't blow themselves into oblivion—instead, they left behind small, incredibly dense, rotating stars.Bell Burnell discovered the recurring signals given off by their rotation while analyzing data printed out on three miles of paper from a radio telescope she helped assemble.The finding resulted in a Nobel Prize, but the 1974 award in physics went to Anthony Hewish—Bell Burnell's supervisor—and Martin Ryle, also a radio astronomer at Cambridge University.The snub generated a "wave of sympathy" for Bell Burnell. But in an interview with National Geographic News this month, the astronomer was fairly matter-of-fact.
  • despite the sympathy, and her groundbreaking work, Bell Burnell said she was still subject to the prevailing attitudes toward women in academia.
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  • "[And] it was extremely hard combining family and career," Bell Burnell said, partly because the university where she worked while pregnant had no provisions for maternity leave.
  • Born in 1922 in the Bronx, Esther Lederberg would grow up to lay the groundwork for future discoveries on genetic inheritance in bacteria, gene regulation, and genetic recombination.A microbiologist, she is perhaps best known for discovering a virus that infects bacteria—called the lambda bacteriophage—in 1951, while at the University of Wisconsin.Lederberg, along with her first husband Joshua Lederberg, also developed a way to easily transfer bacterial colonies from one petri dish to another, called replica plating, which enabled the study of antibiotic resistance. The Lederberg method is still in use today.Joshua Lederberg's work on replica plating played a part in his 1958 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, which he shared with George Beadle and Edward Tatum."She deserved credit for the discovery of lambda phage, her work on the F fertility factor, and, especially, replica plating," wrote Stanley Falkow, a retired microbiologist at Stanford University, in an email. But she didn't receive it.
  • Lise Meitner's work in nuclear physics led to the discovery of nuclear fission—the fact that atomic nuclei can split in two. That finding laid the groundwork for the atomic bomb.Her story is a complicated tangle of sexism, politics, and ethnicity.After finishing her doctoral degree in physics at the University of Vienna, Meitner moved to Berlin in 1907 and started collaborating with chemist Otto Hahn. They maintained their working relationship for more than 30 years.After the Nazis annexed Austria in March 1938, Meitner, who was Jewish, made her way to Stockholm, Sweden. She continued to work with Hahn, corresponding and meeting secretly in Copenhagen in November of that year.Although Hahn performed the experiments that produced the evidence supporting the idea of nuclear fission, he was unable to come up with an explanation. Meitner and her nephew, Otto Frisch, came up with the theory.Hahn published their findings without including Meitner as a co-author, although several accounts say Meitner understood this omission, given the situation in Nazi Germany."That's the start of how Meitner got separated from the credit of discovering nuclear fission," said Lewin Sime, who wrote a biography of Meitner.
  • Chien-Shiung Wu overturned a law of physics and participated in the development of the atom bomb.Wu was recruited to Columbia University in the 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project and conducted research on radiation detection and uranium enrichment. She stayed in the United States after the war and became known as one of the best experimental physicists of her time, said Nina Byers, a retired physics professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.In the mid-1950s, two theoretical physicists, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, approached Wu to help disprove the law of parity. The law holds that in quantum mechanics, two physical systems—like atoms—that were mirror images would behave in identical ways.Wu's experiments using cobalt-60, a radioactive form of the cobalt metal, upended this law, which had been accepted for 30 years.This milestone in physics led to a 1957 Nobel Prize for Yang and Lee—but not for Wu, who was left out despite her critical role. "People found [the Nobel decision] outrageous," said Byers.Pnina Abir-Am, a historian of science at Brandeis University, agreed, adding that ethnicity also played a role.
  • Rosalind Franklin used x-rays to take a picture of DNA that would change biology.Hers is perhaps one of the most well-known—and shameful—instances of a researcher being robbed of credit, said Lewin Sime.Franklin graduated with a doctorate in physical chemistry from Cambridge University in 1945, then spent three years at an institute in Paris where she learned x-ray diffraction techniques, or the ability to determine the molecular structures of crystals. (Learn more about her education and qualifications.)She returned to England in 1951 as a research associate in John Randall's laboratory at King's College in London and soon encountered Maurice Wilkins, who was leading his own research group studying the structure of DNA.Franklin and Wilkins worked on separate DNA projects, but by some accounts, Wilkins mistook Franklin's role in Randall's lab as that of an assistant rather than head of her own project.Meanwhile, James Watson and Francis Crick, both at Cambridge University, were also trying to determine the structure of DNA. They communicated with Wilkins, who at some point showed them Franklin's image of DNA—known as Photo 51—without her knowledge.Photo 51 enabled Watson, Crick, and Wilkins to deduce the correct structure for DNA, which they published in a series of articles in the journal Nature in April 1953. Franklin also published in the same issue, providing further details on DNA's structure.Franklin's image of the DNA molecule was key to deciphering its structure, but only Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work.
  • Nettie Stevens performed studies crucial in determining that an organism's sex was dictated by its chromosomes rather than environmental or other factors.After receiving her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, Stevens continued at the college as a researcher studying sex determination.By working on mealworms, she was able to deduce that the males produced sperm with X and Y chromosomes—the sex chromosomes—and that females produced reproductive cells with only X chromosomes. This was evidence supporting the theory that sex determination is directed by an organism's genetics.A fellow researcher, named Edmund Wilson, is said to have done similar work, but came to the same conclusion later than Stevens did.Stevens fell victim to a phenomenon known as the Matilda Effect—the repression or denial of the contributions of female researchers to science.Thomas Hunt Morgan, a prominent geneticist at the time, is often credited with discovering the genetic basis for sex determination, said Pomona College's Hoopes. He was the first to write a genetics textbook, she noted, and he wanted to magnify his contributions."Textbooks have this terrible tendency to choose the same evidence as other textbooks," she added. And so Stevens' name was not associated with the discovery of sex determination.
  • the first wife of Albert Einstein should be in this list. People know so little about her, and I think she deserves to be known. 
  • Vera Rubin, for accurate studies discovering dark matter.
  • How sadly ironic that the very woman who set the stage for the  DNA structure discovery, which in 1994 helped make it possible to genetically test and confirm BRCA carriers like Angelina Jolie and me (with familial cancer holocausts generation, after generation, after generation), did not have access the test that could have saved her life so she could go on with the research she loved and win a Nobel Prize.
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