Bonus 3: Gender and Sexual Orientation Among STEM Nobel Prize Laureates

Lux & Flux: The History and Philosophy of Physics Podcast

This is an audio-friendly version of the talk I gave at the UBC Gender Equity & STEM Virtual Conference on November 14, 2020.

Abstract:
One of the most famous awards in history, the Nobel prizes are given for the most important academic, cultural, and scientific advances around the world. Nobel laureates are some of the top scientists worldwide, however, of the 624 prizes in science awarded to date, only 23 have gone to women. The prizes also reflect the underrepresentation of other groups in scientific fields. There is a documented racial/ethnic disparity among laureates and there have been no LGBTQ+ Nobel laureates in science (though there have been 6 in Literature and 1 in Peace). Important groups of people are being left out of the prizes and their contributions to science are not being recognized through the Nobel program. In this short talk, I will discuss the Nobel prize statistics, some of the reasons for the disparities, as well as some actions that have been and can be taken to improve diversity among Nobel laureates.