L’Oreal, maker of cosmetic products, has been teaming up with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) annually for the past eight years to honor women in science. Honorees get a cool $100,000 and a fancy award show in Paris, but for some reason the show doesn’t get the same ratings as the Academy Awards. Why on earth not?
Jennifer Lopez, shown here dressed as a cucumber, starred in the instant classic Gigli.
Christine Van Broeckhoven helped make strides toward a future where grandma recognizes you and can still do the crossword at 85.
Okay, that wasn’t fair. I fully understand why people would rather watch Hollywood starlets pop out of their dresses than intelligent women they’ve never heard of being honored in France. But maybe we can spread the word that scientists are doing things right now that will make the world better — or at least better understood.
Check out the L’Oreal site, which features profiles of other women doing cool stuff. There’s also a good article in Seed Magazine.
Considering how substantial the egos are in academia (and I'm speaking as an academic) maybe it's just as well that we don't get the fancy award shows all that often.
That said, I couldn't agree more that a little less attention needs to be paid to style, and a little more to substance.