I’m still excited about the contribution of Nergis Mavalvala, scientist, lesbian, and mom, to the recent discovery of gravitational waves. Here’s a video of her talking about her life, coming out, and the importance of celebrating difference and taking risks.
This is the keynote speech Mavalvala gave at the 2012 Out to Innovate conference. In it, she uses her life to highlight two concepts. First, she says, we should “celebrate being different. We’re all different not just because we’re queer and we’re nerds, but we’re different in many other ways, too.” Not only that, she advises, but “We all should surround ourselves by [sic] people who can embrace our differences.” Additionally, she advises us to “Take risks. Cause it’s often really worth it.”
She tells us about growing up in Pakistan and being “a little gender bending” and “a baby dyke in the making” in a traditional society. She also relates the basic concepts of gravity that underlie her work, explaining things in ways that even non-scientists should be able to understand. (My own history of science training obliges me to note that at one point she erroneously places Isaac Newton in the 16th century rather than the 17th, but I assume she just misspoke.)
She also talks about coming out, the work group in which she “came of age as a lesbian,” being a woman in science, and the importance of role models. I particularly like her message of how we can use our status as outsiders in one arena to gain insight into how things might go in another arena. Because she’d seen that women, typically outsiders in science, were treated well in her group, she was more willing to take the “calculated risk” of coming out in the group as well. Notable, too, is her thought on how being ourselves helps not only ourselves, but others as well.
It’s a delightful video and worth sharing with kids interested in STEM subjects (or whose interest in STEM subjects you want to inspire).
(Bonus lesbian mom fun fact: Mavalvala is the second lesbian mom I know of to win a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. The other is marriage equality lawyer Mary Bonauto.)
