Jess Wade Has Written More Than 1750 Wikipedia Pages for Overlooked Women and Minority Scientists – Jess Wade is a physicist and recipient of the British Empire Medal. Likewise, she is a prominent Wikipedia contributor. The 33-year-old Englishwoman has created over 1,750 Wikipedia entries for female and minority scientists in an effort to give them proper credit. Wade recently told the Washington Post, “Wikipedia is a really powerful way to give credit to people who, for a long time, have been written out of history.”
“Not only do we not have enough women in science, but we aren’t doing enough to celebrate the ones we have,” she added. Wade informed the outlet that she began contributing to Wikipedia in 2017 after seeing that American climatologist Kim Cobb lacked a page despite her prominence in the field. Wade observed that many women and minority scientists did not have a profile on the popular website, which features information on everyone from historical leaders to Hollywood stars.
Wade told the publication, “Having people know who you are means you get more opportunities.” She has also written about Clarice Phelps, the first African-American woman to assist in the discovery of a new element. In an interview with Today, Wade stated that she believes mentorship is one of the best methods to encourage females who are interested in science. Wade, a student at Imperial College London, remarked, “People assume girls don’t choose science because they’re not inspired.”
“Girls are already interested. It’s more about making students aware of the different careers in science and getting parents and teachers on board.” “Ultimately, we don’t only need to increase the number of girls choosing science, we need to increase the proportion of women who stay in science,” Wade added.
According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up only 28% of the science and engineering workforce, although comprising 50% of the workforce with a college degree. “It’s also important because we’re designing new technologies or new scientific solutions to global problems, we want the teams of people creating them to reflect the societies that they’re serving,” Wade told Today. And yes, Wade has her own Wikipedia page.
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