Margaret Rossiter MS ’ 67 is rewriting the history of women in science , one name at a time .
SERVICE & ADVOCACY
The Matilda Effect
Margaret Rossiter MS ’ 67 is rewriting the history of women in science , one name at a time .
By Sandra Knisely Barnidge ’ 09 , MA ’ 13
The story of Esther Lederberg PhD ’ 50 is equal parts inspiring and maddening . A brilliant geneticist , Lederberg discovered a bacteriophage — a bacterial virus — that became a crucial model organism for generations of subsequent researchers . She collaborated frequently with her husband , also a geneticist , in labs at UW – Madison and Stanford , but in 1958 , Lederberg ’ s husband was awarded a Nobel Prize while she watched from the audience . She was thanked only briefly in his speech .
There ’ s a name for what happened to Lederberg : the Matilda Effect , the historical and systemic bias against recognizing the contributions of women scientists and instead attributing their work to male colleagues . “ This happens a lot . It needed a name , because giving it a name makes it stick with people ,” says historian Margaret Rossiter MS ’ 67 , who coined the term in an article that has been cited hundreds of times and continues to influence scientists and historians today .
Rossiter , shown in 1989 , has devoted her career to uncovering the contributions of women in science who have been written out of history . OFFICE OF VISUAL SERVICES ( UREL ), CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Rossiter ’ s own journey as a groundbreaking scholar took a short detour through Madison . A Massachusetts native , she earned her undergraduate degree at Radcliffe and moved to Wisconsin in 1966 for graduate studies . Science had always fascinated Rossiter , but she realized early that she was more interested in learning about scientists than working in a lab . The UW launched the country ’ s first stand‐alone history of science department in 1941 , and during its peak enrollment years in the late 1960s , one‐sixth of all history of science doctorates in North America were awarded by the UW . ( The program is now housed within the Department of History .)