Science that also contained the names of several women . In the early 1980s , she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and published Women Scientists in America : Struggles and Strategies to 1940 , the first of three large volumes she wrote on the subject .
Over the course of four decades , Rossiter uncovered thousands of names of overlooked American women with advanced degrees , awards , or professional positions in a wide range of scientific disciplines . Yet for many years , she had to fight for a permanent position in academia . Eventually , after she won a MacArthur “ genius ” grant , Cornell offered her an endowed chair in a new department called Science and Technology Studies , and she is now a professor emerita .
The Matilda Effect continues to be one of Rossiter ’ s most enduring contributions . She named the phenomenon in honor of Matilda Gage , a suffragist who penned a radical essay in 1888 about women inventors . It reads , in part : “ All progress in the arts , in science , in wisdom , is the result of successive steps , and it is impossible to foresee the consequences which may arise from the omission [ of ] an act by even the most obscure person .” •
Sandra Knisely Barnidge ’ 09 , MA ’ 13 is a freelance writer in Alabama . Published in the Spring 2022 issue
Source : https :// onwisconsin . uwalumni . com / the‐matilda‐effect