…calculated that stars are overwhelmingly hydrogen and helium. A senior astronomer talked her into calling her own result “almost certainly not real.” Four years later, he published the same conclusion under his own name
This is a story that should be taught to all girls from junior middle school onward. A woman makes a discovery, is gaslit by a man into denying it, then has that discovery and credit stolen from her by the very man who gaslit her.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.



It’s called “The Matilda Effect” and is a well-studied phenomenon in science, unfortunately.
But science is a pure meritocracy that in no way, shape, or form discriminates on race or gender.
Oh wow thank you for giving me something to read up on. I feel like I heard the term before, and now I can learn more about it. I appreciate you.