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Patricia Fara

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Patricia Fara

Fara in 2018

Known forWomen in science
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Academic work
DisciplineHistory of science
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge

Patricia Fara is a college lecturer in the history of science at Clare College, Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London.[1] She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is an Emerita Fellow of Clare College, where she was previously Director of Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science.[2] Fara was also a College Teaching Officer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.[3] From 2016 to 2018, Fara was President of the British Society for the History of Science. In 2016, she became President of the Antiquarian Horological Society.[4][5] Fara is author of numerous popular books on the history of science and has been a guest on BBC Radio 4's science and history discussion series In Our Time.[6]

Early life and education

[edit]

Fara began her career as a physics teacher but returned to graduate studies as a mature student to specialise in History and Philosophy of Science, completing her PhD thesis at Imperial College, London, in 1993.[7][8]

Research and writing

[edit]

Her areas of particular academic interest include the role of portraiture and art in the history of science, science in 18th-century England during the Enlightenment, and the role of women in science. She has written about numerous women in science, mathematics, engineering and medicine, including: Hertha Ayrton, Lady Helen Gleichen, Mona Chalmers Watson, Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, Isabel Emslie Hutton, Flora Murray, Ida Maclean, Marie Stopes, and Martha Annie Whiteley.[7][9][10][11][12] Fara has argued for expanded access to childcare as a means of increasing the retention of women in science.[4] She has written and co-authored a number of books for children on science. Fara is also a reviewer of books on history of science.[13] She has written the award-winning Science: A Four Thousand Year History (2009)[14][15] and Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity (2012).[16] Her most recent book is A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War (2017).[17][18][19] In 2013, Fara published an article in the journal Nature, stressing the fact that biographies of female scientists perpetuate stereotypes.[20]

  1. ^ Sobel, Dava (19 March 2018). "Science's Invisible Women". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Clare College Fellows, referenced 28 November 2016". Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge, referenced 28 November 2016". Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  4. ^ a b Sample, Ian (7 June 2017). "Keep women in academia by providing childcare, historian urges universities". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  5. ^ "The new President" (PDF). Antiquarian Horology. 37 (2): 178. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  6. ^ Moulds, Alison (15 February 2018). "Patricia Fara on In Our Time". The British Society for the History of Science (BSHS). Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  7. ^ a b Baldwin, Melinda (10 August 2018). "Q&A: Patricia Fara on the British women scientists who broke barriers". Physics Today (8). doi:10.1063/PT.6.4.20180810a. S2CID 240330712.
  8. ^ Fara, Patricia (1993). "Magnetic England in the 18th Century". PhD Thesis, London. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  9. ^ Brazil, Rachel (10 December 2018). "Science, suffrage and misogyny". Chemistry World. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Book Excerpt from A Lab of One's Own". The Scientist Magazine®. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  11. ^ Fara, Patricia (8 November 2019). "Helena Gleichen: pioneer radiographer, suffragist and forgotten hero of WWI". The Conversation. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  12. ^ Fara, Patricia (8 March 2020). "Helen Gwynne-Vaughan: An extraordinary botanist whose problems of identity still confront female scientists today". BBC Science Focus Magazine. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  13. ^ Fara, Patricia (October 2008). "Watchers of the Skies". Literary Review. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  14. ^ a b Fara, Patricia (2009) Science: A Four Thousand Year History Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ Ferry, Georgina (2009) 'Under the Microscope' The Guardian 25 April 2009 Retrieved 16 August 2010
  16. ^ Fara, Patricia (2012) Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity Oxford: Oxford University Press
  17. ^ Moore, Wendy (3 January 2018). "A Lab of One's Own: Science and Suffrage in the First World War by Patricia Fara review – trailblazing feminist'". The Guardian.
  18. ^ Bruton, Elizabeth (10 January 2018). "When Suffragettes kicked open the lab door". Nature. 553 (7687): 154. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-00109-2. PMID 32094765.
  19. ^ "Briefly Noted Book Reviews". The New Yorker. 14 May 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  20. ^ Fara, Patricia (6 March 2013). "Women in science: Weird sisters?". Nature. 495 (7439): 43–44. Bibcode:2013Natur.495...43F. doi:10.1038/495043a.
  21. ^ "2022 Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics Recipient". American Physical Society. Retrieved 9 January 2022.