OK, here’s a quick quiz: Who discovered gravity? Sir Issac Newton? Correct. Who discovered penicillin? Alexander Fleming, right you are. Who discovered the composition of the universe?

Well?

Unless you’re a remarkably well read person you have probably never heard of Dr Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin. Neither had I until doing research for this post. Born on May 10, 1900, Dr Payne-Gaposchkin was the first person to discover the building blocks of the universe — hydrogen and helium — a discovery that forms the basis of our understanding of the sun, stars and space itself. A discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize at the very least.

Dr Payne-Gaposchkin did not get the Nobel Prize. Or any prize. Though every science student learns that the sun is made of hydrogen, no one tells them how we know this.

Rosalind Franklin is another scientist cheated by history of the glory that was rightfully hers. It was she who first discovered the double helix structure of the DNA — regarded as the most important scientific breakthrough of the 20th century — but it was her two male colleagues, whose names are forever linked to this achievement. James Watson and Francis Crik, who used Franklin’s research and X-rays, were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for this triumph (Crik admitted later, however, that “[her’s was] the data we actually used”).

Men too, get cheated — many believe that Edison stole a number of Telsa’s ideas — but it’s always easier to steal a woman’s thunder because it’s harder for people to believe that a woman can actually accomplish anything, especially in the field of science. When Dr Payne-Gaposchkin discussed her research with her colleagues, she was told she couldn’t possibly be right; the theory was accepted only after her male colleague published the same findings four years later.

And it’s not just scientists. Can you name the Indian monarch who hung a ‘bell of justice’ outside the palace gates so the common man could seek redress any time of the day? The same monarch would also don simple clothes and mingle with the populace in markets and taverns to learn their problems. This was the monarch whose rule extended over much of South Asia from western Bengal to southern Sindh.

Jehangir you say? Or was it Akbar? Actually, it was Razia Sultan. The queen who is, today, remembered not for the remarkable peace and tolerance that marked her reign but more for her alleged affair with a court advisor.

And so it goes: Cleopatra is remembered for her beauty baths rather than her strategic politics, Hedy Lamarr as a seductive temptress rather than her groundbreaking work in the field of mathematics and the media focuses more on the length of Sania Mirza’s skirt than her forehand strokes. Because if we can’t take away her achievements, we can certainly belittle them.

What is it about strong, intelligent, capable women that scares people so much? That brings out the malicious rumours, the catty remarks and the denigrating jokes? Because anything that’s admired as strength, resolution and intelligence in a man is immediately castigated in a woman. A man is shrewd a woman is conniving; a man is decisive, a woman ruthless; a man is a charmer, a woman a tease.

Because by making fun of her, we can make her less scary. By belittling her achievements we can put her back in the box she belongs. By erasing her from the annals of history we can preserve the myth that women are the frail, helpless, innocent creatures we grew up watching in films; don’t forget, one of the all-time favourite songs of our nation tells us exactly what kind of girls we like: “Nazuk si, sharmeeli si, masoom si, bholi bhali si” (delicate, shy, innocent and moronic.)

Today, on what would have been Dr Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin’s 113th birthday, the sun shines in her memory and the memory of all those remarkable women who were denied the recognition they deserved. Our history is poorer for having forgotten them.————————————————————————————————————————————————

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