Moms of Science: Stories about being mothers and scientists
The Story Collider
Story Collider, Inc.
4.4 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 10 May 2019
⏱️ 35 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week we present a story of scientist becoming a mother.
Part 1: Heather Williams trades in her physicist labcoat for motherhood, and wonders if she can return.
Heather Williams is a principal medical physicist at The Christie hospital in Manchester, UK, where she oversees imaging and therapy in the Nuclear Medicine Department and specialises in Positron Emission Tomography. Heather is an advocate for science communication to non-expert audiences and is passionate about supporting Women in STEM. The latter lead her to set up ScienceGrrl back in 2012, a grassroots national network with 10 local chapters throughout the UK that help match scientists with speaking opportunities close to them. Williams is a current member of the IOP's Women in Physics group committee and represents the Institute of Physics within the European Platform for Women Scientists (EPWS). In 2017 she was awarded the IOP Phillips Award for distinguished service to the IOP through the Women in Physics Group. When she’s not working, Heather enjoys running, cycling, hiking and spending time with her sons. Â
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A science story, huh? |
| 0:04.0 | Is NYU scientist the... |
| 0:06.0 | I felt... |
| 0:07.0 | I felt... |
| 0:08.0 | I was so... |
| 0:09.0 | And I just thought, well... |
| 0:10.0 | It was that golden moment. |
| 0:12.0 | Because science was on my side. |
| 0:19.0 | Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Story Collider, where we bring you true personal stories about science. |
| 0:29.1 | I am your host, Aaron Barker, and this week we're presenting stories about moms of science. |
| 0:35.0 | This one hits home for me. My mom is a mathematician and an engineer. My sister told me |
| 0:41.1 | recently that my mom asked her why I was always texting her less than three. And I realized that I've |
| 0:49.0 | been texting my mom hearts for literally years. And this whole time she's been reading them as math, which, you know, |
| 0:58.2 | incidentally kind of feels like a metaphor for our whole relationship. |
| 1:01.9 | But I'm going to save that for my therapist for now. |
| 1:05.2 | Let's hear from some other moms of science. |
| 1:07.9 | Our first story is from Heather Williams. |
| 1:09.9 | It was recorded in October 2018 at Pie and Ale in Manchester, UK. |
| 1:14.9 | The show was presented as part of the Manchester Science Festival and in partnership with |
| 1:19.5 | Science Girl. |
| 1:26.3 | I had great dreams as a child. I rode bearback on horses with my hair flying in the wind. |
| 1:35.3 | I shot arrows with Robin Hood like accuracy. I slayed dragons with broadswords. I kneecapped my opponents with a quarterstaff. |
... |
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