Galt's Gulch

Claudia Alexander: NASA Scientist Dead at 56

Posted by khalling 8 years, 8 months ago to Science
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I just read about this. From the article:
"Claudia brought a rare combination of skills to her work as a space explorer," Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in the NASA statement. "Of course, with a doctorate in plasma physics, her technical credentials were solid. But she also had a special understanding of how scientific discovery affects us all, and how our greatest achievements are the result of teamwork, which came easily to her. Her insight into the scientific process will be sorely missed."

She was also a steampunk writer, celebrating her love of science fiction
SOURCE URL: http://www.space.com/30006-claudia-alexander-nasa-jupiter-mission-obituary.html

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  • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
    You probably figured out I am not a woman, but I worked with a few (and they were very few) women in the Engineering ranks. They took a lot of flack from children that will never grow up. Oddly enough women took the worst flack from the other women.
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    • Posted by scojohnson 8 years, 8 months ago
      That's true, my wife has been an engineer for almost 20 years, not many female co-workers, and the men tend to be the geeks that lacked any social skills in their youth, and still haven't found any.

      One of them apparently had a crush on her and showed up at hour house (we live in the mountains above Sacramento) "because he was in the neighborhood" at about 9 pm on Valentine's Day one year... Not sure what he was hoping for...

      Creep was so weird he was pulling his hair out in clumps by the fistful while I stared at his nerdy ass.

      Then he left.
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  • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
    She was a remarkable woman, not because of her credentials but because of her accomplishments. She also managed to excel as a woman and push the boundaries of science in a hostile male environment. I only met her once briefly, but it was a privilege.
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    • Posted by vido 8 years, 8 months ago
      Oh, stop the bullshit with the "hostile male environment". You don't know what you're talking about. The only environments hostile to women are women-controlled environments. Men love women, women hate women. Feminists hate everyone.
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      • Posted by $ jlc 8 years, 8 months ago
        I voted you up even though I disagree with you. I think that the 'hostile male environment' falls on the usual Bell-shaped curve: some of the complaints by women are totally spurious, most workplaces have some small covert or overt glass ceilings left, and a few are hostile to women to a notable extent.

        I would rather have direct disagreement than PC talk, though, so you get a point for that.

        Jan, a woman
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      • Posted by cranedragon 8 years, 8 months ago
        That's a very broad generalization and palpably weak. Plenty of men hate women, plenty of men envy and resent anyone who does better work than they do, whether male or female, and plenty of women enjoy celebrating the work of other women. I saw firsthand that the women who survived in my field [law] had no family life or a family life that was totally run by live-in help and they worked longer and harder than their peers. If you've never been inside a hostile work environment, count your lucky stars. Some of them are driven by jerks at the top, some of them by jerks just one rung above you, but they are miserable. You can't always spot them from the outside and particularly in a field that frowns on job-hopping it can be difficult to leave without taking a massive hit to the wallet and the career arc.
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      • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
        Sorry you don't like my comment but I worked in that environment, and I am a man and watched what went on. Some of it was pretty pathetic.
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        • Posted by khalling 8 years, 8 months ago
          I have no idea who down voted this comment but I'm getting teed-off!
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          • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
            Not me. See my comment on; Voting on the Gulch? I confess to being tempted, but my skin is a lot thicker than that. Relax, take a deep breath and I will up click the comment to bring it back to one
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            • Posted by khalling 8 years, 8 months ago
              you can't click up your own comments. what's frustrating is an otherwise separate worthy discussion about feminism gone wild has insinuated itself into this discussion about an accomplished engineer and scientist. In here, it just seems strange that people would not acknowledge simple facts. It's made clear in AS, for example, that Dagny was operating in a "man's world" and that she suceeded. Here, the article focuses on her accomplishments only. You brought up the work environment at NASA and I point out that I'm just now seeing this-why wasn't there more in social media about her untimely death. But I often notice this in the field of science and engineering. People do not have a logical definition of hero. I don't appreciate cowards who silently down vote.
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              • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
                video's entry was down to 'zero', I knew I couldn't vote on mine. I suspect we have one or more gremlins as to the down voting. I am sorry my comments took this post so far off task. They really were meant to honor someone I had met within my working environment (Not at NASA, but at a Plasma Symposium) and was impressed with.
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  • Posted by Maritimus 8 years, 8 months ago
    "...our greatest achievements are the result of teamwork ..."

    I feel compelled to object to "loose talk".

    If the greatest achievements are large engineering projects, of course, teamwork is more than essential. To design and produce a large rocket, an airliner or a GW power generator takes huge well lead teams. Do I need to point the obvious: thousand people produce more than an individual.

    Socrates converted philosophy from the study of nature to the study of human life. The list of such innovators or discoverers we remember is fairly long. We "remember" Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo and Verdi (just to name my favorite artists).

    What is a great achievement? Do we remember the great teams from a couple of centuries or a couple of millennia ago? We are lucky if we remember their leaders.

    In my opinion, the "greatest" achievements are outstanding contributions of individuals.

    So, please, define your terms, Mr. Elachi, before you spew bromides.
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  • Posted by BrettRocketSci 8 years, 8 months ago
    Thanks for the post and news here, khalling. Sad she died so young.
    If you want to encourage more people to pursue a STEM career without relying on PC arguments (appealing to reason and self-interest and self-esteem instead), I encourage and appreciate you steering people to my book, How To Be a Rocket Scientist:
    http://howtobearocketscientist.com
    It is true we need more "interesting" people in technical fields, because interesting problems are solved by interesting people!
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  • Posted by vido 8 years, 8 months ago
    The obligatory SJW "diversity" thing : "black woman in a field dominated by white men".
    If that's her only achievement worthy of consideration, besides some nebulous "social" function...
    Yeah. Maybe, oh just maybe, she had her carrier as some token for "affirmative action"...
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    • Posted by Ibecame 8 years, 8 months ago
      I only met her one brief time, but after talking to her for three minutes I knew what the term "brilliance" meant. I am truly sorry for you that you never had the privilege.
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    • Posted by khalling 8 years, 8 months ago
      don 't think one uses affirmative action to receive a doctorate in plasma physics. I 'm not surr why you felt the need to trash my post, but you 're warned. Any more unsubstantiated comments about Ms. Alexander and I will hide your comments.
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