Dr Nicola Fox has praised the “fantastic” rise of women in science after returning to the University of Surrey, where she studied more than 30 years ago. The head of science at Nasa said she was struck by how many women are now graduating in physics and engineering.
The 57-year-old, who grew up in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, graduated from the university in 1991 with a masters in telematics and satellite engineering. At the time, she was one of only four women on a course of more than 200 students.
She said:
“I was at the physics graduation and the engineering graduation... It was amazing to see the number of girls that were graduating.”
Fox said she had grown up unaware that a passion for science was “unusual” for girls. She attended St Francis College, an all-girls school in Letchworth, and said it protected her from the gender stereotypes that often discourage young women from studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem).
She said:
“I never experienced the 'girls don't do this' or 'boys do this' because we were just girls and they taught all of the subjects.
“It wasn't really until I got to college that I sort of hit into the 'isn't that unusual that you're doing physics'... It didn't really occur to me that it was unusual.”
Fox visited Hitchin this month to deliver a Q&A about her work.
While she has seen more women studying Stem subjects, figures from Stem Women, external suggest the number working in those fields has risen only gradually. Despite gains in student enrolment, graduation rates and workforce participation, the report suggests parity with the number of men working in Stem is still decades away.
Her advice to young women today is to follow their curiosity and ignore claims that science is not for them. She said:
“If somebody says girls don't do that, then that's just not true.”
Fox has often credited her father with inspiring her love of space after he showed her the moon landing on television when she was eight months old. But she said her mother deserved “all the credit for the determination” she developed as a child.
She said:
“Even though she may not want to walk on the moon, she was going to make sure I had every opportunity if I wanted to.
“There's times where you think 'I just can't do this, I'm just going to give up'... she had a very, very good way of just being like 'no, let's not just give up, let's just give it a go and if you fail, then we'll go do something else'.”
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