An interactive session on You tube with Ms. Priya Hasan, Co-Chair of the Women in Astronomy was an exuberating experience on National Science Day. Ms. Priya Co-Chair of the Women in Astronomy WG- IAU, Asst Prof, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India and member of the ISDT-TMT, Thirty Meter Telescope was awarded the Women Scientist Award by DST in 2006. She has presented her work in various conferences in India, Europe and US and in the United Nations, Vienna. Her research interests are in observational astronomy, star formation, star clusters and galaxies. In the session, she elaborated on the Role of women in Astronomy.
She brought to life the contribution of many women including Maria Mitchell, the first American scientist to discover a comet, which brought her international acclaim and an early advocate for science and math education for girls and the first female astronomy professor. A time when women’s contribution was not recognised and she highlighted how the statistics has now raised from 10% in the 18th Century to 20% now. She spoke about their research and the field of astronomy and also highlighted on how to measure the size of galaxy using the spectrum it emits. The session concluded with queries sent by students in which one of our students asked “if the moon escaping the hold of Earth’s gravitational field and drifting away is possible” Many such queries were elaborately answered by her. The wow element of the session was the Dark matter! The students left the session not just enriched by knowledge of the endless beauty that space is, but with all the requirements one needs to meet to become a Space trotter!
