Science marks our day to day from the moment we wake up, every day of the year. The alarm clock we use, the weather report, the road we drive or the transport we use, the food we eat, the devices we use to work or communicate, the antibiotics that treat our ailments, the clean and drinkable water that comes from tap or the light that illuminates our evenings. All of these inventions are courtesy of science. The modern world would not be modern without these scientists, thanks to whose knowledge and development we live today. Without science, many people living today would have died from diseases that are now easily treated.
And, although science has been written mainly with male names, many have also been women who, even hidden from the world, also contributed to paving the technological development that allows us to count on the society in which we have grown up. In fact, even Charles Darwin himself, at the time described women as intellectually inferior to men. Access to the university in Spain was forbidden for them until the end of the 19th century. The first Spanish university student was María Elena Maseras Ribera, who enrolled in the Barcelona School of Medicine back in 1872. The first university student.
It is almost impossible to count how many aspects of modern life are affected by scientific knowledge . Science covers energy, defense, economy, agriculture, transportation, health, communication, leisure …
UNESCO itself says that “Science is the greatest collective effort. It helps to ensure a longer and healthier life, monitors our health, provides medicines to cure our diseases, relieves aches and pains, helps us provide water for our basic needs, including our food, provides energy and makes life more fun, including sports, music, entertainment and the latest communication technology. Last but not least, it nurtures our spirit. Science generates solutions for everyday life and helps us to answer the great mysteries of the universe. In other words, science is one of the most important channels of knowledge. It has a specific role, as well as a variety of functions for the benefit of our society: creating new knowledge, improving education and increasing the quality of our lives ”.
Today we meet some of those protagonists.
