International Day of Women and Girls in Science

The International Day of Women and Girls in Science celebrates and encourages female participation in the sciences. The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development shows that 4 out of 10 Ph.D. researchers in Brazil are women, about 10% above the global average.

It’s a day to honor female pioneer scientists like Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and the Brazilians Bertha Lutz, Sonja Ashauer, Gabriela Maciel Barroso and Johanna Dobereiner, by promoting and granting support to a young generation of great minds such as Nicole Oliveira’s.

Chosen to take part in the Brazilian government and NASA’s joint program “Asteroid Hunters”, nine-year-old Nicole is probably the world’s youngest astronomer, having already found 31 asteroids. “I want to build rockets”, says brilliant, little Nicole, inspiring.