Some people think that science is...

...not for girls.

That the scientist is a white man, middle-aged or old, and distant from other people.

This is all wrong. History tells us that there have been many women, young or old, who had a highly important contribution.

to scientific research.

And progress, overcoming long established prejudices and stereotypes.

One thing I did in my school...

...in my classroom as a science teacher was to ask my students to find the woman scientist who intrigues them the most on the basis...

...Of her biography.

Students have to imagine and reconstruct the difficulties and the obstacles that she faced due to her gender.

The students choose.

Marie Curie for example. Every student wrote...

...on the blackboard...

...their thoughts about what she might have faced.

And then we concluded that the social status of the person should not be a criterion as to her or his abilities.

Here it should be said that Marie Curie is not the only woman scientist. There have been many, many more women scientists from antiquity to now.

We are reminded about the Afro American women mathematicians who had a substantial contribution to NASA's space programmes, thus proving that science can be for everyone regardless of colour, gender and status.