Author: Filomena Nunes, Professor of Physics, Michigan State University

Out of 225 people awarded the Nobel Prize in physics, only five have been women. This is a very small number, and certainly smaller than 50% – the percent of women in the human population. Despite several studies exposing the barriers for women in science and the many efforts to increase their representation, physics continues to be a male-dominated field. Only 1 in 5 physicists are women, a number that has not moved since 2010. Three of the five Nobel Prizes in physics awarded to women have been in the past decade. As a woman physicist, seeing three women join…