atom*innen

In this section you will find research articles (in chronological order) about gender equality in physics to gain a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies and complexities surrounding this topic. Have a nice reading!

Issues of equity and diversity in science have been researched. This section contains a selection of literature on gender, diversity and equity in physics, in STEM and in science in general. It is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies and complexities surrounding this topic. The literature is organized by topic (of course, topics may overlap).

 

Women in Quantum Physics

  • Beige, Almut; Predojević, Ana; Metelmann, Anja; Sanpera; Macchiavello, Chiara; Koch, Christiane P.; Silberhorn, Christine; Toninelli, Costanza; Bruß, Dagmar; Ercolessi, Elisa; Paladino, Elisabetta; Ferlaino, Francesca; Ferrini, Giulia; Platero,Gloria; Fuentes, Ivette; Nemoto, Kae; Tarruell, Leticia; Bondani, Maria; Chiofalo, Marilu; Pons, Marisa; D'Angelo, Milena; Murao, Mio; Fabri, Nicole; Verrucchi, Paola; Senellart-Mardon, Pascale; Citro, Roberta; Zambrini, Roberta; González-Férez, Rosario; Maniscalco, Sabrina; Huelga, Susana; Mehlstäubler, Tanja; Parigi, Valentina; Ahufinger, Verónica (2024). Women for Quantum – Manifesto of Values. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.02612
  • Charbonneau, Patrick; Frank, Michelle; Van der Heijden, Margriet & Monaldi, Daniela (2025). Women in the History of Quantum Physics: Beyond Knabenphysik. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/978100953581

Women in Physics: Biographies

  • Gaillard, Mary K. (2015). A singularly unfeminine profession: One Woman’s Journey in Physics. World Scientific Publishing Company.
  • Moss, Marissa (2022). The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner. Abrams Books for Young Readers.
  • Sime, Ruth Lewin (1996): Lise Meitner. A Life in Physics. University of California Press, Berkeley.
  • Sobel, Dava (2024). The elements of Marie curie: How the glow of radium lit a path for women in science. Fourth Estate.
  • Strohmaier, Brigitte; Rosner, Robert (2006): Marietta Blau. Stars of Disintegration. Biography of a Pioneer of Particle Physics Ariadne, Riverside, California.

Publications on the Hidden History of Women in Physics / Science

  • Byers, N., & Williams, G. (Eds.). (2006). Out of the shadows: Contributions of twentieth-century women to physics. Cambridge University Press.
  • Chiu, Charles S (2008): Women in the Shadows: Mileva Einstein-Marić, Margarete Jeanne Trakl, Lise Meitner, Milena Jesenská, and Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. In: Austrian Culture, Peter Lang.
  • Shetterly, M. L. (2016). Hidden figures: The story of the African-American women who helped win the space race. William Morrow Paperbacks.

Women and Physics

Gender Gap and Invisible Barriers in Physics

  • Ivie R, Gledhill I, Ponce Dawson S. (2025). Construction of the global surveys of physicists and scientists (1999-2020), in: Grégory Dufaud, Isabelle Lémonon-Waxin (eds.): Gender and leadership. New York, Routledge.
  • Kong, Hyunsik; Martin-Gutierrez, Samuel; Karimi, Fariba (2022). Influence of the first-mover advantage on the gender disparities in physics citations. Communications Physics, 5, 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-022-00997-x
  • Sun, Jun; Karimi, Fariba (2024). Emergence of group size disparity in growing networks with adoption. Communications Physics, 7 (1), Article 309. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-024-01799-z
  • Sundstrom, Meagan; Holmes, N.G (2025). Bias in physics peer recognition does not explain gaps in perceived peer recognition. Nat. Phys. 21, 524–529. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02789-w
  • Teich EG, Kim JZ, Lynn CW, Simon SC, Klishin AA, Szymula KP, et al. Citation inequity and gendered citation practices in contemporary physics. Nat Phys (2022) 18:1161–70. doi:10.1038/s41567-022-01770-1

Advancing Equity in Physics

  • Randolph, Jessi; Perry, Jonathan; Donaldson, Jonan P., Rethman, Callie, & Erukhimova, Tatiana (2021). Do female physics students benefit from informal physics programs they facilitate? arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2110.13258
  • Reiland, Sonja; Palmén, Rachel; Kamlade, Lisa (2022). Disciplinary Communities of Practice for a greater gender equality in physics & life sciences. In A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research (pp. 118–132). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003225546-7 
  • Li, Yangqiuting, & Singh, Chandralekha (2023). The impact of perceived recognition by physics instructors on women’s self-efficacy and interest. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.2303.07239
  • Maries, Alexandru; Singh, Chandralekha (2024):Towards meaningful diversity, equity and inclusion in physics learning environments. Nat. Phys. 20, 367–375. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02391-6

Discourses of gender and physics

  • Due, Karin (2014): Who is the competent physics student? A study of students’ positions and social interaction in small-group discussions. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 9, 441–459. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9441-z
  • Gonsalves, Allison J. (2014). “Physics and the girly girl—there is a contradiction somewhere”: doctoral students’ positioning around discourses of gender and competence in physics. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 9, 503–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-012-9447-6

Gender Stereotypes 

  • Bian, Lin; Leslie, Sarah-Jane & Cimpian, Andrei (2017). Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children’s interests. Science, 355, 389‑391. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah6524
  • Breda, Thomas; Jouini, Elyés; Napp, Clotilde & Thebault, Georgia (2020). Gender stereotypes can explain the gender-equality paradox. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(49), 31063–31069. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008704117
  • Terrier, Camille (2020). Boys lag behind: How teachers’ gender biases affect student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 77, 101981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.101981

Gender Bias in academic contexts

  • Boivin, Nicole; Täuber, Susanne; Beisiegel, Ulrike; Keller, Ursula; Hering, Janet G. (2023). Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding. Nature Reviews Materials, 9(1), 1‑3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-023-00624-3
  • Ross, Matthew B., Glennon, Britta M., Murciano-Goroff, Raviv; Berkes, Enrico G.; Weinberg, Bruce  A; Lane, Julia I (2022): Women are credited less in science than men. Nature 608, 135–145. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04966-w
  • Rossiter, M. W. (1993). The Matthew Matilda Effect in Science. Social Studies of Science, 23(2), 325‑341. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631293023002004
  • Peng, Hao; Teplitskiy, Misha; Romero, Daniel M.; Horvát, Emőke-Ágnes: The gender gap in scholarly self-promotion on social media. Nat Commun 16, 5552 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60590-y
Page 1 of 3