Michio Kaku: A Brief History of Sexism in Science | Big Think

Michio Kaku: A Brief History of Sexism in Science
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What’s the "women in science" problem, again? From the grad student whose thesis advisor stole her Nobel-winning ideas to the once-ridiculed theorist of dark matter, female scientific excellence has long been snubbed.
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MICHIO KAKU:
Dr. Michio Kaku is the co-founder of string field theory, and is one of the most widely recognized scientists in the world today. He has written 4 New York Times Best Sellers, is the science correspondent for CBS This Morning and has hosted numerous science specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery/Science Channel. His radio show broadcasts to 100 radio stations every week. Dr. Kaku holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught for over 25 years. He has also been a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as New York University (NYU).
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: Will we discover a “theory of everything” by 2050?
Michio Kaku: My work is in String Theory. In fact, I'm the co-founder of String Field Theory, which allows you to summarize all of the laws of String Theory into an equation about one inch long. Well, that's my equation. I helped to write that with Professor Kikowa of Japan, and in fact, you can even buy a T-shirt which has my equation on it. However, my equation is not the final word because first of all, there are five different string theories. So, there are five different one-inch equations for each of the different String Theories. And now we have something called M-theory, a theory of membranes vibrating in 11 dimensions and we are clueless, absolutely clueless about getting that one-inch equation that will allow us to understand M-theory, Membrane Theory.
So, we are, in some sense, going back to square one in terms of the mathematics, but in terms of the theory itself, we hope to match String Theory with the results of the Large Hadron Collider.
First of all, dark matter. We now realize that most of the matter in the universe is dark, invisible matter. If I had dark matter in my hand right now, it would be invisible. In fact, it would literally dissolve its way right through my fingers, go right to the center of the earth, would go right to China, back to the center of the earth and back up into my hand, and then it would simply oscillate between China and my hand forever. That's dark matter. And you know, it means that every single chemistry book and science book on earth is wrong. Every book of science says that the universe is mainly made out of atoms, hydrogen, helium, going up to uranium. Wrong. We know realize that most of the matter in the universe is dark matter. And most of the energy of the universe is dark energy. An invisible energy that permeates the vacuum of space and time. In fact, 73% of the energy of the universe is dark energy. And we're clueless about what is the nature of dark energy.
Twenty-three percent of the matter energy of the universe is dark matter. And we hope to create dark matter with the Large Hadron Collider. Well, where do we fit into this? Stars made out of hydrogen and helium make up 4% of the universe. But what about us? What about oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, what about us? We make .03% of the universe. Let me repeat that again. The atoms that are familiar to us, the higher elements make up .03% of the universe. We are the odd balls. We are the exception. Most of the universe is made out of dark energy and dark matter and we hope to create dark matter with the Large Hadron Collider.
The leading theory of dark matter is that it is caused by sparticles. Sparticles are super particles higher vibrations of the string. So, we represent perhaps the lowest octave of the string. Everything you see around us is nothing but the lowest vibration of the string. But the Large Hadron Collider would be powerful enough to excite the next set of vibrations, super particles, sparticles, that may makeup dark matter.
But there's another theory about the nature of dark matter. If our universe co-exists with a parallel universe, and there is a galaxy in this parallel universe, it would be invisible because light would move behind, underneath this parallel galaxy, but gravity seeps between galaxies, therefore you would feel this gravitational effect, but it would be invisible. Now, what is invisible, but has gravity? Dark matter.
So, ironically, maybe we have already discovered dark matter, already dark matter exists in a parallel universe whose gravity...
Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/videos/a-brief-h...

[@bigthink]

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[@seanmcguffin3868]

Ok this is much more a history of dark matter than of sexism.

[@psydunk1]

"what did u learn? well, if u discover something, tell it to me first" hahahaha that sarcasm was funny

[@alexlaukr8414]

Michio Kaku makes up 96.72 percent of scientific PR.

[@guyfromostrava]

I totally love this guy!!! I could listen to him for hours about science! That is how you make science interesting!

[@tlpricescope7772]

I hope she eventually got primary credit for her discovery .

[@upandatom]

That's really sad... :(

[@Marazish]

"Tell me first" I outwardly went "HA!" in the middle of the night waking the whole household up. Awesome stuff.

[@myrenmusic1611]

Poom poom ☺

[@bersababr7019]

In other words: even with all the enormous difficulties and betrayals, women discovered DARK MATTER and PULSARS! Thanks Vera Rubin and Jocelyn Bell!

[@WolfIce88]

To label it sexism because it involves women isn't a good argument for sexism. A thesis advisor took credit for the discovery of pulsars found by his student. That makes him a liar, but to say he is sexist is to assume he wouldn't have lied if his student was a man. People have also dismissed, doubted, or ignored theories put forth by scientists that were men. To claim it is sexism because a female scientist's theory was dismissed, doubted, or ignored is to again claim sexism based solely on the fact that it is a woman being doubted or dismissed. It's just criticism, doubt, and dismissal when a man. It's all those things, plus sexism, when it's a woman.

[@nikolaidrostdov]

XISCify How many really, truly thinks that? The very few that do, I can guarantee possess far more idiotic beliefs than that.

[@WolfIce88]

XISCify The majority of men and women are about the same intelligence, average. But they have shown that there are more male geniuses as well as more male idiots, than female. Which would explain why there might be more men in science. Because there are more male geniuses than female ones. It could also explain why more men are homeless or doing lower education jobs, because there are also more male idiots, than female ones.

[@George7763]

WolfIce88 I think a better example he could have used is when scientists like Lisa Meitner had to work in the a the basement because she was a woman.

[@HDitzzDH]

Well yes, the thesis advisor would definitely have taken the credit for the amazing discovery if it was a young, unknown male student as well, it had nothing to do with the fact that she happend to be a female, the man was simply greedy and egoistic.

[@DrJoySmithMaxwell]

Let's not forget the historical discrimination of science & math against women! Sadly, many a woman have been barred from pursuit of math & science throughout history by fellow male scientists, i.e. Lady Hypathia!

[@TehLB]

I want a shirt with Kaku's equation on it!!

[@RHS-992]

so did they fix it? I mean nobel prize should be awarded just and fair, If they find out it is wrong person, they should fix it and not just leting it go, her supervisor didn't find it, she did right?

[@TomaszWota]

No, they didn't. She to date has received about 10 awards and honors, some as high as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (2nd class order, honorary knighthood included) (vs 5 Hewish), about twenty honorary degrees (vs 6 Hewish), and went on to have a high profile career. She never publicly criticized the Nobel prize committee decision. In fact, in 1977 she said: _There are several comments that I would like to make on this: First, demarcation disputes between supervisor and student are always difficult, probably impossible to resolve. Secondly, it is the supervisor who has the final responsibility for the success or failure of the project. We hear of cases where a supervisor blames his student for a failure, but we know that it is largely the fault of the supervisor. It seems only fair to me that he should benefit from the successes, too. Thirdly, I believe it would demean Nobel Prizes if they were awarded to research students, except in very exceptional cases, and I do not believe this is one of them. Finally, I am not myself upset about it -- after all, I am in good company, am I not!_

[@TheSinghisking4ever]

Wow thats kind of inspiring

[@HavocParadox]

the ending made me laugh.

[@personwhoisverybored]

This isn't just in science, women have always been treated as being less then men. All over the world and in many religions. It's getting better but, we aren't viewed as equal yet. 

[@personwhoisverybored]

cesar leon thank you 😊

[@carter9775]

+Bryanna O not in Native American culture

[@personwhoisverybored]

Carter Gordon Unfortunately I don't know much about native American culture. But if that's true atleast some people have a head on their shoulders :)

[@inferno7181]

+Bryanna O what was in the video was not examples of sexism. It was just examples of some girls being ripped off. It happens to men as well.

[@xavm3176]

Bryanna O you're privileged way above men so stop

[@Patchipidea]

If i ever became a physicist, and discovered something amazing, i will share it with Dr.Kaku first :D

[@Jamess0090]

Did you really became a scientist?

[@Random_dudebro]

1:53 the way he says "Wrong." is just so perfect. I love this man.

[@PJaee]

"Men being innately better at STEM" isn't something we can prove until society changes as a whole, until gender stereotypes break down. Until we start teaching our young boys that it's okay to be emotional, expressive with language and encourage them into social sciences, child care and primary teaching. That's it's okay for little girls to want to build robots, or play with bacteria in a lab or work with numbers all day. When we have equality, we can define our biological differences.

[@DrJoySmithMaxwell]

Indian girls can do math. & so, can Arab girls. & Persians, too. They all also do engineering, medical science, & IT; all math & logic-based. So, it's definitely a culture thing in the west, going back to lady Hypathia of Greece.

[@OnlyOneEarth8]

And when we make that discovery, we will hear a voice say, "I am Sparticles!"

[@DrinkElectrolytes]

That was some smooth sarcasm at the end there

[@minhchau4533]

Hahaha, love your sense of humour too! Yeah, I wish I would make an astounding discovery and you, Dr. Kaku, would be the first physicist to get the news first hand !

[@MarkArandjus]

"Now what is invisible but has gravity?" Air. Nobel prize, please xD

[@gingerbreadlady5353]

Although I tend to agree that sexism is ingrained in academia, I don't think this example (as it was described here at least) provides any evidence of sexism. It is common for established researchers to take the main credit for findings made by inexperienced and unknown students, regardless of the gender. One might speculate that Michio Kaku was fully aware that it provides no evidence when he said it...

[@prabhakaran1876]

u show woman as victim ,thts how u become popular

[@greengoblin9567]

it's about the lack of female role models. nothing else

[@wellivea1]

Yes, even graciously accepting Nobel Prizes in their stead.

[@sled1950]

quick question,when universes split to create a parallel universe,with more dark matter,is this what causes the universe to expand at an ever increasing rate?...are all probabilities,continuing to split, creating more probabilities in paralell universes?

[@romisana]

May you please state your source for this information? I'd like to read more about it :]

[@lDark787]

Yesterday I woke up on Mars :O

[@caveymoley9253]

ooops, can you teach me how to do that? better yet, can you teach me how to get back first?

[@VoloMalVor]

Sparticles :}

[@isteftan]

Nice one there Professor ! :D

[@Deepakyadav-vp8xx]

How many different string possible, how these string combine, what is nature of these string

[@dlwillhelp]

I can't tell if he was joking at the end about stealing the credit for himself or not..

[@Mihkel147]

Agreed :D

[@indraputra1935]

half joking-half serious maybe and a sarcasm to reality lol

[@cheaterman49]

I love and respect women, however let's be honest about it, most of then have a lower brain computing power as most men. This can be seen in chess for instance, where top ELOs are around 3k2 IIRC while the top woman has 2k6 (and she's exceptional) while other women top around 2k2. Nevertheless, they don't deserve being fooled and stripped of their discoveries and ideas by ambitious scientists.

[@madsloth601]

As if chess is a good way to measure intelligence. Go back to your cave. You're the reason we need feminism. And i'm a man.

[@cheaterman49]

Mad Ness It may not be, however mankind was very satisfied when it became capable of building sufficiently powerful computers (and being able to teach them) to beat itself at chess. Other than that, if you were less closed-minded, you would have noticed you're the only one using the term intelligence - I only mentioned brain computing power, as a raw measure of how many logic operations per second you are able to calculate.

[@cheaterman49]

Mad Ness I would even extrapolate so far as to compare brains to CPUs: a higher frequency doesn't necessarily mean a better chip, it simply means it is faster on single-threaded operations.

[@madsloth601]

To compare brains on their ability to solve chess problems or CPU power is ridiculous. We aren't binary systems, nor are we programmed for chess. Let me extrapolate something and say you have huge mommy issues.

[@cheaterman49]

Mad Ness Science is the ability of applying logic, therefore men will outperform women at STEM for a while still. Read the comment I linked. Other than that, you're mentioning my mother, although I don't understand how she is involved in this debate.

[@BakedPhoria]

I'm super confused with the ending I thought he was like I;m going to help you get your name first and then he switched

[@raterallowance3445]

It was a joke

[@nfcoard]

Yeah. He's a great teacher. I wish more of my teachers in high school could have taught like him. I might actually have enjoyed high school a lot more. I follow Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman which is very interesting but it blows my mind how complex the concepts, technology and the universe are.

[@ImmortalInflames]

Thank you for telling us of other brilliant people that havn't being truely credited for the hard work! =]

[@nfcoard]

Doesn't surprise me that women in science have been laughed at, ridiculed, and their work not recognized, but stolen. This attitude towards women still prevails to this day. I always find it funny when someone's idea gets ridiculed, laughed at, or ignored, and then later the idea is proven to be correct. This happens all the time with humanity because of arrogance and a closed mind. Love listening to this guy teach. He makes physics interesting.

[@ultravidz]

first 4 minutes had nothing to do with the title, i was getting concerned hahahaha

[@sieyk]

@GeneralBlackNorway also, how can you not relate (cycles/second) to (distance/time) where to perform a cycle is to vibrate(movement) which in effect is movement which is creating distance and where a second directly relates to time.

[@Excelsoft]

What did he say at the silent bit at 0:26 ?

[@BakedPhoria]

In fact you can even get a t-shirt with my equation on it

[@shakybill3]

i actually tried to turn in an assignment in engish about that but the teacher said it was too vague..... my luck was bad

[@nfcoard]

You're right. It's the attitudes and beliefs that we have that strongly influence our children's choices of career and what they believe is possible for them.

[@dougster701]

for some weird reason I love it when he just says 'wrong.' ... haha

[@BuuBuuJak]

I like when he said " If you ever find a big discovery... COME TELL ME! I'M A NICE GUY..." (after telling the small story about the stolen noble price ) LOL!

[@Lottanubs]

Lol, the ending made me fall out of my chair.

[@beanergaming2499]

where can i buy this t shirt that he is talking about!?

[@romisana]

Thanks for the link. On another page of NASA, it says Fritz Zwicky (30s) was the first to coin the term dark matter and Oort (30s) was the first to find evidence that dark matter existed; Rubin (70s) helped confirm dark matter's existence.

[@2061526]

i have an idea about the revolution of the planets to the center of the solar system or to the galaxy for that matter but how can i contact Mr. Kaku?

[@SkateboardP63]

lol i lost it at the "tell me first"

[@GeneralBlackNorway]

@sieyk Still vibration does not move anywhere, so how can it practically have anything to do with light? And btw, You do know the theory of general and special relativity right?

[@TheJadeFist]

A question strikes me as he related normal matter, as a higher spectrum of mater, made me think of visible light spectrum. So if thats the case, are we high or low on the spectrum? Is there matter types that are below our "interactable spectrum". (Or would dark matter be below us?) then which case what about higher on the spectrum. With out the whole extra dimensional debate coming up, such as matter in other universes. Exsisting within our space/time but as outside our interactable spectrum

[@svessirM]

the title doesn´t match the question you see in the beginning that why.

[@cimmik]

What was the name of the woman who did the discovery?

[@orvillestory9112]

1:10 You're literally scaring the shit outa me Dr. Kaku

[@orvillestory9112]

1:59 OMG ...Now I know what is fueling the crazy feminazibots.

[@sshuck]

I love hokey, lovable scientist humor. It just makes scientists...more lovable.

[@ClanCookie]

he was being Sarcastic at the end XD

[@marafizzyforever]

I wanna sit down and have a cup of tea with this guy. It would be so amazing.

[@randyej2581]

I hope he was being sarcastic about that last part about "Big named scientists come first"

[@Velocirampers]

Of course he is. It's fairly obvious.

[@sause123456science]

I cant post any links here but just seach for michio Kaku on amazon and you will find them. They are most popular-scientific but still awesome.

[@TheCosmicMysteryTour]

Jocelyn Bell has just been awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. I have uploaded a short video about Jocelyn Bell and her role in the discovery of pulsars. You can watch the video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGa6amR3oNd6oa8

[@Matthiasrj]

I hope he was kidding in 6:22. Because he sounded quite serious to me lol

[@tonmaster2]

Yes I think you're right. I did a bit of reading and apparently Vera Rubin supports the MOND which tries to express gravity by modifing Newtonian equations/physics and most of Vera's works were in the late 60s and early 70s. Neither dark matter or dark energy has any connections with Vera.

[@yatudlabiereicit]

aahhahah ! kaku is the boss ! ;) idd be more than happy to share a front page with his name.

[@DeinosDinos]

@Ragnarockalypse I never learned Latin, but I find it surprisingly easy to understand Latin at times, especially when learning Binomial Nomenclature

[@Ragnarockalypse]

@DeinosDinos That is one of the ways that words are invented. Latin words may sound fancy and scientific, but they are often equally simple once you translate them.

[@K3V1NGG]

Sheldon: "Was that sarcasm?".

[@bishalchetri4381]

Thats really sad she didnt get the credit for her work....Dr.Michi Kaku is a very good person..and my favourite theoritical physicist

[@oopswipps]

where to get tshirt m8

[@kypselialani14]

i'm in a "big think" streak for the last hour :P

[@piip4]

@lukepink Dark matter is "simply" the gravitational effect from matter in a parallel universe if I understood it correctly. So for the guys in the parallel universe, -we- are dark matter and invisible, though our gravitational presence is still detectable. I hope that answered your question but don't assume I know anything.

[@LivingDead53]

I've done two things that would get me a cookie more or less out of sympathy. I came up with my own set of primes, and I found a way to chart numbers in my special triangle. I'm still working on that one. I found the thought after reading a book by Linus Pauling. He didn't highlight it, but I think he was thinking of it when he wrote down other findings. I'm not very smart. I'm 30 and as intelligent as a high school senior.

[@falubii9712]

The end made me lol.

[@saswatsarangi6669]

Does dark matter has electrons protons , atoms and molecules and does it make up hydrogen helium like things, I mean their "dark matter" version?

[@fireteamperidotnova1728]

so in essence, the whole galaxy thing is just a .PSD with multiple layers that work as one?

[@BakedPhoria]

4:30 *Thinking* that'll be funny if he was like and that was it lol 4:52 *also thinking* Cuz the'r dead lmao

[@Guineapig300n60]

My sarcasm detector is off the charts!

[@Darkownage2]

Ending was hilarious.

[@sieyk]

@GeneralBlackNorway it was just a suggestion, either way to vibrate is to move no matter how you look at it, they are labelled differently due to the types of movements they are enacting

[@v2099]

so how do i contact you?

[@DyslexicTurtle]

I'm just not sold on dark matter. It spawned when we realized there simply wasn't enough gravity in the universe to hold galaxies together, and we predicted those galaxies were held together with black holes. Just look at all the problems we've had with black holes, especially lately. We know next to nothing about them. It seems every year the idea of a black whole is fizzling apart. Isn't it far more likely that we vastly misunderstand gravity, black holes, and the forces? Instead we create this force that is completely undetectable, that we know nothing about, and governs all the problems of the universe that we don't understand. It reminds me a lot of the debate when light was discovered to travel in a vacuum and many people thought there was an "ether" that made up most of space to allow electromagnetic waves to travel. I'm no physicist. I'm a random self educated physics enthusiast, but something just doesn't add up.

[@prabhakaran1876]

yes u r correct ,here is wat rubin herself had to say....In the 1970s Rubin obtained the strongest evidence up to that time for the existence of dark matter.[12] The nature of dark matter is as yet unknown, but its presence is crucial to understanding the future of the universe.[13] Currently, the theory of dark matter is the most popular candidate for explaining the galaxy rotation problem. The alternative theory of MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics) has little support in the community. Rubin, however, prefers the MOND approach, stating "If I could have my pick, I would like to learn that Newton's laws must be modified in order to correctly describe gravitational interactions at large distances. That's more appealing than a universe filled with a new kind of sub-nuclear particle."[14]

[@jtyearsley]

Lol, you shouldn't be. The guy in the video isn't sold on it either, no respectable scientist is. The terms "dark matter" and "dark energy" are what scientists call "place holding terms". Literally just a short way of saying "We have no freaking clue what....". You're actually very smart, and unknown to yourself figured out what it is they actually mean by those terms. That's very commendable.

[@sadrien]

When they say dark matter they mean this thing that is the only current explanation we have for the fact our math doesn't add up and therefore we operate under the assumption it existences our math works and we can , at least do things.

[@RicheyRyan]

What he's talking about here, happened and HAPPENS systematically in the academic and scientific world. Particularly in computer science women have made seminal discoveries which have been usurped by supervisors, colleagues, managers etc. It's shame to see them passed up on the recognition that they deserve and for people to deny that it even happens.

[@54living]

Oh! God, so true. People who working at academic field know about this. Always happening in academic field.

[@scoreunder]

Is absolute velocity measurable?

[@deathceol88]

Don't tell Michio Kaku any new found discoveries. Haha.

[@adamchrome]

I somehow get the feeling that he would give equal credit to any discovery, like he does with his string field theory.

[@00Tenrai00]

I wish I could learn physics from him... My physics teacher was a slob, he is probably the reason I hated physics back in high school. Dr. Kaku I could listen to you talking about physics all day long. This is how teachers should be like... And sure If I discover something important I am sure to let you know first :D

[@brookcie1]

Him and his equation. He loves it so.

[@drakar2835]

He said that gravity move between galaxy but I think he meant gravity move between the two parallel universe.

[@thesnare100]

Why didn't she publish it in a journal?

[@elearis1]

LOL at the end XD!!!!!

[@SyntheticParanoia]

I can hear the head scientist in CERN kicking the accelerator and announcing: "THIS... IS... SPARTICLE !!!"

[@yoyoyoy500]

Fortuntely all classical physics and stuff on atoms in obviously very useful in practise.The day that we might actually see stuff about dark matter as well as quantum and relativistic physics used will b an interesting one.

[@AxiomEnigma]

Love the ending. :D

[@honeylips01]

So beautiful, thank you!! :))

[@nadendas]

so we are the open E string on a bass guitar 0_0 i dont get it

[@quillaja]

I liked the lesson at the end.

[@JanKosowski]

1:54 "Wrooong."

[@Lunalis_610]

Wait, what? So Michio Kaku is admitting that he'll take credit for your work just cause he's famous? Why would he say that?

[@heavylurker]

I believe Michio Kaku has a demonstrated a very fine sarcasm.

[@DrBrushman]

I'm 4 minutes in, is the sexism part coming soon?

[@Dare2baDevil]

michio kaku is a great human being, wish every one in the world were like him

[@MuonRay]

Indeed. Fritz Zwicky was the first to prove its existence at around a year after Oort's postulate by applying the virial theorem to the coma galaxy cluster. Vera Rubin would have been only 4 or 5 when he did this!

[@MrKaizerWEM]

What is it about his way of explaining things that makes me feel smart?

[@TheKdog344]

If I ever discover something extremely amazing, Micho Kaku will be the first one to know about it. But if that ever happens how will I contact him?