Women have always played a critical role in the evolution of science and technology, and yet, their contributions have not received the acknowledgment and glory they deserve. Women’s movements, especially those focusing on increasing women’s participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), have tried to right this wrong bringing proper credit where it is due. And now, Google has developed artificial intelligence tools that will help highlight the role played by women in science.
According to a report in IANS, Google has developed new machine learning (ML) tools that will be used by curators at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC to help uncover the stories of women who have promoted the cause of science through their life’s work. The project, which builds on the Google Arts & Culture works which made 2.8 million 2D and 3D images available to the public for viewing in 2020, will cover more than 174 years of scientific history and highlight the role women played in it.
“It is now easier than ever to surface the work of women in Smithsonian history,” Google’s statement read. Powered by machine-learning tools, the project will focus on three types of research through the Smithsonian archives. First, it will compare records across history by connecting different “nodes” in the metadata. Second, it will identify the names of women in the archives even when they haven’t been used explicitly or have been hidden under the identity of husbands’ names. Third, it will analyse image records to facilitate comparisons.
This three-part method, Google’s statement reveals, is already bearing fruit. The project analysed the collections related to Mary Jane Rathbun, who is believed to be the first woman curator at the Smithsonian, and found the mention of at least two other women in science from the period through taxonomy cards. The first was the mention of Serena Katherine ‘Violet’ Dandridge, a scientific illustrator, who worked in the Department of Marine Invertebrates in 1911. The second was the mention of Dr Harriet Richardson Searle, another colleague of Rathbun and Dandridge working in the field of Zoology.
These revelations not only highlight the role women played in various fields of science, but also focus on the “early collaborations between women”, Google noted. The tech giant’s statement also added that “Though this experiment is only just beginning, it is clear that technology can play a key role in facilitating further research and help to recover stories of women in science.”