理工系·女漢子

I’m no engineer， nor have I ever had the desire to involve myself in the world of STEM （science， technology， engineering， and mathematics）. I can only imagine the weight on one’s shoulders， knowing that a wrongly placed decimal point， in the drafting of an architectural structure， could lead to the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of innocents. It’s a responsibility taken on by only the smartest， bravest and most confident members of society. It also happens to be a profession dominated by men.

Perhaps if the latest trends are any indication， female engineers will one day overtake their male counterparts. But， unfortunately， that day is not today， as women remain vastly underrepresented in scientific fields， even in the most advanced countries around the world.

This month’s featured articles follow several courageous women looking to contradict some of the preconceived notions out there surrounding intelligent women. My Life as… An Engineering Student shows how Meg Mikrut sacrificed any semblance of a social life for one filled with complicated equations and precise calculations. Love， Life and Math： My Life Story follows Maria Lando on an epic cinematic adventure； using math as her superpower， as she turns dreams into scenes on the silver screen. And， in Physics Is Beauty， Lindsay LeBlanc justifies her 3 a.m. laboratory sessions in the search for a Bose-Einstein condensate.

The world needs more women like these， undeterred by the millennia of chauvinism and sexism. My sister Julia， a few years back， earned an engineering degree from the University of Miami. And I couldn’t be prouder. Though I’ve been here in Guangzhou， unable to witness her success first hand， I often have visions of her， standing just 5 feet tall， on some rough and rugged construction site， bossing around guys twice her size. It certainly makes me hopeful for the future， a time when brains always win over brawn. And gender is just some box you check off on an application form.

我不是一名工程師，我也沒(méi)有一點(diǎn)欲望要投身到科學(xué)、技術(shù)、工程，以及數(shù)學(xué)的世界當(dāng)中。我只能想象出某個(gè)人肩上的重負(fù)，深知在描畫(huà)一幅建筑結(jié)構(gòu)的草圖時(shí)，一個(gè)點(diǎn)錯(cuò)的小數(shù)位，就會(huì)奪去數(shù)百，甚至數(shù)千無(wú)辜者的生命。這是一項(xiàng)只由最聰明、最勇敢、最自信的社會(huì)成員來(lái)承擔(dān)的責(zé)任。那也恰恰是一項(xiàng)由男性主導(dǎo)的專(zhuān)業(yè)。

或許，如果當(dāng)下走勢(shì)是某種昭示的話，那么女性工程人員有一天將會(huì)壓倒她們的男性同行。但是，不幸的是，那一天并非今天，因?yàn)榕詤⑴c科學(xué)領(lǐng)域的人數(shù)依然嚴(yán)重不足，這種情況甚至在世界上最先進(jìn)的那些國(guó)家里亦是如此。

本月的主題文章講述了幾位勇氣可嘉的女性的故事，她們對(duì)圍繞在聰慧女性身邊的某些成見(jiàn)發(fā)起了沖擊。《工科女生的自白》一文展示了梅格·米克魯特如何為一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)復(fù)雜方程式和精確計(jì)算的世界，犧牲了正常的社交生活。《數(shù)學(xué)：我的人生，我的愛(ài)》一文講述了瑪麗亞·蘭度史詩(shī)般的電影界歷程——運(yùn)用數(shù)學(xué)作為她的超能力，將自己的夢(mèng)想轉(zhuǎn)化成銀幕上的重重場(chǎng)景。在《物理學(xué)之美》一文中，林賽·勒布朗解釋了自己堅(jiān)持凌晨三點(diǎn)依然在做實(shí)驗(yàn)的原因，只為尋得玻色—愛(ài)因斯坦凝聚態(tài)。

這個(gè)世界需要更多這樣的女性，她們并沒(méi)有被數(shù)千年以來(lái)的沙文主義和性別歧視嚇阻。我的妹妹茱莉亞，幾年前從邁阿密大學(xué)獲得了一個(gè)工程學(xué)位。當(dāng)時(shí)的我自豪得不得了。雖然，我如今身在廣州，無(wú)法直接見(jiàn)證她的成功，但我頭腦中常常有關(guān)于她的景象：她站起來(lái)只有五英尺高，卻在某個(gè)坑坑洼洼的建筑工地上使喚著身邊那些比她塊頭大一倍的人。……