Millie Dresselhaus: Our science celebrity

• Published in: MRS bulletin 2017-11, Vol.42 (11), p.787-789
• Main Author: Risbud, Aditi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied and Technical Physics; Beyond the Lab; Celebrities; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Computer engineering; Computer science; Employment; Energy Materials; Features; GDP; Gender equity; Graduate students; Gross Domestic Product; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Nanotechnology; Women
• ISSN: 0883-7694; 1938-1425
• DOI: 10.1557/mrs.2017.262

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor emerita of physics and of electrical engineering and computer science, she was also well known for being the first to exploit the thermoelectric effect at the nanoscale, efficiently harvesting energy from the temperature differences in materials that conduct electricity. "Millie" dolls, imagined as a must-have gift for young girls, were juxtaposed with a handful of her real-life achievements: the first woman to win the National Medal of Science, the first woman to become a tenured full professor at MIT, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom--the highest award bestowed by the US government upon American civilians. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a strong negative correlation exists between a country's gender gap and its living standards. Along with the Dresselhaus ad, GE aims to "continue the conversation" on diversity, recently projecting the faces of 12 distinguished female scientists onto the constellation ceiling at Grand Central Station in New York City as part of a three-day event to shine a light on the "unseen stars" of science.