In order to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which is held on the 11th of February, the British Council School arranged a visit and a talk from Patricia Contreras. She is a pre-doctorate researcher at ICMAT (the Mathematics Science Institute) where she is studying the mathematical structure of non-local games and Bell´s inequalities.
What is the probability of someone rolling a dice and getting a 3? The classic laws of probability would say that this is one sixth. And, what if someone else, then rolls the dice and is looking for another 3? The probability would also be one sixth, because this is not affected by the first result. The world in miniature however, doesn´t work like this. If the dice were very, very small, there might be a correlation between the first and second events. “That is, depending on what happens on the first roll, we can predict what will happen on the second roll”, explained Contreras. Using such a visual example, she explained the purpose of her research: the relationship between quantum particles, something unexplained in classic Physics and which seeks to understand how these are interelated.
Hosting the talk for Year 12 students, the British Council School also wanted to lend its support to the initiatives of Colectivo 11F, whose objectives are to raise awareness of women scientists, help develop more female roles in Sciences and Engineering and promote working practices which encourage gender equality in the Sciences. That´s why, between the 1st and the 15th of February, many teaching centres in Spain have hosted talks explaining the role and daily working and personal experiences of women scientists. Some of the talks also highlighted the historical importance of women in Science.
At a time when the UN tells us that the majority of challenges we face (energy crisis, environmental crisis, food crisis, medical and quality of life challenges...) depend on Science and Technology, we really do need to count on everybody´s talents.