Making a lifetime vow does not mean you turn your brain off. The Belgian priest, Georges Lemaître, first proposed the theory that is now known as the Big Bang and made other discoveries in astronomy and physics, and still served as a priest as well.
Let's not forget the Jesuit missionaries who instrumental in the cultural exchange between the West and the peoples they sought to preach the Gospel to. Matteo Ricci is one celebrated figure, the missionaries that went to the First Nations in North America were others.
To be more precise, she was a sister. A nun would be a woman consecrated to religious life who lives cloistered. While "nun" is used colloquially to refer to all women religious, the technical meaning is narrower. As many other commenters have noted, there is a culture of many women religious receiving advanced degrees. One of my college friends who got his PhD in political science at MIT was surprised to discover th…
When I was in college in engineering, I noticed a woman dressed in a sister's outfit always in the labs, I think she was studying EE? She was running PSpice. Very interesting.
My great aunt who is a nun got a masters in Chemistry in the 1950s. She said that the only other women in her program were nuns.
It's not really surprising, is it? In a society that demands of women to get married and raise kids instead of work, it's mostly women who aren't allowed to marry and have kids who get to do things like follow a higher education.
People tend to forget that in 1950, freedom to choose your own future as a young adult was a privilege for the very rich and political connected people. Everyone was handed role. For women that meant getting a job early until they got married. For men it was to be drafted into the military and shipped off to fight in wars. Women who refused got social pressured to conform, and men who refused got jailed.
If you were really lucky you were born into a rich family that could exempt you from the role given to you. The church may had been a alternative escape route available for women, but I don't know if that was the case here.
Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton were virgins as well. It might be argued that a certain level of unresolved frustration can be a driving force in technical pursuits...
I would argue that if you are not hampered by sexual pursuits, it frees your brain up for technical ones. https://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheAbstinence.htm
I think my mind did better with abstract thought before puberty.
It's not really surprising, is it? In a society that demands of women to get married and raise kids instead of work, it's mostly women who aren't allowed to marry and have kids who get to do things like follow a higher education.
Nobody is demanding that. It could just be that they want to.
Nikola Tesla and Isaac Newton were virgins as well. It might be argued that a certain level of unresolved frustration can be a driving force in technical pursuits...
I would argue that if you are not hampered by sexual pursuits, it frees your brain up for technical ones. https://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheAbstinence.htm
I would argue it's probably a bit of both. Fulfilling sexual relationships are one way to feel a sense of satisfaction in life, and having kids is one way to achieve a kind of legacy. Solving hard technical problems and moving science forward is another way to achieve the same goals. One could pursue both, but if you already have one you might be less likely to feel a strong visceral need for the other.
> When World War II ended, Worsley was the only Wren at the NRE to choose to remain in service.
She is tragically forgotten despite she wrote the first program to run on a Von Neumann architecture computer (that being the EDSAC) which you could simplify to say she wrote the first computer program as we today understand such.
Also, she got the first PhD in CS when CS wasn't even a thing yet.
To be more precise, she was a sister. A nun would be a woman consecrated to religious life who lives cloistered. While "nun" is used colloquially to refer to all women religious, the technical meaning is narrower. As many other commenters have noted, there is a culture of many women religious receiving advanced degrees. One of my college friends who got his PhD in political science at MIT was surprised to discover th…
When I was in college in engineering, I noticed a woman dressed in a sister's outfit always in the labs, I think she was studying EE? She was running PSpice. Very interesting.
I've known a large number of Catholic sisters over the years. They've been, without exception, some of the most interesting people I've ever known. When my mom was in the hospital last year, she had regular visits from an 89-year-old sister who came just to chat, even though my mom isn't Catholic (and there was no attempt to proselytize, I should add). It as more just a case of she enjoyed being able to provide socialization with the elderly women who were in the hospital.