Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell , the discoverer of pulsar , wasquite rightlyawarded a $ 3 million Breakthrough Physics Prize in the first place this calendar month . splendidly having been denied the Nobel Prize at the time – which instead went to her supervisory program Antony Hewish and the stargazer Martin Ryle back in 1974 – she told IFLScience that , ultimately , this work on out well for her .

“ I did passing well out of not getting the Nobel Prize , ” she said . “ Because if you get a handsome prize like that nobody gives you anything else , because they feel they ca n’t match it . Whereas if you do n’t get it , you get just about everything else that move . So most years there ’s been a party around some award or other . ”

In what amount to no modest gesture , she ’s also decided to give the integrality of her award money to assist set up a scholarship stock . This will assist all form of underrepresented mathematical group in bon ton , from women and ethnic nonage to refugee student , to fund an education into becoming researchers in physics .

“ I do n’t want or need the money myself and it seemed to me that this was perhaps the good use I could put to it , ” Burnell toldBBC News . The specific detail of the scholarship have yet to be nailed down .

It ’s unequivocally clear that enormous inequality exists in STEM fields . Although it ’s often said , it ’s completely wrong to suggest that women and minority need to be promote to take on the sciences more often . The enthusiasm is already there ; or else , it ’s the systemic and unconscious discrimination , dual - banner , and skewed expectation that prevent minorities from getting into or staying in STEM domain .

A recent Pew Research Centerstudy , just as an deterrent example , launch thathalf of womenin all STEM jobs have experienced favoritism in the employment place , compared to 19 per centum of gentleman’s gentleman . Earning less than their male counterparts , and being treated as if they were incompetent , were the most cited forms of favouritism . In environments where man outnumber adult female , such incidences are more unremarkably observed .

The same bailiwick found that black STEM worker are far more likely to say that their employer does n’t pay enough attending to increase racial and pagan diverseness . At the same time , 62 percent of shameful STEM worker , 42 percent of Hispanics and 44 percent of Asians say they experienced some form of favoritism at employment , compared to 13 percent of blank STEM worker .

It ’s blue facts like this that make Burnell ’s donation all the more pertinent . It ’s an by all odds fantastic use of the funds , but it ’s sure as shooting worth remembering that systemic change is required before everyone , no matter who they are and where they come from , can be seen as equals in the field of scientific discipline .