STEM Spark loves Women in STEM. STEM Spark loves NASA. STEM Spark loves Lego. So put them all together, and STEM Spark loves the Women of NASA Lego set! We're going to review this product a little different this month. Since it's Women's History Month here in the States, we're going to share a little bit of history about each woman featured in the Women of NASA Lego set!
Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Hamilton is a computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. She coined the term "software engineering". Hamilton was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. She is currently the CEO of Hamilton Technologies, a company was developed around the Universal Systems Language based on her paradigm of Development Before the Fact (DBTF) for systems and software design, and she received the (US) Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
Mae Jeminson, M.D.
Mae Jemison is an engineer, physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she served as an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. She currently leads the 100 Year Starship-- a global initiative that is pushing the frontiers of space exploration--ensuring human interstellar travel in 100 years. Jemison is a member of National Academy of Medicine, the Women's Hall of Fame, an the International Space Hall of Fame.
Sally Ride, PhD
Sally Ride was an astronaut, physicist, and engineer. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983. She was posthumously awarded the (US) Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, and her legacy lives on with her foundation Sally Ride Science that inspires young people in STEM and promotes STEM literacy.
Nancy Grace Roman, PhD
Nancy Grace Roman was an American astronomer and one of the first female executives at NASA. She is known to many as the "Mother of Hubble" for her role in planning the Hubble Space Telescope. Throughout her career, Roman was also an active public speaker and educator, and an advocate for women in the sciences. Roman received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1969, and the asteroid 2516 Roman is named in her honor.
A cool fact about the Women of NASA Lego set is that it was a fan design. Maia Weinstock, science editor and writer for MIT News, submitted the idea for the Women of NASA set to Lego Ideas in the summer of 2016 and quickly got the 10,000 votes necessary for Lego to consider actually building a fan-submitted project.
And we're excited to raffle of one set of the Women of NASA Lego to one lucky US winner! Just follow the Rafflecopter below (or the link here)! Happy Women's History Month!