ISSUE
22 March 2022
WIE - UC NEWSLETTER IEEE Student Branch of the UC Women in Engineering Affinity Group
WHAT'S WHAT'S INSIDE: INSIDE: Opinion Article on Unorthodox - P. 1
Biography of Valentyna Radzymovska - P. 2
Achievement of Andrea Ghez - P.4
Curiosity - P.4
Recipes with WiE P.5
ISSUE NO. 22 | MARCH 2022
Opinion Article UNORTHODOX As embracing as a blanket on a rainy march night, the story of Esther Shapiro, an unorthodox woman, will certainly guarantee you good surprises. With a little more than 4 hours of duration, this Netflix miniseries brings us a breathtaking story. Together with a plot based on Deborah Feldman’s autobiography, it brings the story of a young girl born and raised in the Jewish community of Williamsburg, New York. We join Esty right at the beginning of her journey for freedom, both psychological and physical, and we see a girl forced to become that which she didn’t want to. We follow the development of her search for her dream, which implies turning her back to her community’s cultural legacy and all things which are familiar, to face the dreaded but free, unknown. From New York to Berlin, the destiny of Esty’s escape opens an interesting parallel, because it shows an ultra-orthodox Jewish girl, who chooses Germany to be the background of self-discovery. All that together with the confrontation between religion, past, and present, boils down to scenes of courage which end up immersing you in the plot completely. An example of the incredible game of conscience and personal discovery is the emblematic Lake Wannsee’s scene, where 78 years before Esty’s passing, was the set of the Nazi conference that planned the Jewish “final solution” – and is where now, Esty takes an important step towards her freedom – what a scene! But the parallels between fiction and real life do not stop there, and make the series even more interesting, because for us, spectators, who weren’t raised in such a conservative place, a lot of the costumes, dialogues, and ways of acting are completely out of reality, feljglkjerkglj
SOURCE: IMDB.COM
making the plot awaken in us a feeling of strangeness towards that way of living. Watching Unorthodox opens our eyes to the extreme cultural differences and to the perception of society, as a whole, its complexities and singularities, and watching a story such as Esty’s, and knowing that the plot has a real story’s background, is something interesting. The way that the story shows Jewish customs, going beyond the haircuts and prayer moment’s, usually shown in the movies, allows us to know more of the Jewish culture, and put us in the paradox of cheering for Esty’s freedom, and at the same time, understanding the wishes of her family for her return – another master trick by Maria Schrader, the director, winner of the 2020 Emmy’s for best direction of miniseries.
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For all the reasons above and the others that you will figure out when watching, Unorthodox certainly worth a rainy march night.
”God expected too much of me. Now I need to find my own path.” – Esther Shapiro
Maria Andrade
Biography VALENTYNA RADZYMOVSKA Valentyna Vasil’evna Radzymovska was born the town of Lubny, Ukraine, on the 1st of October, 1886. While her father, Vasyl’ Yanovsky, was a nobleman who owned the village of Tarnovshchin, Valentyna’s mother was a well-known novelist and playwright. Both of her parents were prominent members of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, which was a term used to describe university-educated and professionally active people belonging to the bourgeoisie. After finishing high school, Radzymovska went on to study medicine at the University of St. Petersburg. However, the medical school of St. Petersburg University had never before admitted women. This led to Radzymovska having to obtain special admission from Nicolas II, the Russian Emperor, and, thus, becoming the first woman to enter the medical school of that university. In 1904, her studies would be interrupted and her ability to reside in the capital revoked as punishment for her involvement in political activity supporting the Ukrainian national resistance. She then transferred to the University of Kyiv, where she would meet Ivan Vasil’evich Radzymovska, a fellow student who would soon become her husband. Valentyna graduated with distinction from the School of Medicine of the University of Kyiv in 1913, and was invited to become an assistant in the department of Physiological Chemistry. Then, in 1915, she became a grrgrhrth
SOURCE: OAJI.NET
senior assistant and soon thereafter an assistant professor at the University. After graduating from university, Radzymovska began her scientific career in the fields of physiology and biochemistry, to which she would devote the rest of her life to. In 1924, she defended her doctoral thesis, “On the Influence of Hydrogen Ions on the Life of Tissue Cells of Vertebrates.” Her dissertation focused on the development of original methods for the cultivation of living tissues outside of an organism, and for the determination of “pH Concentration.” This would pave the way of PAGE 2
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her becoming professor of biochemistry and physiology at the Medical Institute of Kyiv, and Chair of Physiological Chemistry in the Institute of Higher Education and the Pedagogical Institute. In 1928, Radzymovska obtained a long-term scientific assignment to Germany, where she would be invited to remain for further work, with the offer of exceptionally good conditions for research. Despite this, she desired, most of all, to return to Ukraine and continue her work there. She dreamed of developing a great, modern scientific school of Ukrainian physiologists and biochemists, and uniting theoretical and practical medicine. Upon her return, however, she was arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of participating in the illegal organization called “the Union for the Liberation of the Ukraine.” Radzymovska was released after a year-long imprisonment without trial, yet the damage had been done to her career. She was unable to restore her former position, and was not reinstated completely in a position appropriate to her capabilities. Owing to her well-known name in the scientific and academic world, Radzymovska succeeded in achieving the position of dgtrhrthtr
professor of physiology in the Pedagogical Institute of Kyiv, and later in the Melitopol Educational Institute. During World War II, she remained in Ukraine during German invasion and occupation for a short period of time. She then immigrated to Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, and then, later, to Germany. After the war, Radzymovska, like many other members of the Ukrainian Scientific elite, went to Munich. It was there where she participated in the UTGI (Ukrainian Institute of Technology and Economics), and in the creation of the Department of Physiology of this institute. During this time, she directed this newly created Department, as well as participated in the activity of the Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences, the Ukrainian Medical Society, and other organizations. Between 1947 and 1950, Radzymovska oversaw the graduation of twelve people with Master’s or PhD degrees, published a two-volume textbook of physiology, and completed a number of research which she had begun. In May of 1950, Radzymovska immigrated to the USA, where she would pass away only three years later, on December 22nd, 1953.
Sarah Holm
F O L L O W
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S O C I A L
T O
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M E D I A
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P O S T S !
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Achievement ANDREA GHEZ
Andrea Ghez was born June 16th, 1965 in New York, NY, USA. She received her bachelor's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received her Master of Science and her PhD from the California Institute of Technology. Currently Ghez is an astrophysicist and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles. While working in the University, Ghez was awarded with The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020 for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy. She shared the prize with Roger Penrose and Reinhard Genzel. Besides becoming the fourth woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, Andrea was also awarded with the MacArthur Fellowship in 2008 and even received the Crafoord Prize in 2012. SOURCE: WIDSCONFERENCE.ORG
Mariana Almeida
Curiosity of the month... Nowadays, when you go to the hospital is normal to see women doctors. But was it always like this? Well, it shouldn't come as a shock that, for a long time, women weren't allowed to take a medical degree. That changed when, in 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female to graduate and earn a medical degree. After being rejected from everywhere she applied, she was ultimately admitted to Geneva College in rural New York, where her acceptance letter was intended as a practical joke, eventually graduating first in her class. After fighting against discrimination for many njklk
SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA.COM
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years (during college and after earning her degree), Blackwell managed to become a successful doctor and even helped found the National Health Society, setting an example for all women around the world. It's because of the perseverance of Elizabeth Blackwell and other women like her that, today, we can see women working as doctors or any other profession previously thought to be only a man's.
Sofia Diogo
Recipes with WiE: SYRNIKI A recipe for those of you who love pancakes, but want to make it protein-packed and super easy! Syrniki is an Ukrainian dessert that is a warm fluffy protein pancake, in which the protein comes from the cheese, and the combination works well because of the type of cheese: a farmer cheese named Tvorog. For the ones in Eastern Europe, we can recreate that using a ricotta one, and it works well, but you can also use milk and buttermilk to make your own Tvorog. For the best part: the toppings, use your imagination, from fresh berries to Nutella, or it all together, everything combines.
INGREDIENTS 30 oz well-drained farmer's cheese (Tvorog) 2 large eggs 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup semolina flour 1 tsp vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS 1. Mix everything thoroughly using a fork or a mixer. 2. Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the syrniki mixture and drop it directly into flour. Then, roll it into a ball and flatten it into a 3/4" thick pancake. Coat the outside in flour as needed to prevent sticking. PAGE 5
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3. Add a couple of tablespoons of oil and/or butter to a skillet and preheat it over medium heat. Fry Syrniki in batches until deep golden on both sides. Add more oil and butter as needed to prevent the cheese pancakes from sticking. 4. Serve your Syrniki warm with the toppings you like.
Maria Andrade
DOWN
ACROSS
1. ___ Blackwell
3. Where Esther ends up after leaving New York
2. Type of cheese used in this month's recipe
4. Last name of the woman featured in this month's biography 5. Category of the Nobel prize which Andrea Ghez won in 2020
SOLUTIONS 1. ELIZABETH 2. TVOROG 3. BERLIN 4. RADZYMOVSKA 5. PHYSICS PAGE 6
See You Next Month! ISSUE NO. 22 | MARCH 2022
