November 7, 2017 is the 150th anniversary of Marie Skłodowska-Curie‘s birthday. Curie’s life exemplified the challenges that women aspiring to creative and rewarding intellectual endeavours faced even in the Age of Enlightenment.  Today, we are fortunate to live in a time when college education and science careers are open to women (at least, in most countries). Yet, there are still many barriers, biases, and inequalities that women pursuing careers in science and technology face.  One pervasive problem is a perception of intellectual inferiority of women; examples include public remarks by former Harvard president Larry Summers and a recent manifesto of a Google engineer. What I find mind-boggling is that these beliefs survive despite overwhelming objective evidence of female excellence in STEM fields. However, the perception is reinforced by another phenomenon: under-appreciation and under-recognition of women’s contributions and achievements in STEM.

To mark the 150th birthday of Marie Curie, the Journal of Physical Chemistry has published a compilation of papers highlighting female physical chemists. The breadth of topics covered in these papers and the quality of science they present make a powerful statement.  The Editorial shares several facts about the history of female authorship, including the reference to Curie’s 1901 paper, which is believed to be the first paper by a female author published in the journal.

At PCCP we have an ongoing commitment to diversity, and proud history of publishing work from female authors and striving to ensure a balanced Editorial Board which is reflective of the field. Yet, of course more work towards achieving a level playing field will be done.

To celebrate Marie Curie’s birthday, we have collated a gallery of cover images of PCCP papers to highlight just some of the excellent contributions made to the journal by female scientists in the physical chemistry field. We hope you enjoy them.

– Anna Krylov, PCCP Editorial Board member

The articles include:

In search of metal hydrides: an X-ray absorption and emission study of [NiFe] hydrogenase model complexes
Serena DeBeer et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 10688. DOI: 10.1039/C5CP07293J

The role of alkali metal cations in the stabilization of guanine quadruplexes: why K⁺ is the best
Fonseca Guerra et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 20895. DOI: 10.1039/C6CP01030J

Phosphine passivated gold clusters: how charge transfer affects electronic structure and stability
Doreen Mollenhauer and Nicola Gaston
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016, 18, 29686. DOI: 10.1039/C6CP04562F

Chirped-pulse Fourier transform millimeter-wave spectroscopy of ten vibrationally excited states of i-propyl cyanide: exploring the far-infrared region
Amanda L. Steber, Melanie Schnell et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 1751. DOI: 10.1039/C6CP06297K

Fingerprints of inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding in saligenin–water clusters revealed by mid- and far-infrared spectroscopy
Marie-Pierre Gaigeot, Edwin L. Sibert III, Anouk M. Rijs et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 20343. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP01951C

Dewetting acrylic polymer films with water/propylene carbonate/surfactant mixtures – implications for cultural heritage conservation
Debora Berti et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 23723. DOI: 10.1039/C7CP02608K

The effect of π-stacking, H-bonding, and electrostatic interactions on the ionization energies of nucleic acid bases: adenine–adenine, thymine–thymine and adenine–thymine dimers
Krylov et al.
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 2292. DOI: 10.1039/B919930F

We are delighted to announce we are now welcoming nominations for the 2017 PCCP Emerging Investigator Lectureship.

Lectureship details
Recognizing and supporting the significant contribution of early career researchers in physical chemistry, chemical physics and biophysical chemistry, the lectureship is a platform for an early career physical chemist to showcase their research to the wider scientific community.

The recipient will receive £1000 to cover travel and accommodation costs to attend and present at a leading international meeting hosted by a PCCP Owner society. The recipient will also be invited to contribute a Perspective article to PCCP.

Launched with great success in 2016, last year’s winner, Dr David Glowacki, delivered the 2016 PCCP Emerging Investigator Lectureship presentation at the Faraday Joint Interest Group Conference 2017.

Eligibility
To be eligible for the lectureship, candidates must:
•    Have completed their PhD 
•    Be actively pursuing an independent research career within physical chemistry, chemical physics or biophysical chemistry.
•    Be at an early stage of their independent career (typically this will be within 10 years of completing their PhD, but appropriate consideration will be given to those who have taken a career break or followed a different study path.)

Selection criteria, nomination and judging process
•    Nominations must be made via email to pccp-rsc@rsc.org using the PCCP Emerging Investigator Lectureship nomination form and a letter of recommendation.
•    Individuals cannot nominate themselves for consideration.
•    Selection will be made by the PCCP Editorial Board at the 2017 PCCP Editorial Board meeting.
•    The winner will be selected based on their nomination, with due consideration given to the letter of recommendation, candidate biography, research achievements, previous PCCP publications and overall publication history.

Submit a nomination
To be considered for the 2017 lectureship, the following must be sent to the Editorial Office
•    A letter of recommendation
•    A complete nomination form

Submission deadline: 15th August 2017

Download nomination form

Submit nomination with letter of recommendation