Van der Heyden began her career as a particle physicist at CERN, the particle accelerator in Switzerland. She discovered that science was essentially a man’s world and chose science journalism. She writes for various newspapers and has several books to her name. She often writes about women in science, past and present. In her book unknown She writes about important women scientists in history.
She has now been a part-time professor of science communication at TU Eindhoven for a number of years. The university was in the news this month for the first time ever hiring 50% women and 50% men for open positions at the university.
“You tend to hire someone who looks like you, and that’s why there has been structural discrimination against women for decades,” says van der Heijden. If you want to correct that, you need these kinds of radical policies, which have ultimately led to hiring as many women as men. “Science, technology and society are very intertwined. The more people who think about science, the more perspectives you have, and the better it is for the applications of science,” says van der Heijden.
