There was an article in the New York Times a few days ago (around Oscar time) about actresses in scientific disciplines. It was written by Natalie Angier about Acting and Science. Overall it is a great article about how scientists sneak up where we least expect them, as is the case with Natalie Portman and other notable actors.
I will not summarise the article here as it's worth a read yourself, but I would like to quickly pull out the last line: "You can be a scientist, but if you want your name in lights, you’d better play one on TV."
Is not that just a little sad? Thanks to my days on the stage, I have a bit of a bug that would love to see my "name in lights", and now I am being told that my career will never lead to world-wide fame. Okay, I am probably taking this a bit seriously as it is not the point of the article, but it fills me with a bit of sadness because yes, it is probably true. Things should change.
On a side note, I didn't know that Amy Farrah-Fowler from The Big Bang Theory is played by a woman who has a Ph.D. in neurobiology in real life. How great is that? I knew she was too good at her role!
Up until that last sentence the article seemed pretty supportive of science. I do not know if she does or does not but with her background Natalie Portmzan could certainly make great contributions towards popularization of science.
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