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I think it was meant somewhat literally, with her being from 'The North West' - the implication being some godforsaken backwater just shy of Scotland (I'm not b
by detritus 8y ago
I think it was meant somewhat literally, with her being from 'The North West' - the implication being some godforsaken backwater just shy of Scotland (I'm not being insulting, I'm from the Eastern equivalent), so would have — like a small number of British Scientists — stuck out like a sore thumb in the male-dominated, figuroliteral cloistered Cambridge academia of the time.
- theoh 8y agoNorthern Ireland is & was comparatively technically "cultured" (see e.g. Kelvin) and I think Jocelyn Bell Burnell is talking more about being a woman than being from an alien culture. I went to Cambridge (disastrously) from Dublin about 20 years ago, and I for one definitely experienced implicit bias, culture differences that had to be learnt, different presumed levels of academic preparation, etc. Maybe things have improved a bit now. The typical Cambridge student comes from a very privileged, homogenous British background.
- rjsw 8y agoShe had been to a private school in England before University, and was only at Cambridge as a postgraduate.