Mumsnet Logo
My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Feminism: chat

Brenda Boardman - Life Scientific

6 replies

nettie434 · 21/09/2021 09:27

Is anybody else listening to Brenda Boardman on the radio programme The Life Scientific?

I hadn't heard of her but despite not following a conventional academic path (she didn't go to university aged 18 and then studied part time while bringing up her children), she is now an expert on reducing energy use in homes. She's responsible for the A-G energy rating being included on domestic appliances among other things.

She said we need to look at energy use from an interdisciplinary perspective because we lead interdisciplinary lives. I cheered her when she sad that!

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000zt8v

OP posts:
Report

catzwhiskas · 21/09/2021 11:54

Yes. A sensible woman. Why can’t we see more like her in public life?

Report

BraveBananaBadge · 21/09/2021 12:42

Came here to see if anyone had heard it, just listened to the podcast! The Life Scientific is brilliant for featuring female scientists and I've heard a lot of episodes with women like Brenda who didn't begin their careers in their field until later in life. Really inspiring.

Report

Dartfordwarblerautumn · 22/09/2021 19:45

@BraveBananaBadge

Came here to see if anyone had heard it, just listened to the podcast! The Life Scientific is brilliant for featuring female scientists and I've heard a lot of episodes with women like Brenda who didn't begin their careers in their field until later in life. Really inspiring.

Absolutely agree with this- Jim does a fantastic job in trying to get an even balance of women and minority groups.
I love this programme- I start out thinking this doesn’t sound very interesting an area for me, but then end up really enjoying their pathway to their specialism. Highly under-rated programme. Jim is an excellent interviewer and his curiosity just shines and brings the best out of the interviewee
Report

PeppermintMocha · 22/09/2021 20:05

the Life Scientific is one of my favourite Radio 4 shows. I love how you can get really interested in some random area of science that you'd never thought about before, just because of the passion of the person being interviewed, and the curiosity of the interviewer.

I thought it was interesting how Brenda Boardman was quite happy to contradict Jim when he would make some comment like it must have been difficult juggling this and that, or whatever, and she'd say No, that was fine, but some other thing was difficult. She didn't just go along for politeness, but was refreshingly honest.

Report

Clymene · 22/09/2021 20:07

I bloody love the Life Scientific. I only heard half of it because I had to go to a meeting but she was great.

Report

cariadlet · 24/09/2021 22:22

I'm really behind with my podcast/radio listening so missed this episode . Sounds interesting.

There have also been good interviews with women scientists on the Talk Nerdy podcast with Cara Santa Maria.


The only reservation I have is that CSM has talked about the importance of using people's preferred pronouns which seems odd as she's a cohost on the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.


I don't see how she reconciles skepticsm, science and critical thinking with gender woo.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Sign up to continue reading

Mumsnet's better when you're logged in. You can customise your experience and access way more features like messaging, watch and hide threads, voting and much more.

Already signed up?