Angela Saini Explained

Angela Saini
Birth Place:London, England, U.K.
Occupation:Journalist

Angela Saini (born 1980) is a British science journalist, broadcaster and the author of books, of which the fourth, The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality, was published in 2023 and was a finalist for that year's George Orwell Prize for Political Writing.[1] [2] Saini has worked as a reporter and presenter for the BBC and has written for a number of publications including The Guardian, New Scientist, and Wired UK. She has also produced and presented several radio and television documentaries,[3] [4] including a BBC Radio 4 documentary on biofuels and a BBC World Service documentary on the impact of climate change on Indian agriculture. Saini's writing and reporting focus on how science interacts with society, especially on how it affects marginalized groups, and she has been acclaimed for her work by a diverse range of organizations and institutions.

Education

She holds two master's degrees: one in Engineering from the University of Oxford, and one in Science and Security from the Department of war studies at King's College London.[5] [6] She was a student at Keble College, Oxford.[7]

Career

Saini worked as a reporter at the BBC, and left in 2008 to become a freelance writer.[8] In 2008 Saini won a Prix CIRCOM for her investigation of fake universities, focusing on Isles International University.[9] [10] She was named European Young Science Writer of the Year in 2009.[11] [12]

In 2012, she won the Association of British Science Writers Award for best news item published in 2011.[13] She was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2012 and 2013.[14] In 2015 she won the American Association for the Advancement of Science Gold Award.[15]

In August 2017, an internal memo written by a Google employee about the company's diversity policies, (Google's Ideological Echo Chamber), received public attention. Saini criticised the memo, calling it "[not] just intellectual laziness; [but] prejudice masquerading as fact".[16] [17]

Television appearances

Books

Saini's first book, Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World, was published in 2011.

Her second book, , was published in 2017,[20] a non-fiction book that explores the history of science's understanding of sex differences and the impact of this understanding on women's lives. The book delves into how scientists, researchers and society at large, have treated women as intellectually, emotionally and physically inferior to men for centuries. Through her research, Saini presents evidence to dispute these long-held beliefs, and how contemporary research is now challenging the traditional narrative about the differences between men and women.

The book covers many historical as well as contemporary examples of bias and mistreatment of women in the scientific field and how these wrong perceptions and beliefs have been used to justify discrimination and inequality. The book also highlights the contemporary research that is proving these notions to be false and how the understanding of sex differences is becoming more nuanced and more accurate.

The book has received positive reviews and praised for Saini's clear and engaging writing style and the in-depth research that is presented. Critics have also highlighted the book as a significant contribution to the current ongoing conversation about gender equality and the representation of women in STEM fields. It was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize in 2017.

The book aims to inform readers on the background of these false beliefs and biases and to inform them about the more accurate understanding of sex differences that is being established today.

The magazine of the Institute of Physics, Physics World, named Inferior as book of the year 2017. Saini told Physics World that her aim was to tackle the contradictory information on gender studies put forward in the media and in scholarly journals.

“Really I just wanted to get to the heart of that riddle… what does science actually say about men and women and what is the true extent of the sex differences between us?”[21]
Her third book, , was published in May 2019. It was named as one of the top 10 books of 2019 by the science magazine Nature.[22] “People want to believe they were born into a special group. Group superiority really appeals to them,” Saini says. In addition, “Very often they’re not remarkable people in their own right, and they need to believe something about themselves that makes them feel better about who they are.”

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: What Are You?. Angela. Saini. The Science Factory. en-US. 2017-12-31. 30 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180930154737/https://www.sciencefactory.co.uk/what-are-you/. dead.
  2. https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-writing/the-patriarchs/
  3. Web site: BBC Radio 4 - Four Thought, Series 2, Angela Saini: Throwaway Technology. BBC. 9 October 2021. 26 February 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220226135330/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017mv2l. live.
  4. Web site: Angela Saini Award-winning Science Journalist and Author . 2023-01-11 . www.angelasaini.co.uk . 3 January 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200103142303/https://www.angelasaini.co.uk/ . live .
  5. Web site: Angela Saini. 2018-10-04. Inspirefest 2019 Dublin, 16 & 17 May 2019. en-US. 2019-05-03. 21 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190821001348/https://inspirefest.com/speakers/angela-saini/. live.
  6. Web site: Grossman . Wendy M. . The Power Behind Misinformation . Skeptical Inquirer . 12 February 2020 . Center for Inquiry . 21 June 2020 . 28 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220628213946/https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-power-behind-misinformation/ . live .
  7. Web site: The Keble Review 2012 . live . 2021-10-10 . Keble College, Oxford . 31 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145845/https://www.keble.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Keble-Review-2012.pdf .
  8. Web site: Oliver. Laura. 'Why I quit the BBC': Angela Saini, freelance science journalist. 10 October 2008. Journalism.co.uk. 5 April 2014. 7 April 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140407091732/http://www.journalism.co.uk/news-features/-why-i-quit-the-bbc--angela-saini-freelance-science-journalist/s5/a532490/. live.
  9. Web site: Saini. Angela. A Degree of Deception. Jan. 7, 2008. 8 January 2008. The Guardian. 1 April 2014. 17 December 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131217105612/http://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jan/08/internationalstudents.highereducation. live.
  10. Web site: Reporter wins European journalism award . 12 May 2010 . 22 May 2008 . AIM Magazine. https://web.archive.org/web/20080528103335/http://www.asiansinmedia.org/2008/05/22/reporter%2Dwins%2Deuropean%2Djournalism%2Daward/. 2008-05-28. dead .
  11. Web site: Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World. Angela. Saini. nhbs.com. en-US. 2019-05-03. 3 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190503142203/https://www.nhbs.com/geek-nation-book. live.
  12. Web site: Geek Nation Independent Publishers Group. ipgbook.com. 2019-05-03. 3 May 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190503143705/https://www.ipgbook.com/geek-nation-products-9781444710168.php. live.
  13. Web site: ABSW. Awards of the 21st Century. Association of British Science Writers. 5 April 2014. 13 May 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200513043652/https://www.absw.org.uk/absw-awards/previous-winners.html#2012. dead.
  14. Web site: Announcing 2012–2013 Knight Fellows . Knight Science Journalism at MIT . 5 April 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407110844/https://ksj.mit.edu/seminars-news/news/announcing-2012%E2%80%932013-knight-fellows . 7 April 2014 .
  15. News: 2015 Winners Named in Expanded AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards Competition. 2015-11-03. AAAS - The World's Largest General Scientific Society. 2017-12-31. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20180101030944/https://www.aaas.org/sja2015. 1 January 2018. dead.
  16. News: Silicon Valley's weapon of choice against women: shoddy science. Saini. Angela. 2017-08-07. The Guardian. 2017-12-31. en-GB. 0261-3077. 8 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170808235802/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/07/silicon-valley-weapon-choice-women-google-manifesto-gender-difference-eugenics. live.
  17. News: Opinion How modern science failed women. nbcnews.com. NBC News. 2017-12-31. en-US. 1 January 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180101030458/https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/darwin-damore-how-modern-science-failed-women-ncna801586. live.
  18. Web site: BBC - Christmas University Challenge alumni line-up announced - Media Centre. bbc.co.uk. 2019-01-02. 2 January 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190102193928/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2018/christmas-university-challenge. live.
  19. Web site: BBC Four - Eugenics: Science's Greatest Scandal . BBC . 7 March 2020 . 22 July 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200722152728/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008zc7 . live .
  20. Gawrylewski . Andrea . 2017 . Recommended . Scientific American . en . 316 . 6 . 74 . 2017SciAm.316f..74G . 10.1038/scientificamerican0617-74 . 28510567.
  21. Commissariat . Tushna . 2018 . Inferior by Angela Saini wins Physics World Book of the Year 2017 . Physics World . en . 31 . 1 . 41 . 2018PhyW...31a..41C . 10.1088/2058-7058/31/1/34 . 2058-7058.
  22. 2019-12-16 . Nature's top ten books of 2019 . Nature . 10.1038/d41586-019-03876-8 . 33318698 . 2019-12-30 . 229172972 . 23 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191223223858/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03876-8 . live .

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