Emily Grossman (born 7 July 1978) is a

science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the public awareness of and interest in sci ...

and populariser, was a resident expert on ''

The Alan Titchmarsh Show ''The Alan Titchmarsh Show'' is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 until 14 November 2014 and aired on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" th ...

'', and has been a panellist on the

Sky1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989 ...

television show '' Duck Quacks Don't Echo''. She has hosted events and given lectures at a number of institutions, including the Royal Academy, the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

, the Royal College of Physicians in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland and various museums, both on science topics as well as advocating the encouragement of women in science. She has a PhD in cancer research, and contributed to the discovery of a new molecule while based at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research.

Personal life and career

Grossman has a first class degree in natural sciences from

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

and a PhD from the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. Her father is a professor of

endocrinology Endocrinology (from ''endocrine system, endocrine'' + ''wikt:-logy#Suffix, -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the ...

, and her mother is a travel and TV writer. Her parents divorced when she was four years old; she said that event caused her to take great interest in her schoolwork, which she enjoyed. She initially intended to be a physicist, but convinced herself that she was not doing as well as the male students and subsequently switched to biology. She later discovered that she had indeed been doing as well as the boys in the physics exams, and pondered what she would have done differently if she'd had a female role model or encouragement to stay in physics at the time. In 2017, she was named one of the honorary

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

ambassadors at the STEM Inspiration Awards, for championing science education and being a role model for youth interested in related careers. She made the decision to have some of her eggs frozen to preserve them for when she meets the person she would like to have a family with. She advocates that women considering having the procedure done do so earlier than their mid-thirties, as the success rate for younger eggs is higher. Emily Grossman is Jewish and "honors the experiences of her ancestors" through Judaism.

Tim Hunt controversy

Following the

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

involving a statement made on 8 June 2015 by British biochemist and molecular physiologist

Tim Hunt Sir Richard Timothy Hunt (born 19 February 1943) is a British biochemist and molecular physiologist. He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and Leland H. Hartwell for their discoveries of protein molecu ...

about women when he said "when you criticise them they cry", Grossman stated "We desperately need to encourage more girls into science careers, and the concern is this might put them off." After speaking out on various media sources on this point, including a debate with

Milo Yiannopoulos Milo Yiannopoulos (; ''né'' Hanrahan; born 18 October 1984) is a British far-right political commentator. His speeches and writings criticise Islam, feminism, and social justice. Yiannopoulos is a former editor of ''Breitbart News'', an Americ ...

on Sky News, she was made the object of numerous sexist remarks on Twitter and YouTube.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grossman, Emily Living people British women biologists People educated at South Hampstead High School Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Manchester British geneticists 21st-century British women scientists 1978 births British science communicators 21st-century British biologists