Well, That Touched a Nerve

The New York Times’ obituary of Yvonne Brille really touched a nerve. I understand why, but I am a little surprised at the intensity of the reaction. I think part of the point of the obituary was to emphasize that although she was an accomplished scientist, she managed to balance that out with being a mother at a time when that made her something of a pioneer. Obviously, it was kind of jarring to talk about her “mean beef stroganoff” before her actual scientific accomplishments and I’m not surprised that the Times has deleted that part of the article. But I don’t think there was anything really wrong with the overall point they were trying to make, which was to highlight some of difficulties she faced as a woman working in a man’s world. Naturally, that kind of emphasis would never be put on a man’s obituary, but that is the nature of the thing. There are quite a few 88 year old women who have similar stories about how they blazed the path for working women in the middle of the 20th Century. You can’t write the same stories about 88 year old men.