Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
{{Short description|American cosmologist (born c. 1982)}}
{{use mdy dates |date=October 2021}}
{{Good article}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
| image = Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Becoming Interplanetary.jpg
| caption = Prescod-Weinstein at "Becoming Interplanetary" talk at the Library of Congress, 2018
| birth_date =
| birth_place = El Sereno, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| alma_mater = {{ubl|Harvard College|University of California, Santa Cruz|University of Waterloo}}
| known_for = Political activism, cosmology
| workplaces = {{ubl|Goddard Space Flight Center|MIT|University of Washington|University of New Hampshire}}
| fields = {{ubl|Cosmology|Particle physics|}}
| relatives = Margaret Prescod (mother), Selma James (grandmother)
| awards = Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science{{cite web | url=https://www.pbk.org/2022BookWinners | title=2022 Book Awards Winners }}
| website = {{URL|https://chanda.science/}}
}}
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (born {{c.|1982}}){{Cite web |last=Hendrix |first=Kathleen |date=1986-10-16 |title=Passionate Pursuer's Crusade Against the South Side Slayer : Margaret Prescod Trying to Raise Community Awareness on the Streets of South-Central L.A. . . . and Beverly Hills |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-10-16-vw-5852-story.html |access-date=2024-02-16 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} is an American theoretical cosmologist and particle physicist at the University of New Hampshire. She is also an advocate of increasing diversity in science.
Early life and education
Prescod-Weinstein was born in Los Angeles, California, where she grew up in the eastside neighborhood of El Sereno and attended schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.{{Cite book |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda Rosalyn Sojourner |url=https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/5498?show=full |title=Cosmic Acceleration As Quantum Gravity Phenomenology |publisher=University of Waterloo |year=2010 |language=en |bibcode=2010PhDT.......299P}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/chanda-prescod-weinstein_n_7574020|title=Meet The 63rd Black Woman In American History With A Physics Ph.D.|first=Nico|last=Pitney|date=2015-06-24|work=HuffPost UK|access-date=2018-02-06|language=en-GB}} She is of Barbadian descent on her mother's side and Russian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent on her father's side.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@chanda/hold-fast-to-blackness-3e4fa529917d|title=Hold Fast to Blackness|website=Medium|last=Prescod-Weinstein|first=Chanda|date=July 29, 2015|access-date=April 8, 2019 | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 10, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910140255/https://medium.com/@chanda/hold-fast-to-blackness-3e4fa529917d}} She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and astronomy at Harvard College in 2003. Her thesis, "A study of winds in active galactic nuclei", was completed under the supervision of Martin Elvis.{{Cite book |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/33760463 |title=A study of winds in active galactic nuclei / |publisher=Harvard University |year=2023 |language=en}} She then earned a master's degree in astronomy in 2005 at the University of California, Santa Cruz, working with Anthony Aguirre.{{Cite web|url=http://backreaction.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/guest-post-chanda.html|title=Guest Post: Chanda|website=backreaction.blogspot.co.uk|date=21 January 2007|access-date=2018-02-06}} In 2006, Prescod-Weinstein changed research directions and ultimately moved to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics to work with Lee Smolin. In 2010, Prescod-Weinstein completed her doctoral dissertation, titled "Cosmic acceleration as Quantum Gravity Phenomenology",[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/827751865 "Cosmic acceleration as quantum gravity phenomenology"], WorldCat. under the supervision of Lee Smolin and Niayesh Afshordi at the University of Waterloo, while conducting her research at the Perimeter Institute.{{Cite web|url=https://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/chanda-prescod-weinstein|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein {{!}} Perimeter Institute|website=www.perimeterinstitute.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-02-15|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122154602/http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/chanda-prescod-weinstein|url-status=dead}}
Research
Prescod-Weinstein's research has focused on various topics in cosmology and theoretical physics, including the axion as a dark matter candidate,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn28632-tiny-dark-matter-stars-would-harbour-particles-that-act-as-one/|title=Tiny dark matter stars would harbour particles that act as one|work=New Scientist|first=Anna|last= Nowogrodzki|date= 2015-12-07|access-date=2018-02-09|language=en-US}} inflation, and classical and quantum fields in the early universe.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.perimeterinstitute.ca/videos/meet-scientist-chanda-prescod-weinstein|title=Meet a Scientist - Chanda Prescod-Weinstein {{!}} Perimeter Institute|website=www.perimeterinstitute.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-02-06}}
From 2004 to 2007, she was a named National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
After earning her Ph.D., she became a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Observational Cosmology Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/curriculum-vitae/|title=Curriculum Vitae|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/chanda-prescod-weinstein|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein {{!}} Perimeter Institute|website=www.perimeterinstitute.ca|language=en|access-date=2018-02-06|archive-date=November 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122154602/http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/people/chanda-prescod-weinstein|url-status=dead}} In 2011, she won a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was jointly appointed to the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and the department of physics.{{Cite web|url=http://mlkscholars.mit.edu/cprescod-weinstein/|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Physics – Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars|website=mlkscholars.mit.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-06}} At MIT, Prescod-Weinstein worked in Alan Guth's group in the Center for Theoretical Physics.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/how-i-got-here-1/|title=How I Got Here|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-06|archive-date=March 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313162345/http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/how-i-got-here-1|url-status=dead}} In 2016, Prescod-Weinstein worked as Ann Nelson's postdoc at the University of Washington. {{Cite news |url= https://www.quantamagazine.org/ann-nelson-took-on-the-biggest-problems-in-physics-20190822/ |title= Ann Nelson Took On the Biggest Problems in Physics |first= Chanda |last= Prescod-Weinstein |work= Quanta Magazine |date= August 22, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190826014131/https://www.quantamagazine.org/ann-nelson-took-on-the-biggest-problems-in-physics-20190822 |archive-date= 2019-08-26 |url-status= live}} {{Cite web|url= http://chanda.science/curriculum-vitae |title=Curriculum Vitae|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US}}
In 2016, she became the principal investigator on a $100,522 FQXI grant to study "Epistemological Schemata of Astro | Physics: A Reconstruction of Observers" seeking to answer questions regarding how to re-frame who is an "observer", to acknowledge those existing outside of the European Enlightenment framework, and how that might change knowledge production in science.{{Cite web|url=https://fqxi.org/grants/large/awardees/view/__details/2016/prescod-weinstein|title=FQXi - Foundational Questions Institute|website=fqxi.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-28}}
She is working on the NASA STROBE-X experiment.{{Cite web|url=https://kipac.stanford.edu/events/making-universe-axions|title=Making a Universe with Axions {{!}} Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC)|website=kipac.stanford.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-02-06}}
Since 2019, she has been a faculty member in physics and astronomy, as well as in women's and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. She earned tenure in 2023.{{Cite web |last=Nittle |first=Nadra |date=2023-07-28 |title=Fewer than 20 Black women physicists in the U.S. have earned tenure. This scholar just joined the club. |url=https://19thnews.org/2023/07/chanda-prescod-weinstein-physicist-tenure-rare-feat/ |access-date=2023-07-28 |website=The 19th |language=en-us}}
Awards
Prescod-Weinstein earned the Barbados House Canada Inc. Gordon C Bynoe Scholarship in 2007. In 2013 she won the MIT "Infinite Kilometer Award".{{Cite web|url=http://science.mit.edu/policies/sos-staff-infinite-k-award-previous-winners|title=MIT School of Science|website=science.mit.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306181013/http://science.mit.edu/policies/sos-staff-infinite-k-award-previous-winners|archive-date=2018-03-06|url-status=dead}} In March 2017, Prescod-Weinstein won the LGBT+ Physicists Acknowledgement of Excellence Award "For Years of Dedicated Effort in Changing Physics Culture to be More Inclusive and Understanding Toward All Marginalised Peoples".{{Cite web|url=http://lgbtphysicists.org/excellence.html|title=lgbt+physicists - Acknowledgement of Excellence Awards|website=lgbtphysicists.org|access-date=2018-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215045920/http://lgbtphysicists.org/excellence.html|archive-date=2018-02-15|url-status=dead}}
She was recognized by Essence Magazine as one of 15 Black Women Who are Paving the Way in STEM and Breaking Barriers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}} Prescod-Weinstein's personal story and ideas have been featured in several venues, including Huffington Post, Gizmodo, Nylon, and the African-American Intellectual History Society.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/projects|title=My Science|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-21}} She was named in Nature{{'}}s list of "ten people who helped shape science in 2020" in January 2021,{{cite web |title=Nature's 10: ten people who helped shape science in 2020 |date=December 15, 2020 |url=https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-020-03435-6/index.html |publisher=Nature |access-date=5 January 2021}} as well as one of VICE Motherboard{{'s}} "Humans2020," "honoring scientists, engineers, and visionaries who are changing the world for the better."{{Cite web|title=The Physicist and Social Theorist Fighting for Equality in Science|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dpdpd/the-physicist-and-social-theorist-fighting-for-equality-in-science|access-date=2021-02-03|website=www.vice.com|date=December 4, 2020 |language=en}}
She received the 2021 Edward A. Bouchet Award from the American Physical Society, in recognition "For contributions to theoretical cosmology and particle physics, ranging from axion physics to models of inflation to alternative models of dark energy, for tireless efforts in increasing inclusivity in physics, and for co-creating the Particles for Justice movement."{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Prescod-Weinstein&first_nm=Chanda&year=2021|title=Awards|website=American Physical Society|language=en-US|access-date=2020-10-07}}
Her 2021 work The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred ({{ISBN|978-1541724709}}){{Cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/04/05/zabor-or-the-psalms-milk-blood-heat-why-the-innocent-plead-guilty-and-the-guilty-go-free-and-the-disordered-cosmos |title=Briefly Noted (Published in the print edition of the April 5, 2021, issue, page 58.) |date=March 29, 2021 |magazine=The New Yorker |url-access=limited |access-date=2023-04-30}} won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Science & Technology category,{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/about/pressreleases/story/2022-04-22/los-angeles-times-book-prizes-winners-announced|title=Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=April 22, 2022}} and in 2022 it received a PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Award.
Activism
Prescod-Weinstein is an advocate{{Cite news|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-can-we-give-black-and-latino-astronomers-foundation-reach-stars-180960213/|title=Why the Universe Needs More Black and Latino Astronomers|last=Sokol|first=Joshua|work=Smithsonian|date= 2016-08-23|access-date=2018-02-09|language=en}} for increasing the diversity within science by considering intersectionality{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/11/women-of-color-face-staggering-harassment-in-space-science/|title=Women of color face staggering harassment in space science|last=Kaplan|first=Sarah|date=2017-07-11|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=2018-02-09|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}} and proper celebration of the underrepresented groups who contribute to scientific knowledge production.{{Cite book|title=Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA|last=Bradford.|first=Edwards, Sue|publisher=ABDO Digital|isbn=978-1680797404|location=New York|oclc=1003680291|date = 2016-12-06}} She has been a member of the executive committee of the National Society of Black Physicists.{{Cite news|url=http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2006/10/22/guest-post-chanda-prescod-weinstein/|title=Guest Post: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein|date=2006-10-22|work=Sean Carroll|access-date=2018-02-06|language=en-US}} In 2017 she was a plenary speaker at the Women in Physics Canada meeting.{{Cite web|last=Institute for Quantum Computing|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein - Fields of Cosmological Dreams|website=YouTube|date=2017-08-15|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAqseJNNC7E|access-date=2018-02-06}}
Prescod-Weinstein has contributed popular science articles for Scientific American,{{Cite web |title=Stories by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/chanda-prescod-weinstein/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=Scientific American |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |date=2017-08-14 |title=Scientists Must Challenge What Makes Studies Scientific |language=en |work=American Scientist |url=https://www.americanscientist.org/blog/macroscope/scientists-must-challenge-what-makes-studies-scientific |access-date=2018-02-06}} Slate,{{Cite news |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |date=2017-08-09 |title=Stop Equating 'Science' With Truth |language=en-US |work=Slate |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/08/evolutionary_psychology_is_the_most_obvious_example_of_how_science_is_flawed.html |access-date=2018-02-06 |issn=1091-2339}} American Scientist, Nature Astronomy,{{Cite journal |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |year=2017 |title=Curiosity and the end of discrimination |journal=Nature Astronomy |language=En |volume=1 |issue=6 |pages=0145 |bibcode=2017NatAs...1E.145P |doi=10.1038/s41550-017-0145 |issn=2397-3366 |doi-access=free}} Bitch media,{{Cite web |title=Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein {{!}} Bitch Media |url=https://www.bitchmedia.org/profile/dr-chanda-prescod-weinstein |access-date=2018-02-08 |website=www.bitchmedia.org |language=en |archive-date=March 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327090858/https://www.bitchmedia.org/profile/dr-chanda-prescod-weinstein |url-status=dead }} and Physics World.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/writing/|title=Writing for Popular Media|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, PhD|language=en-US|access-date=2018-02-06}} She is on the Book Review Board of Physics Today and was editor-in-chief of The Offing.{{Cite web|url=https://roommagazine.com/litmaglove-the-offings-chanda-prescod-weinstein/|title=#LitMagLove: The Offing's Chanda Prescod-Weinstein {{!}} Room Magazine|website=roommagazine.com|first=Rachel |last=Thompson|date=January 9, 2017|language=en|access-date=2018-02-06}} The American Physical Society described her as a "vocal presence on Twitter".{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/updates/huffpost.cfm|title=APS Member Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Gets the HuffPo Treatment|website=www.aps.org|language=en|date= 2015-07-06|access-date=2018-02-06}} Prescod-Weinstein maintains a Decolonising Science Reading List.{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@chanda/decolonising-science-reading-list-339fb773d51f|title=Decolonising Science Reading List|last=Prescod-Weinstein|first=Chanda|date=2015-04-25|website=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein|access-date=2018-02-06}} She is a monthly contributor to New Scientist, with a column titled "Field Notes from Space-time,"{{Cite web|title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein|url=https://www.newscientist.com/author/chanda-prescod-weinstein/|access-date=2020-06-14|website=New Scientist|language=en-US}} and a contributing columnist for Physics World.{{Cite web|date=2020-11-03|title=Reflecting the community: Physics World's new contributing columnists expand our team of opinion writers|first=Michael|last= Banks|url=https://physicsworld.com/a/reflecting-the-community-physics-worlds-new-contributing-columnists-expand-our-team-of-opinion-writers/|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Physics World|language=en-GB}} She was a founding member of the American Astronomical Society Committee for Sexual Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy. In October 2018, Prescod-Weinstein was one of 18 authors of a public letter titled "High Energy Physics Community Statement" hosted on a website called "Particles for Justice." The statement condemned Alessandro Strumia's controversial claim at CERN's first Workshop on High Energy Theory and Gender that male scientists were victims of discrimination.{{Cite web|url=https://www.particlesforjustice.org/|title=Home|website=Particles for Justice|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-12}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/physicists-condemn-sexism-through-particles-for-justice/|title=Physicists Condemn Sexism Through 'Particles for Justice'|first=Sophia|last=Chen|magazine=WIRED|date=October 5, 2018|access-date=2018-10-12|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://physicsworld.com/a/thousands-of-physicists-sign-letter-condemning-disgraceful-alessandro-strumia-gender-talk/|title=Thousands of physicists sign letter condemning 'disgraceful' Alessandro Strumia gender talk |first=Michael |last=Banks|date=2018-10-08|work=Physics World|access-date=2018-10-12|language=en-GB}} Within a day of publication, nearly 1,600 academics had signed the letter in support. As of October 13, it had received nearly 4,000 signatures, including those of John Ellis, Howard Georgi and David Gross.{{Cite news|date=2018-10-06|title=Scientists condemn professor's 'morally reprehensible' talk|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/45766576|access-date=2021-03-03}}{{Cite web|title=More Than 200 Physicists Denounce Sexist Lecture at CERN|url=https://gizmodo.com/over-200-physicists-denounce-sexist-lecture-at-cern-1829513584|access-date=2021-03-03|first=Ryan F.|last=Mandelbaum|date=October 5, 2018| website=Gizmodo|language=en-us}}
In June 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Prescod-Weinstein, Brian Nord, and the Particles for Justice group organized a global "Strike for Black Lives". Prescod-Weinstein authored a note on the Particles for Justice page titled "What I wanted when I called for a Strike for Black Lives". On June 10, the day of the strike, over 4,500 academics pledged participation in the strike. Additionally, numerous organizations, including Nature, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute of Physics supported and/or participated in the strike.{{Cite web|title=Scientists strike for black lives, a more inclusive academia|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/11/scientists-strike-black-lives-more-inclusive-academia|first=Lilah|last=Burke|date=June 11, 2020|access-date=2021-03-03|website=www.insidehighered.com|language=en}}
In March 2021, along with Nord, Lucianne Walkowicz, and Sarah Tuttle, Prescod-Weinstein co-authored an opinion piece in Scientific American calling for the James Webb Space Telescope to be renamed, citing Webb's promotion of psychological warfare as a cold war tool, as well as citing archival evidence indicating that Webb was a supervisor to State Department staff enforcing the Truman Administration's policy of purging LGBT individuals from the workplace, and had also directly participated in meetings with Senators during which he personally handed over a homophobic memorandum.{{cite web |last1=Prescod-Weinstein |first1=Chanda |last2=Tuttle |first2=Sarah |last3=Walkowicz |first3=Lucianne |last4=Nord |first4=Brian |date=March 1, 2021 |title=The James Webb Space Telescope Needs to Be Renamed |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-needs-to-rename-the-james-webb-space-telescope/ |access-date=February 2, 2023 |work=Scientific American}} The opinion argued that as someone in management, Webb bore responsibility for policies of purging LGBT employees from agencies enacted under his leadership.{{Cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |date=2021-10-20 |title=The Webb Telescope's Latest Stumbling Block: Its Name |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/science/webb-telescope-astronomy-homophobia.html |access-date=2023-02-06 |issn=0362-4331}} Prescod-Weinstein, Walkowicz, Nord, and Tuttle also started a petition, signed by more than 1,700 people, a majority of the signatories astronomers or those in related fields.{{Cite web |title=Rename the James Webb Space Telescope |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PS_rtSOzaH40q1r_jQkhJhXmW97DOw-S6dqGA0jDKzM/edit?usp=embed_facebook |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=Google Docs |language=en}} These activities were part of a larger movement to rename the James Webb Space Telescope, including by the JustSpace Alliance, which produced a documentary on the issue.{{Citation |title=Behind the Name: James Webb Space Telescope | date=July 5, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqrZ0Pl-KjQ |language=en |access-date=2023-02-06}} In 2022, NASA released a report of an investigation, in response to Prescod-Weinstein's claims,{{cite web |last1=Fisher |first1=Alise |title=NASA Shares James Webb History Report |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-shares-james-webb-history-report |website=NASA |access-date=25 November 2022 |date=18 November 2022 |archive-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124083102/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-shares-james-webb-history-report/ |url-status=live }} based on an examination of more than 50,000 documents. The report found "no available evidence directly links Webb to any actions or follow-up related to the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation".{{cite web |last1=Odom |first1=Brian C. |title=NASA Historical Investigation into James E. Webb's Relationship to the Lavender Scare. Final Report |url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_historical_investigation_james_webb_0.pdf |website=nasa.gov |publisher=NASA |access-date=25 November 2022 |archive-date=24 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124093857/https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_historical_investigation_james_webb_0.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite journal |author=Witze |first=Alexandra |date=November 18, 2022 |title=NASA really, really won't rename Webb telescope despite community pushback |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03787-1 |url-status=live |journal=Nature |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-03787-1 |pmid=36400961 |s2cid=253671586 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122182645/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03787-1 |archive-date=22 November 2022 |accessdate=November 21, 2022}}
In December 2022, The New York Times published an article by Michael Powell suggesting that Prescod-Weinstein employed false ad hominem attacks in an attempt to discredit Hakeem Oluseyi, an astrophysicist who did initial research debunking the claims against James Webb.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/james-webb-telescope-gay-rights.html|title=How Naming the James Webb Telescope Turned Into a Fight Over Homophobia|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 19, 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://hmoluseyi.medium.com/was-nasas-historic-leader-james-webb-a-bigot-131c821d5f12|title=Was NASA's Historic Leader James Webb a Bigot?|date=December 25, 2022 }}
Prescod-Weinstein worked with two research assistants for two years to form a database of all professional publications by Black women with PhDs in physics-related disciplines, which was released in December 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredcouncil/2023/01/16/boosting-black-women-in-physics-with-the-aim-of-making-a-big-bang-in-business/|title=Boosting Black Women In Physics With The Aim Of Making A Big Bang In Business|first=Jared|last=Council|work=Forbes|date=January 16, 2023|access-date=February 2, 2023}} She said she drew inspiration from the Cite Black Women movement on social media.
= Jewish communal leadership activities =
Prescod-Weinstein has in the past been a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Academic Advisory council. Prescod-Weinstein also served as the Chairperson of Jews of Color and Allies Advisory Group of Reconstructing Judiaism, the umbrella organization of Reconstructionist Judaism, and served on its board of governors.{{Cite web |title=Chanda Prescod-Weinstein |url=https://blackwomensreligiousactivism.org/activists/chanda-prescod-weinstein/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=Black Women's Religious Activism |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Prescod-Weinstein is queer and agender. Her husband is a lawyer.{{cite web |last=Zierler |first=David |date=November 10, 2020 |title=Interview of Chanda Prescod-Weinstein |url=https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/45004 |access-date=2022-01-26 |website=American Institute of Physics}} She is the daughter of author and activist Margaret Prescod and labor activist Sam Weinstein. Through her father she is a granddaughter of feminist Selma James and the step-granddaughter of Trinidadian Marxist writer and historian C. L. R. James.{{Cite web| first=Greg|last= Childs|title=Black Intellectual History and STEM: A Conversation with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein|date=29 August 2016|url=https://www.aaihs.org/black-intellectual-history-and-stem-a-conversation-with-chanda-prescod-weinstein/|website=Black Perspectives|publisher=African American Intellectual History Society|access-date=2020-06-14|language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Cheney-Rice |first=Zak |date=2023-01-10 |title=A Cosmologist's Case for Staying Put on Earth |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/a-cosmologists-case-for-staying-put-on-earth.html |access-date=2024-02-16 |website=Intelligencer |language=en}}
= Views on Judaism =
Prescod-Weinstein is Ashkenazi and Reconstructionist.{{Cite web |title=‘My goal right now: for the next generation to have a world at all’ |url=https://clarknow.clarku.edu/2023/09/28/my-goal-right-now-for-the-next-generation-to-have-a-world-at-all/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=Clark Now {{!}} Clark University |language=en}} She has described herself as an agnostic atheist, writing that “G-d is not necessarily a supernatural presence, but rather a concept that holds space for how we spiritually connect with our sense of what the universe is about, what life is about. For me, Jewish texts are an important ethical guide, something to think with.” She regularly attends a Reconstructionist synagogue and has said that Passover is her favorite holiday.{{Cite web |last=Burack |first=Emily |date=2021-03-04 |title=Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's Jewish Universe |url=https://www.heyalma.com/dr-chanda-prescod-weinsteins-jewish-universe/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=Hey Alma |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2022-02-20 |title=What to the Black Jew Is Passover? - Evolve |url=https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/what-to-the-black-jew-is-passover/ |access-date=2025-03-04 |language=en-US}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book |last=Prescod-Weinstein |first=Chanda |author-mask=2 |title=The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred |year=2021 |edition=hardcover 1st |location=New York |publisher=Bold Type Books |isbn=9781541724709}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.cprescodweinstein.com/}}
- [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/45004 Oral history interview transcript with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on 10 November 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
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