For geophysicist Celeste Labedz, the surprise was total.
When she posed dressed as Princess Elsa (from the Disney movie “Frozen”) in the middle of the Juneau ice field in Alaska, she never imagined that the image would go around the world, quickly becoming viral and accumulating, in a few hours, Twitter more than 10,000 “likes”.
But what is a scientist dressed as a princess doing in the middle of a glacier?
The answer is on the Twitter account of Labedz who, at the time of uploading the photo, wrote: “I firmly believe that boys should not be taught that girly things and science are mutually exclusive. Therefore, I packed a layer next to my fieldwork tools, just to show what the glaciologist Princess Elsa would look like.”
And although the images seem to be quite spontaneous, the truth is that the idea began long before one of his fellow researchers fired the camera in the middle of a break in the middle of an excursion.
It all started when Labedz learned that he would have to make this trip to Alaska weeks before to investigate the use of seismometers to detect earthquakes in glaciers.
At that time, the geophysicist remembered that she had a layer that imitated that of Princess Elsa in her parents’ house, in the state of Nebraska, United States.
I had bought it to celebrate Halloween in previous years. So she called her mother, Cynthia, to send her to the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where she currently studies subglacial hydrologic conditions.
“I thought it would be a lot of fun and that it could resonate with other scientists ,” the researcher explained to the BBC. “I folded the cape, it was very small, and put it in my backpack. Then when we had a break, I took it out,” she added.
Inclusion of women in science
Labedz is pursuing a Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology’s seismology laboratory. Her research involves exploring the environmental processes that affect glaciers, such as earthquakes and sediment pressure from subglacial water flow.
His interest in science was encouraged by his parents. His father worked at the University of Nebraska State Museum. “I basically grew up in a natural history museum,” says Labedz.
But beyond her research, geophysics is also an active advocate for the inclusion of women in the branches of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Women have long been excluded, both historically and socially. There is a lack of role models. Science is bound by historical notions that the scientist is a white, heterosexual, able-bodied male,” she notes.
“It can be exclusionary if you are the opposite of any of these characteristics, and so I want to encourage people of different identities in everything I do. I would like people to think carefully about what they think a scientist should look like,” he adds. .
Surprising Effect
After posing dressed as a princess on the glacier, Labedz had to wait several days to publish the photos because there is no signal or internet on the Juneau ice field .
When he returned to college in California, he first downloaded images related to his research, and then those related to the “Frozen” character, from his digital camera.
“It took me a few days. But I also spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to write,” says the doctoral student.
The reaction that the image had on Twitter was totally unexpected for the researcher.
“I didn’t expect it to have the effect that it has and that it will spread until now. It has had a very positive response. People are showing it to their children and that makes me happy,” he says.
And although it is not known what the real effect that this woman will have among girls, today in social networks Labedz is known as the “Princess of Science“.
