Stratton Law Office

Call your spirit back.

"The 33-year-old London-based physicist has become something of a phenomenon herself — both an irresistible force and immoveable object — in her very personal campaign to bring more girls to study and work in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Wade has written more than 1,600 Wikipedia entries for long-ignored women scientists, and she has firm beliefs on ideas on how to support girls interested in the field.

Jessica WadeCourtesy Jess Wade
Wade gained notice when, still in her 20s, she began writing the Wikipedia biographies about women and minority scientists who never got their due — from employers, from other scientists, from the public.

As her Wikipedia entries climbed into the dozens, and then into the hundreds, she spoke and wrote more on gender equality in science. She won awards and medals and was cited by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

However, not all of Wiki-world was happy with her. Several of her entries were deleted by other Wikimedians, as the most influential contributors and editors are called. She told TODAY.com that they said a handful of the women she wrote up were not all that well-known.

Wade said that’s right, that’s the problem: they should be better known.

One example was Clarice Phelps. Wade heard about the young African-American nuclear chemist, and wrote a Wikipedia bio describing her work on a team that discovered a new periodic-table element at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Phelps entry bounced on and off Wikipedia as critics deleted it and Wade defended it. In the end, Wade won, and Phelps’ entry is back on Wikipedia for good.

Jessica WadeCourtesy Jess Wade
Meanwhile, Wade’s own Wikipedia entry — written by others, not her — has grown to 10 printed pages.

As Wade pursues her effort to make sure women scientists are known, she also has beliefs on how to make sure the next generation gets the support they need."