On Tuesday, 15 March 2022, the dramatised lecture "Madame Châtelet and her Instagram followers" created by a group of ICMAB women, was represented in the framework of the NeuroArt Festival 2022. A contest mixing neuroscience and art organized by the Institute of Neurosciences from the Universitat de Barcelona.

The place of the event was the CCCB (Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona). 

Madame Châtelet performance during the NeuroArt Festival at CCCB | ICMAB

The dramatised lecture explains the life and inventions of 10 women scientists, from Hypatia of Alexandria to Margarita Salas. The idea is to let students and, young people in general, know that there have been many women scientists in history, and that they have made important contributions in science, although they have been silenced or invisibilized by science books and by the system, in general. There is a need for this type of role models!

In this case, the scientists are: Émilie du Châtelet (Anna Roig), Hildegarda von Bingen (Susagna Ricart, who also plays the piano), Hypatia of Alexandria (Isabal Alonso), Trota de Salerno (Pietat Sierra), Ada Lovelace (Anna Laromaine), Sybilla Merian (Carmen Ocal), Nettie Stevens (M. Rosa Palacín), Rosalind Franklin (Esther Barrena), Vera Rubin (Núria Aliaga) and Margarita Salas (Anna May). Other scientists that participate in the play are: Rosario Núñez, Arántzazu González, Mariona Coll, Mariana Köber, Imma Ratera and Ana M. López. 

Madame Châtelet performance during the NeuroArt Festival at CCCB | ICMAB

The lecture received very positive feedback from the audience, formed by secondary school classes of 10 different schools, with students aged 14-16 years old. Some of the schools will continue working on this topic in class, as the teachers explained after the play. 

If you are a school interested in our play, check our website or the videos we have in youtube from the Researcher's Night in CosmoCaixa and Online by Zoom, including a trailer! 

Thank you to the Institute of Neuroscience (UB) for inviting our Madame Châtelet group, and to the CCCB for the organization. 

Madame Châtelet performance during the NeuroArt Festival at CCCB | ICMAB

About NeuroArt

NeuroArt is a science communication project organised by the Institute of Neurosciences. The project was created to strengthen the relationship between art and science. These two disciplines are two ways to understand, observe and describe the world. Nowadays there is a need to work from a multidisciplinary approach to keep pushing the frontiers of knowledge. 

In this project, schools in Catalunya work on neuroscientific concepts through the creation of artistic works, creating a new and strong knowledge innovative. It is unbelievable what they achieve once we remove the division between both disciplines.

You can see some of the works of art and the winners of this year's event on this link.

The Madame Châtelet group before the play | ICMAB