A Decade of Feminist Critiques in the Natural Sciences: An Address by Ruth Bleier

On January 4, 1988, Ruth Bleier died in her home after a battle with cancer. Exactly one month before-on December 4, 1987-the paper that is printed here was presented at the Women’s Studies Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was Ruth’s last address, the last in a long line of academic and political contributions that marked an exceptionally active career. We offer it here in the informal style in which it was written, with minor editing and clarifications, and the removal of some material very specific to the University of Wisconsin. A well-known neurophysiologist, Ruth Bleier was recognized as a leading expert on the hypothalamus in animals and was the author of three definitive books on this topic.’ She is most well known among feminist scholars for her two recent books, Science and Gender: