(ANSA) – Geneva, October 07 – They are young girls, recent graduates in physics or about to do so and who use social profiles, especially TikTok but not only, to share their passion with young people and bring them closer to the world of scientific disciplines, known as “Stem”. From the new science portal at CERN, Virginia Benzi and Ilaria Lucrezia Rossi filmed some of the opening moments to talk about them on social channels, through videos and reels, and to engage their community by being transported virtually to Geneva.
Virginia, 27, a physics graduate – 105,000 followers on Instagram, 40,000 on Facebook and 64,000 on TikTok, 58,000 subscribers on Youtube – chose to pursue physics online as her full-time job. “I mainly deal with cosmology, but also with news, for example about new discoveries.
“Not long ago I published an experiment conducted here at Cern on antimatter,” explains Virginia. “A few days ago the father of two little girls approached me and asked me if I was a YouTuber because his daughters recognized me. When I explained what I do, he was really surprised.”
Ilaria Lucrezia Rossi, known on TikTok as She Science, has more than 20 thousand followers, rising to 25 thousand if we also take into account Instagram, between the ages of 16 and 25, especially girls. “STEM subjects are thought to be male-dominated, and there is still severe discrimination against women. At Sapienza University in Rome, where I am finishing my degree in physics, there are less than 20% of students enrolled. I am trying to eliminate this Sample”. “The white male world,” Ilaria says. It is a topic also dear to Virginia who, like Ilaria, collaborates on the project created by the digital agency La Piazza Group. “An experiment called ‘Draw a Scientist’ was conducted: 5,000 children were asked – says Virginia – to draw a person from the world of science. Only 28 drew a woman, and this shows who she is in the imagination of an ordinary scientist. We really have a lot of work to do.” (handle).
“Infuriatingly humble social media buff. Twitter advocate. Writer. Internet nerd.”
