COSMOS magazine has announced its list of the ten best young scientists from Australia. It’s a wonderful idea. As editor Wilson da Silva says, “Australia produces some of the finest scientists in the world, and many of them show exceptional talent early in their careers.” It would be nice if these young scientists received a fraction of the public recognition accorded to athletes and entertainers, and COSMOS is doing a great service to the Australian community by holding these awards.

But one thing troubles me greatly. Of the ten winners announced today, only one is a woman. It is a blight on Australian science that so few women excel at the highest level. The causes are complex and difficult to change, but it’s terribly important that we do so. Even if you are not moved, though you should be, by the argument that on fairness alone women should make up around half of Australia’s best scientists under 40, there remains the pragmatic argument that the world is moving into knowledge economies and for Australia to maintain its living standards we cannot afford to tune out the intellectual energy of half the population.