Pregnant Teen To Celebrated Nuclear Physicist
Senamile Masango was part of the first cohort of African scientists to conduct research at the prestigious European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory in Switzerland.
Photo credit: Supplied to GCIS VUK’UZENZELE
Senamile Masango had always dreamed of becoming a scientist. By age 16, she had commenced studying at the University of Zululand in South Africa. While falling pregnant in university wasn’t part of the teen’s plan, Senamile didn’t allow it to derail her ambitions. She has since gone on to become a nuclear physicist and make history as the first African woman to form part of an African-led team conducting experiments at one of the world’s largest centres for scientific research (CERN, Switzerland).
Masango was born in May 1987 in the rural village of Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. Her mother was a princess from the Zulu royal family and her father was a chief inspector and leader. She was part of a polygamous family and her mother was the youngest of three wives.
Masango’s parents were unequivocal in their respect for education. Her father reinforced the notion that ‘education is the one thing that no one can take away from you’. By age 4, Masango had started school. A defining moment came when she was 11 years of age and learnt about space exploration in geography class. “I was so fascinated to learn that there are people who travel to space - leave this dimension - and go to the moon… that’s when I fell in love with science.”[1] She initially wanted ‘to make history’ as the first African person in space. But this wasn’t to be. Mark Shuttleworth, an African tech engineer, achieved this feat in 2012.
Masango kept her science dream alive. At the age of 16, she started studying physics at a South African university. She was two years ahead of her peers and her future looked bright. Speaking of bright things and physics, let’s digress for a moment so I can share one of my fave science jokes. Where do bad rainbows go? Prism. It’s a light sentence and gives them time to reflect. Haha.
Now where were we, oh yes, we were coming to the part where Masango’s life takes an unexpected detour in the first quarter of 2007. In her own words, “I failed a few modules, I couldn’t finish my degree, and I also ended up pregnant.”
After giving birth to her daughter in January 2008, Masango then faced a choice. Would she continue her academic studies or not? At that time in South Africa less than 15% of black African students who matriculated from school would go on to attain a bachelor’s degree.[2] With the support of her parents, Masango chose to beat the odds and persevere. With courage, determination and grit she returned to university in 2009 and repeated the modules she had failed. She completed her Bachelor of Science (Physics and Electronics) in 2010. She also completed a BSc Honours (Nuclear Physics). Masango initially worked as a Junior Project Engineer.
In 2014, Masango founded the Senamile Masango Foundation, with the mission of ‘creating the Africa we want and offering African solutions to African problems’.[3] The organisation has a special program called Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) that lobbies for the advancement of women in science and engineering. Additionally, Masango was part of the International Women’s Conference, hosted by South Africa’s parliament, addressing issues faced by women in science across Africa.
In early 2016, on what would have been her daughter’s first day of a new school, tragedy struck. Masango’s daughter was involved in a car accident and sadly died. It was just a few days before her eighth birthday. Again, Masango would need to draw on her family support, the deep reserves within her character, and her faith to continue her journey.
Despite her heartache, Masango moved to Cape Town and started a Master of Science in Nuclear Physics.
In 2017, while still a Masters student, Masango became the first African woman to conduct an experiment at the world’s largest particle physics laboratory - the prestigious and world-renowned European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
[Interesting side-note: If you are a science nerd, you may be familiar with CERN, as the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, in which two high-energy particle beams travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide.[4] The LHC consists of a 27km ring of superconducting magnets with extra accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the route. To ensure the electromagnets efficiently conduct electricity without resistance or loss of energy, the magnets are chilled to -271.3 degrees Celsius (yes, this is a temperature colder than outer space!). It lies in a tunnel 175 meters below the France-Switzerland border and by March 2015 had already cost around 4 billion British pounds. Over 10,000 scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories from across more than 100 countries collaborated to get it built. Ultimately, the LHC helps humanity understand how the universe works. The LHC has already been critical in the discovery of the famous Higgs boson, proving the existence of an invisible process that performs the fundamentally important role of giving all other particles their mass or substance. It is expected that the LHC will also help us to find out more about the stuff known as dark matter, which constitutes 85% of the total mass of the universe. These new insights in turn can open doors for scientists of the future to develop practical applications that benefit all of humanity.[5] So, conducting science experiments at CERN is considered a really big deal!]
Senamile Masango is a celebrated nuclear physicist studying the interactions that happen inside the nucleus.
In 2019 Masango graduated from her Masters (cum laude). She has since registered for a PhD in Nuclear Physics at the University of Cape Town.
Senamile Masango graduated with a Master in Science (cum laude) in 2019.
Photo credit: @Senamile Masango on X (formerly Twitter)
In 2020, as a postgraduate nuclear physics researcher, Masango noted that her work involved studying the structure of the nucleus with a method called Coulomb excitation. She noted that, “We want to understand the interactions that happen inside the nucleus. This sounds easy but it is not, you have to be strong in mathematics, coding, quantum mechanics, and also be an analytical thinker.” She notes that going to CERN has boosted her confidence as a young researcher and she looks forward to publishing her research and leaving her mark for future generations. As an associate member at CERN, Masango continues to return to the headquarters in Switzerland regularly to present her research.
In 2020, Masango also led a research team representing South Africa at the BRICS Youth Energy Agency. Her team won the BRICS Youth Energy Outlook 2020 Award.
Masango continues to be a non-executive Director at the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation Ltd (NECSA) and the Chairperson of the NECSA Research and Development Subcommittee. She is one of the youngest Board Members to be appointed at a schedule 2 state-owned enterprise, Council Member at the University of Western Cape and Board member at Moses Kotane Institute.
Another interesting aside is that Masanago shared the stage with supermodel Naomi Campbell at the Forbes Leading Women Summit in Durban, South Africa. Other significant achievements include being recognised as one of the 50 Global Inspirational Women of 2020 and a finalist in the Being a Women in Tech Global Awards in 2021. She also holds an International Women in Science Award for 2022, which honours her crucial contributions to the progress of science.
It is clear that Masango did not follow a linear road to success. Rather, hers was a circuitous route. Her journey had many twists and turns, unexpected detours, pauses, and tragedy. Nevertheless, she shows that dreams can be achieved. Masango credits her success to self-belief, commitment, hard work and passion - “Once your mind is right, there is nothing you can’t conquer. Science is challenging. You have to believe in yourself, be committed, work hard, and ultimately love what you do.”
“Once your mind is right, there is nothing you can’t conquer. Science is challenging. You have to believe in yourself, be committed, work hard, and ultimately love what you do.””
Masango continues to have aspirations for her future. She dreams of opening her own consulting company focusing on engineering, climate and energy. She also wants to have her own educational show teaching youth about science. Furthermore, Masango aspires to serve on various boards throughout Africa. And she sees herself gracing the cover of Forbes magazine. Not only is Masango well on her way to achieving these dreams, but she’s helping many other women and girls to attain their dreams too!
References:
[1] https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/nuclear-physicist-south-africa-womens-month/
[2] https://www.southafricanmi.com/education-statistics.html
[3] http://www.senamilemasangofoundation.org
[4] https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider
[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32087787
Other sources:
https://www.timeslive.co.za/sebenza-live/features/2018-08-28-from-teen-mom-to-nuclear-scientist/
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220223074812984
https://www.necsa.co.za/biography-of-ms-senamile-masango/
https://www.news24.com/news24/death-of-daughter-spurs-uwc-graduate-to-get-her-masters-cum-laude-in-nuclear-physics-20190403
https://twitter.com/SenamileMasango
https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sundayworld/lifestyle/2019-04-10-senamile-masango-the-queen-of-science/
https://www.reinventedmagazine.com/post/senamile-masango-not-your-everyday-nuclear-physicist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8doM6pUGHk
Last updated: 9 June 2024