Each year, on 11 February, CERN celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science by shedding light on the variety of career paths for women in STEM. This year, we asked nine female scientists to share their stories with us and tell us what inspired them to pursue a STEM career and what are their favourite memories involving science.

Pinelopi, PhD student with the Medipix collaboration

Pinelopi is a PhD student with the Medipix collaboration. Medipix chips developed for pixel detectors at the LHC are now used in a variety of fields, including medical imaging.

It was her family and her secondary school experiences that inspired Pinelopi to pursue a career in STEM. “My mother studied physics, so I wanted to become like her, while my father loves to explore ideas and think outside the box. As a secondary school student, I visited CERN with my class, and I was amazed by everything. My dream was to one day return as a physicist.”

Read the eight other stories here.