NY Times Under Fire for This 'Sexist' Statement in a Female Rocket Scientist's Obituary

President Barack Obama presents the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Yvonne C. Brill, RCA Astro Electronics, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (Photo: AP)

The New York Times has modified the obituary of a prominent female rocket scientist after readers became outraged over statements emphasizing her cooking and mothering abilities.

The article originally began:

She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said.

But Yvonne Brill, who died on Wednesday at 88 in Princeton, N.J., was also a brilliant rocket scientist, who in the early 1970s invented a propulsion system to help keep communications satellites from slipping out of their orbits.

The system became the industry standard, and it was the achievement President Obama mentioned in 2011 in presenting her with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

Here's some of the reaction on Twitter from private individuals and other media outlets:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/history_gal/status/318729544850886657"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/odtdevil/status/318730118300327938"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/318724560537137152"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/Salon/status/318447164554629121"]

Even New York Times editor Margaret Sullivan weighed in on the controversy, saying she agreed with the protesters:

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/Sulliview/status/318141029712793600"]

The New York Times has since taken out the "beef stroganoff" phrase, and the lede now reads:

She was a brilliant rocket scientist who followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said.

The Huffington Post notes that there is no note in the article alerting readers that the text has been modified.

Were you offended by the original introduction?  Or was beginning Brill's obituary with a message about her accomplishments as a wife and a mother understandable?

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