For fun, my dad and I went through his giant books about science, math and quantum physics - all by Stephen Hawking. Out of 1500ish pages, all the collected works analyzed and explained were the scientific work of white European men, save for one Japanese scientist.

I asked my dad: does it make sense that the scientific knowledge we amplify today comes from one fraction of the world, namely Western Europe as if the rest of the world has had nothing to offer to our current scientific methods and pursuits?

There is so much scientific and mathematical knowledge inherent in cultures and traditions around the world that use different words or approaches to scientific concepts - but their legitimacy is constantly questioned.

We need an expanded view of the knowledge the world has to offer that requires holding equal value for traditions of knowledgr from other (mostly colonized countries and Indigenous communities) cultural traditions.

Its not just that we need to see the work of more scientists and mathematicians of color.
We also need to expand our very notion of science and math to include a variety of worldviews across time and space.

What wonders are we missing out on when our idea of STEM is so Eurocentric and when the parameters of what is "legitimate" is decided by a dominant group who has made decisions the world over for centuries?

I'm assuming there is a lot of cool stuff we dont know.