I would appreciate this post more -- and find it more convincing -- if it came with references or other evidence for its assertions.
Your prior should be that a mascot is fictitious until proven otherwise. That a mascot is a mascot is reason to believe that official history has been improved.
In 1906, when Pierre Curie died, his death was reported as follows in the French newspaper Le Matin
"M. Pierre CURIE, le savant qui découvrit le radium, a été écrasé dans la rue et tué net par un camion"
Translation "Mr. Pierre Curie, the scientist who discovered radium, was crushed in the street and killed by a truck"
As for Grace Hopper, she gets credited with the first co...
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, when STEM enthusiasts highlight the work of modern and historical women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. If you run a blog, you may want to participate by posting about a woman in a STEM field whom you admire. But I'd love to have people share women scientists/mathematicians/authors in the comments that they think we could all stand to read more about.