The first person to utilize this novel technology to investigate female songbird fidelity was Patricia Gowaty, a virtuoso scientist now in her seventies, and a distinguished former professor of evolutionary biology at UCLA. Gowaty is a feminist firebrand. This inspired piece of detective work was an early breakthrough in a career dedicated to fearlessly questioning what she calls ‘the standard model’ of sex differences in behaviour. It was also her first taste of being ignored by the male scientific establishment.
