Women, Weird and Wonderful: Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow

Ancient Greek scientists, like Archimedes or Euclid, commonly provide inspiration for the name giving of modern research projects. But just as often, mythological figures appear, like for the “Apollo”-missions to the moon. Slightly off, because Apollo was rather a sun-god. The recent “Artemis”-project is better named, because she liked the moon and wore a crescent one as a tiara. Now, for the recent Jupiter expedition, you would have expected some divine connection too. Let’s see, Iris maybe? She was the goddess of the rainbow and the iris in our eye recalls her “iridescent” colours. She is also remembered in the iris-flower, symbolising faith and hope, planted on graves to act as a soul guide. Iris, as “the fastest in the universe”, connected heaven to earth and was the confidant of supreme goddess Hera. So who could be more apt to fly to Zeus? But instead of Iris, they went with JUICE, Jupiter Icy-moons Explorer. Quite underwhelming. It will take the Juice eight years to reach Jupiter’s orbit. Iris would have done it in the blink of an eye.

Iris, stamnos, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Iris carrying the water from the Styx, Guy Head,

National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland