Portrait photograph of Dr Helen Mason by Robert Taylor, 2010. Monochrome photograph showing Mason in half portrait with hands crossed in front of her against a mid-grey background. She wears a black round-necked top over a paler T-shirt. With accompanying plaque.

One of six photograph portraits of Women of Outstanding Achievement in Physics. Each of the women were chosen by the UKRC (UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology) as leaders in their scientific field. Their portraits were commissioned from Robert Taylor between the years 2006-2011 as part of an annual project to capture and celebrate ‘Women of Outstanding Achievement in SET’, aiming to inspire the next generation and increase the proportion of women in science, engineering and technology professions. Mason is a British theoretical physicist at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge involved in a variety of solar space projects.

Taylor was commissioned to photograph the chosen women, and also conducted short interviews, which were published in an accompanying booklet. These six portraits of physicists were donated to the Institute of Physics where they hung in a meeting room in their premises in Portland Place until November 2018, when they were offered as a gift to the Science Museum.