Atomic Women

The Atomic Women is a portrait of the World War II female scientists who worked in laboratories and secret sites of the Manhattan Project, whose contributions have been left unstudied. Recruited not only from labs and universities across the country, but also from abroad, these women helped and often initiated the development of the atomic bomb, playing a starring role in the Manhattan Project. In fact, their involvement was critical to its success.

This book explores not just the critical steps towards the creation of a successful nuclear bomb, but also the moral implications of such an invention.

At the centre of The Atomic Women are the groundbreaking female scientists of the atomic era who gave rise to the project: Lise Meitner and Irene Joliot-Curie (daughter of Marie Curie), who from Europe laid the groundwork for the Manhattan Project, though they were not fully aware of the consequences. Elizabeth Rona, the foremost expert in plutonium, whose expertise contributed to "The Fat Man" and "Little Boy", the bombs dropped over Japan. Also featured are Leona Marshall, Elizabeth Graves, and Joan Hinton, who looked to European scientific ideals for inspiration but went ahead and carved their own paths.