Ten Women Who Changed Science, and the World

'These minibiographies of women who persisted will move anyone with an avid curiosity about the world.' Publishers Weekly

With a foreword by Athene Donald, Professor of Experimental Physics, University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College.

Ten Women Who Changed Science tells the moving stories of the physicists, biologists, chemists, astronomers, and doctors who helped to shape our world with their extraordinary breakthroughs and inventions, and outlines their remarkable achievements.

These scientists overcame significant obstacles, often simply because they were women. Their science and their lives were driven by personal tragedies and shaped by seismic world events. What drove these remarkable women to cure previously incurable diseases, disprove existing theories, or discover new sources of energy? Some were rewarded with the Nobel Prize for their pioneering achievements - Madame Curie, twice - others were not and, even if they had been, many are still not the household names they should be.

Despite living during periods when the contribution of women was disregarded, if not ignored, these resilient women persevered with their research, whether creating life-saving drugs or expanding our knowledge of the cosmos. By daring to ask 'How?' and 'Why?' and persevering against all odds, each of these women, in a variety of ways, has helped to make the world a better place.

The scientists are: Henrietta Leavitt (United States, Astronomy); Lise Meitner (Austria, Physics); Chien-Shiung Wu (United States, Physics); Marie Curie (France, Chemistry); Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (United Kingdom, Chemistry); Virginia Apgar (United States, Medicine); Gertrude Elion (United States, Medicine); Rita Levi-Montalcini (Italy, Biology); Elsie Widdowson (United Kingdom, Biology); Rachel Carson (United States, Biology).