Headstrong

Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history{u2019}s brightest female scientists. In 2013, the New York Times ... (more)

Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history{u2019}s brightest female scientists. In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: g2sShe made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise three children.g3s It wasn{u2019}t until the second paragraph that readers discovered why the Times had devoted several hundred words to her life: Brill was a brilliant rocket scientist who invented a propulsion system to keep communications satellites in orbit, and had recently been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Among the questions the obituary {u2014} and consequent outcry {u2014} prompted were, Who are the role models for today{u2019}s female scientists, and where can we find the stories that cast them in their true light? Headstrong delivers a powerful, global, and engaging response. Covering Nobel Prize winners and major innovators, as well as lesser-known but hugely significant scientists who influence our every day, Rachel Swaby{u2019}s vibrant profiles span centuries of courageous thinkers and illustrate how each one{u2019}s ideas developed, from their first moment of scientific engagement through the research and discovery for which they{u2019}re best known. This fascinating tour reveals these 52 women at their best while encouraging and inspiring a new generation of girls to put on their lab coats. (less)