Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries: Second Edition

Since 1901 there have been over three hundred recipients of the Nobel Prize in the sciences. Only ten of them -- about 3 percent -- have been women. Why? In this updated version of Nobel Prize Women in Science, Sharon Bertsch McGrayne explores the reasons for this astonishing disparity by examining the lives and achievements of fifteen women scientists who either won a Nobel Prize or played a crucial role in a Nobel Prize - winning project. The book reveals the relentless discrimination these women faced both as students and as researchers. Their success was due to the fact that they were passionately in love with science. The book begins with Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in physics. Readers are then introduced to Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, Emmy Noether, Lise Meitner, Barbara McClintock, Chien-Shiung Wu, and Rosalind Franklin. These and other remarkable women portrayed here struggled against gender discrimination, raised families, and became political and religious leaders. They were mountain climbers, musicians, seamstresses, and gourmet cooks. Above all, they were strong, joyful women in love with discovery. Nobel Prize Women in Science is a startling and revealing look into the history of science and the critical and inspiring role that women have played in the drama of scientific progress. Table of ContentsFront Matter1 A Passion for Discovery2 Marie Sklodowska Curie3 Lise Meitner4 Emmy Noether5 Gerty Radnitz Cori6 Irene Joliot-Curie7 Barbara McClintock8 Maria Goeppert Mayer9 Rita Levi-Montalcini10 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin11 Chien-Shiung Wu12 Gertrude Belle Elion13 Rosalind Elsie Franklin14 Rosalyn Sussman Yalow15 Jocelyn Bell Burnell16 Christiane Nusslein-VolhardAfterwordNotesPicture AcknowledgmentsIndexAbout the Author