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NOBEL PRIZE WOMEN IN SCIENCE
This book is a collection of biographies about 15 women who
either won a Nobel Prize in science or contributed significantly
to a Nobel Prize that someone else won.
NOBEL PRIZE WOMEN IN SCIENCE asks why only ten women--compared
to more than 300 men-- have won Nobel Prizes in science. That's
a mere three percent.
Why so few?
The women in this book worked in widely diverse fields, including
medicine, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and mathematics.
But many of them had to overcome enormous hurdles to pursue
their research. They worked in home and basement laboratories
and in attic offices. They crawled behind furniture to attend
science lectures. They worked as volunteers in universities
for decades without pay--in the United States as late as the
1970s. Given the enormousness of the problems they faced and
the importance of the discoveries they made, the real question
to be asked about these women is not "Why so few." A better
question is "Why so many?" As one of them noted, "Never before
have so few contributed so much under such trying circumstances."
These are objective but inspiring stories. They interlace
explanations, anecdotes, and quotations. Although the science
is painlessly and accurately described, there's enough detail
to interest scientists. And reviewers have liked the fact
that the book "neither preaches or screeches" but allows the
facts to speak for themselves. To research the book, I interviewed
the surviving women themselves and more than 200 of their
associates. Barbara McClintock, for example, granted interviews
to only two writers during her lifetime. I was one of them.
This expanded edition adds a new chapter about Christiane
Nuesslein-Volhard, the biologist who won a 1995 Nobel for
discovering the genes that govern the early development of
embryonic insects, fish, mice, and people.
(Sharon Bertsch McGrayne)
About the Author
Sharon Bertsch McGrayne is a former newspaper reporter and
writer-editor on science for Encyclopaedia Britannica. The
author interviewed every living woman scientist who is a subject
in this book and 250 of their colleagues, associates, and
family members. She has lectured about women in science at
many places here and abroad. She lives in Seattle, Washington
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