Meeting the Challenge - Top Women in Science

In her latest book, Magdolna Hargittai tells the stories of over 120 women in science who overcame social prejudice and other barriers to excel in their careers. Hargittai presents entertaining and engaging accounts of the lives and careers of women scientists in disciplines such as physics, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. These women include historical figures, such as Lady Margaret Cavendish, a natural philosopher who lived in the 1600s, as well as modern-day scientists, such as COVID-19 vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó.

List of contents

• Foreword (by Eszter Hargittai)


• Preface


• Acknowledgments




• 1 Astronomers


• Sophia Brahe


• Maria Cunitz


• Elisabetha Hevelius


• Maria Kirch


• Caroline Herschel


• Mary Somerville


• Maria Mitchell


• Williamina Fleming and the Women of the Harvard Observatory


• Cecilia Helena Payne-Gaposchkin


• Nancy Grace Roman


• Vera C. Rubin


• Jocelyn Bell Burnell


• France A. Cordova


• Andrea M. Ghez


• 2 Mathematicians


• Elena Cornaro Piscopia


• Laura Bassi


• Maria Gaetana Agnesi


• Ada Lovelace


• Sonia Kovalevsky


• Mileva Mari¿-Einstein


• Emmy Noether


• Rózsa Péter


• Kathleen Ollerenshaw


• Mary Winston Jackson


• Karen K. Uhlenbeck


• Maryam Mirzakhani


• 3 Physicists


• The Loneliness of the Woman Physicist


• The Radium Institute


• Elisabeth Rona


• Marietta Blau


• Elisaveta Karamichailova


• Berta Karlik


• Marie Curie


• Isabella Stone


• Harriet Brooks


• Lise Meitner


• Leona Marshall Libby


• Maria Goeppert Mayer


• Antonia F. Prikhotko


• Chien-Shiung Wu


• Ruby Payne-Scott and other Australian Female Physicists


• Rosalyn Yalow


• Mildred Dresselhaus


• Donna T. Strickland


• 4 Crystallographers


• Kathleen Lonsdale


• Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin


• Rosalind Franklin


• Isabella Karle


• Pioneers of Data Banks


• - Barbara Mez-Starck


• - Olga Kennard


• Ada Yonath


• Carolina H. MacGillavry and M.C. Escher


• Agnes Csanady and Quasicrystals


• 5 Chemists and Biochemists


• Gerty Cori


• Alice Ball


• Ida Noddack


• Irène Joliot-Curie


• Klavdia V. Topchieva


• Mildred Cohn


• Gertrude B. Elion


• Maxine F. Singer


• Elena G. Galpern


• Paula Hammond


• Jennifer A. Doudna and Emanuelle M. Charpentier


• Lynne E. Maquat


• Joan A. Steitz


• Katalin Karikó


• 6 Biologists and Biomedical Scientists


• Zinaida V. Ermoleva


• Barbara McClintock


• Aleksandra A. Prokofieva-Belgovskaya


• Rita Levi-Montalcini


• Frances O. Kelsey


• Anne McLaren


• Christiane Nusslein-Volhard


• Linda B. Buck


• Françoise Barré-Sinoussi


• Barbara M.F. Pearse


• Elizabeth H. Blackburn


• Carol W. Greider


• May-Britt Moser


• 7 Physicians, Surgeons, and Nurses


• Elizabeth Blackwell


• Rebecca Lee Crumpler


• Rebecca Cole


• Elizabeth Garrett-Anderson


• Louisa Brandbeth Aldrich-Blake


• Florence R. Sabin


• The Moscow Higher Courses for Women


• Lina S. Stern


• Medicine Women in London


• - Annie McCall


• - Jane Harriet Walker


• - Elsie Inglis


• - Lilian Lindsay


• - Ida Mann


• - Sheila Sherlock


• - Margaret Turner-Warwick


• - Cicely Saunders


• - Melanie Klein


• - Anna Freund


• - Enid Balint


• - Nancy Rothwell


• Nurses


• - Florence Nightingale


• - Mary Seacole


• - Theodora Turner


• 8 Inventors and Technologists


• Hertha Ayrton


• Kathrine Blodgett


• Pioneers in Aviation and Space Travel


• - Amelia M. Earhart


• - Amy Johnson


• - Valentina V. Tereshkova


• - Svetlana E. Savitskaya


• - Sally K. Ride


• - Judith A. Resnik


• - Kathryn D. Sullivan


• Frances H. Arnold


• 9 Ecologists


• Rachel Carson


• Miriam Rothschild


• Ayhan Ulubelen


• Chulabhorn Mahidol


• Jane Morris Goodall and Other Primatologists


• YouYou Tu


• Notes


• Name Index

About the author

Magdolna Hargittai is a research professor of structural chemistry at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. She is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea (London) and holds a PhD, DSc, and Dr hc. She has researched and taught on the lives and careers of women scientists and is the author of Women Scientists: Reflections, Challenges, and Breaking Boundaries (OUP 2015). Dr. Hargittai and her husband, Istvan, have jointly published extensively on symmetry, science history, and conversations with famous scientists. More recently, they have written on the memorials of scientists in Budapest, New York, Moscow, and London. Dr. Hargittai's books have appeared in English, Hungarian, Russian, German, Swedish, and Korean.

Summary

Throughout history, women have overcome tremendous odds to make lasting contributions to science. In Meeting the Challenge, Magdolna Hargittai shares their stories.

For centuries, women scientists have faced seemingly insurmountable barriers to success in their careers. Yet many have excelled in science, achieving some of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history. In her latest book, Magdolna Hargittai discusses over 120 such women scientists. The book details the lives and careers of women scientists from the past and present, from various parts of the world, and representing many different fields, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine.

Among the pioneering women profiled in the book are Nobel laureate and astronomer Andrea M. Ghez, medicinal physicist and Nobel laureate Rosalyn Yalow, Rosalind Franklin, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, and COVID-19 vaccine pioneer Katalin Karikó. The book also includes vignettes on the ecologist and author of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson, the primatologist Jane M. Goodall, and many others. These women demonstrate that despite the persistent idea that "science is not for women," women can and do succeed in science, even if success often requires courage and perseverance.

Meeting the Challenge presents compelling human stories to inform and entertain readers and encourage those considering careers in science. By detailing the lives and achievements of many of the most important women scientists in history, the book makes a significant contribution to the history of science and provides role models for those interested in pursuing scientific careers.

Additional text

This book is accompanied by a comprehensive index and is a fascinating collection of portraits and vignettes of female scientists...Reading about their lives and achievements and contributions to humanity is both a humbling and educational experience.

Product details

• Authors: Magdolna Hargittai, Magdolna (Research Professor Hargittai, Hargittai Magdolna
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 14.06.2023
• EAN: 9780197574751
• ISBN: 978-0-19-757475-1
• No. of pages: 296
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Women's Studies, SCIENCE / History, MEDICAL / History, MATHEMATICS / History & Philosophy, History of Medicine, History of Science, Gender studies, gender groups, Gender studies: women and girls, History of mathematics