Out of the Shadows: Contributions of Twentieth-Century Women to Physics

by Edited by Nina Byers , Gary Williams

• ISBN13: 9780521169622
• ISBN10: 0521169623
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-11-25
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Why are there so few prominent female physicists? Traditionally women have faced barriers in higher education, denying them access to higher learning and scientific laboratories. Today many of these barriers have been breached, but the female pioneers who overcame discrimination and became major players in their fields remain largely in the shadows. Their names deserve to be known and the importance of their work, achievements and contributions to science warrant recognition. Originally published in 2006, Out of the Shadows provides an accurate and authoritative description of the women who made original and important contributions to physics in the twentieth century, documenting their major discoveries and putting their work into its historical context. Each chapter concentrates on a different woman, and is written by a physicist with considerable experience in their field. The book is an ideal reference for anyone with an interest in science and social history.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Hertha Aryton 1854-1923

Margaret Maltby 1860-1944

Agnes Pockels 1862-1935

Marie Curie 1867-1934

Henrietta Leavitt 1868-1921

Harriet Brooks 1876-1933

Lise Meitner 1878-1968

Emmy Noether 1882-1935

Inge Lehmann 1888-1993

Marietta Blau 1894-1970

Hertha Sponer 1895-1968

Irene Joliot-Curie 1897-1956

Katherine Burr Blodgett 1898-1979

Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin 1900-1979

Mary Cartwright 1900-1998

Bertha Jeffreys 1903-1999

Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale1903-1971

Maria Goeppert Mayer 1906-1972

Helen Megaw 1907-2002

Yvette Cauchois 1908-1999

Marguerite Perey 1909-1975

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin 1910-1994

Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber 1911-1998

Chien Shiung Wu 1912-1997

Margaret E. Burbidge 1919

Phyllis Freier 1921-1992

Rosalyn S. Yalow 1921

Esther Conwell 1922

Cecile Dewitt-Morette 1922

Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat 1923

Vera Rubin 1928

Mildred S. Dresselhaus 1930

Myriam Sarachik 1933

Juliet Lee-Franzini 1933

Helen T. Edwards 1936

Mary K. Gaillard 1939

Renata Kallosh 1943

Jocelyn Bell Burnell 1943

Gail G. Hanson 1947

San Lan Wu

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.