A devotion to their science : pioneer women of radioactivity / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham, senior authors and editors.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rayner-Canham, Marelene.

Contributor:

Chemical Heritage Foundation.

Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women physicists--Biography.

Women physicists.

Women chemists--Biography.

Women chemists.

Nuclear physics--History.

Nuclear physics.

Radioactivity--History.

Radioactivity.

Physical Description:

xiv, 307 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press ; Philadelphia : Chemical Heritage Foundation, c1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A Devotion to Their Science includes biographical essays on twenty-three women who worked in atomic science during the first two decades of the twentieth century, including Marie Curie, Lise Meitner, Irène Joliot-Curie, and a host of lesser-known women scientists whose life stories have never before been told. The biographies highlight the lives and work of these women, noting their contributions and the challenges they faced and overcame. Taken together the essays record their collective experiences, highlighting the support network that developed among them and the reasons women were more predominant in this field than in other sciences in the early part of this century. By recovering and recording individual and collective histories of the many eminent women in radioactivity whose work had a major impact on the scientific discoveries of the twentieth century, a more complete, gender-integrated view of the history of this fascinating field emerges.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Foreword

The Overview

Early Years of Radioactivity

Pioneer Women of Radioactivity

The French Group

Marie Curie: Time Only for Science and Family

Ellen Gleditsch: Professor and Humanist

May Sybil Leslie: From Radioactivity to Industrial Chemistry

Catherine Chamie: Devoted Researcher of the Institut de Radium

Stefania Maracineanu: Ignored Romanian Scientist

Alicja Dorabialska: Polish Chemist

Irène Joliot-Curie: Following in Her Mother's Footsteps

... And Some Other Women of the French Group

The British Group

Harriet Brooks: From Research Pioneer to Wife and Mother

Fanny Cook Gates: A Promise Unfulfilled

Jadwiga Szmidt: A Passion for Science

Ada Hitchins: Research Assistant to Frederick Soddy

... And Some Other Women of the British Group

The Austro-German Group

Lise Meitner: The Foiled Nobelist

Stefanie Horovitz: A Crucial Role in the Discovery of Isotopes

Marietta Blau: Discoverer of the Cosmic Ray "Stars"

Elizaveta Karamihailova: Bulgarian Pioneer of Radioactivity

Elizabeth Rona: The Polonium Woman

Ida Noddack: Proposer of Nuclear Fission

... And Some Other Women of the Austro-German Group

Epilogue: The End of an Era and a New Generation

Appendix: Dates of Selected Events in the History of Atomic Science (1895–1940)

Contributors

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612854484

9781282854482

1282854488

9780773566583

0773566589

OCLC:

923231283