Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the first woman to receive a degree in physics from the Sorbonne. She was 36 years old, the mother of a young daughter, and had just completed her doctoral dissertation. All this was accomplished in an era when women were considered incapable of being productive scientists: neither their physical nor mental capacities were considered able to support this. Very few women pursued advanced degrees in any discipline. Women rarely had any life of their own beyaond household duties and childrearing. Yet Marie Curie became an outstanding woman scientist. Author Barbara Goldsmith, with access to extensive archival material and conversations with Marie's daughter Eve Curie Labouisse and granddaughter Hélène Langevin-Joliot, tells the story of this remarkable woman.
Alan Waltar, in his book Radiation and Modern Life, tells of the multitude of uses for radiation technology that have fulfilled this dream of Marie's. He begins by defining radiation and describing its varied characteristics that make it suitable for a variety of uses in "modern life." For example, the well-known technologies of X-rays, radiation therapy for malignancies, and the whole "alphabet soup" of CAT, PET, MRI, and SPECT scans in the field of medicine. Gamma radiation is used to sterilize medical equipment, and radioactive tracers are used to measure cardiac function. Radiation technology in the form of nuclear power plants produce electricity in a more environmentally friendly manner than burning fossil fuels. Radioisotopes monitor water flow in rivers and underground aquifers. Airport runway lights utilizing radioactive isotopes are independent of electricity and continue to glow despite power failures.
Women played many roles during the American Civil War. Disguised as men, many concealed their gender and served as soldiers in battle. Others volunteered as nurses and physicians. Some were spies. "Daughters of the regiment" carried flags into battle. Author Eggleston, in Women in the Civil War, relates the stories of many of these remarkable women.
Irish history also has many remarkable women, several of whom come to life in the pages of Ah, Those Irish Colleens! Born in 453, Saint Bridget (also spelled Brigid) was the daughter of a prince and his bondswoman. From an early age, she was distressed at how hard her mother worked, for little compensation, and at the starving children and elderly in the village. She delighted in her assigned farm work, but never lost her desire to help the poor and oppressed.
Women of Space highlights the variety of career options related to space exploration. Brief biographies of more than one hundred remarkable women, with job titles ranging from artist to astronaut, are presented. For example, Lucy McFadden manages education and public outreach for NASA's "Deep Impact" study of the composition of comets and is working on a mission to investigate the largest asteroids, Vesta and Ceres. She holds a doctorate in geology and geophysics. Kendra Perkins is a Government Affairs Specialist at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she coordinates cooperation between space programs and the government. Her early interest in space was enhanced by the Challenger accident in 1986, which she witnessed on television when she was in the fifth grade.
If you're working hard and getting no-where, then Unstuck may be the book for you. Geared mainly toward teams of workers but applicable to individuals, Unstuck is a quick read that helps people think out-of-the-box when their progress is stalled. Its ideas can be applied to scientists stuck on a research project just as it can be applied to managers and businesspeople.
"A woman, without her man, is nothing."
"A woman: without her, man is nothing."
Eats, Shoots and Leaves offers this pair of sentences, along with numerous other examples, as proof that punctuation really does matter: it can significantly change the meaning of a "string of words." Using delightful humor and wonderful analogies, author Lynne Truss guides the reader through the proper use of all punctuation marks.
Elise Hancock describes "science writing" as "not writing to experts, but to everyone else." Scientific findings are made "tangible, real and apparent" for a "large, diverse audience." Hancock's Ideas into Words enables the reader to BE an writer and to DO science writing. To BE a writer, she advises to "cultivate curiosity" about many things, to try new hobbies, read a variety of magazines and books, be anxious to learn about new subjects. Practice writing: carry a notebook to record observations, keep a journal, take a writing course. Designate a place which is used only for writing: keep it well stocked with pencils, pens, paper and other writing needs, and keep distractions to a minimum.
Scientific Writing: Easy When You Know How. Jennifer Peat, Elizabeth Elliott, Louise Baur and Victoria Keena. BMJ Books, London, 2002. Paperback, xv + 292 pages, $39.95. ISBN 0-7279-1625-4.
Peat and the coauthors of Scientific Writing: Easy When You Know How state, "To be a good writer, all you need to do is learn and follow a few simple rules." The major emphasis of this book is writing research papers for journal publication. Each chapter begins with specific objectives. For example, objectives of the chapter on "Writing your paper" include "how to construct a neat abstract" and "write an effective introduction." An abstract should outline the design of the study, and briefly state the major findings and conclusions. Always do a "serious word trim": remove all unnecessary words and condense the remaining ones to less than 250 words.
