Rachel Swaby - Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World

Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World

Written by: Rachel Swaby
Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang
Length: 7 hrs and 1 min

Fifty-two inspiring and insightful profiles of history's brightest female scientists.

In 2013, the New York Times published an obituary for Yvonne Brill. It began: "She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job, and took eight years off from work to raise three children." It wasn't until the second paragraph that readers discovered why the Times had devoted several hundred words to her life: Brill was a brilliant rocket scientist who invented a propulsion system to keep communications satellites in orbit, and had recently been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Among the questions the obituary - and consequent outcry - prompted were, Who are the role models for today's female scientists, and where can we find the stories that cast them in their true light?

Headstrong delivers a powerful, global, and engaging response. Covering Nobel Prize winners and major innovators, as well as lesser-known but hugely significant scientists who influence our every day, Rachel Swaby's vibrant profiles span centuries of courageous thinkers and illustrate how each one's ideas developed, from their first moment of scientific engagement through the research and discovery for which they're best known. This fascinating tour reveals these 52 women at their best - while encouraging and inspiring a new generation of girls to put on their lab coats.

What the Critics Say

"A woman revolutionized heart surgery. A woman created the standard test given to all newborns to determine their health. A woman was responsible for some of the earliest treatments of previously terminal cancers. We shouldn't need to be reminded of their names, but we do. With a deft touch, Rachel Swaby has assembled an inspiring collection of some of the central figures in 20th century science. Headstrong is an eye-opening, much-needed exploration of the names history would do well to remember, and Swaby is a masterful guide through their stories." (Maria Konnikova, Contributing New Yorker writer and New York Times best-selling author of Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes)

"Rachel Swaby's fine, smart look at women in science is a much-needed corrective to the record - a deftly balanced field guide to the overlooked (Hilde Mangold), the marginalized (Rosalind Franklin), the unexpected (Hedy Lamarr), the pioneering (Ada Lovelace), and the still-controversial (Rachel Carson). Swaby reminds us that science, like the rest of life, is a team sport played by both genders." (William Souder, author of On a Farther Shore and Under a Wild Sky)

"Headstrong is a true gem. So many amazing women have had an incredible impact on STEM fields, and this book gives clear, concise, easy-to-digest histories of 52 of them - there's no longer an excuse for not being familiar with our math and science heroines. Thank you, Rachel!" (Danica McKellar, actress and New York Times best-selling author of Math Doesn't Suck)