In honor of Marie Curie’s birthday – she was born on Nov 7, 1867 – we thought we’d Take Ten and feature books that honor women in science. Whether they’re coding, curing, cooling the planet, or caring for animals, these women have made an impact on our world in many ways, and will undoubtedly inspire the next generations of scientists.
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10 Women Who Changed Science and the World – Catherine Whitlock and Rhodri Evans
- Celebrates the lives and hard-earned accomplishments of ten women from around the world, including two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie, physicist Chien-Shiung Wu and Virginia Apgar, MD, who forever changed our thinking in astronomy, physics, chemistry, medicine and biology.
Alpha Girls: The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley’s Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime – Julian Guthrie
- An unforgettable story of four women who, through grit and ingenuity, became stars in the cutthroat, high-stakes, male dominated world of venture capital in Silicon Valley, and helped build some of the foremost companies of our time.
Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet – Claire L. Evans
- The YACHT lead singer and VICE reporter celebrates the lesser-known contributions of women to the history of technology, sharing brief profiles of such boundary-breaking innovators as Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler and Stacy Horn.
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of Women Who Helped Win World War II – Denise Kiernan
- The town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, boomed on U.S military-owned acreage between 1942-1944. Its electricity usage matched that of New York City, and its population reached 75,000 – yet it didn’t appear on a single map during World War II. Many new residents were women, recruited at top-dollar wages for positions from chemists to couriers. Sworn to strict secrecy protocols, they were told only that their work would ensure a swift, final World War II victory. The nuclear blast at Hiroshima at last revealed their hidden roles.
The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars – Dava Sobel
- The little-known true story of the unexpected and remarkable contributions to astronomy made by a group of women working in the Harvard College Observatory from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s.
Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science and the World – Rachel Swaby
- Profiles over fifty of history’s most remarkable women scientists, including Rachel Carson, Rosalind Franklin, Sally Ride, and Ada Lovelace.
The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science – Julie Des Jardins
- The Madame Curie Complex gives fresh insight into the barriers and successes for women in science, and sheds light on the way our cultural ideas of gender have shaped the profession.
Marie Curie and the Daughters: The Private Lives of Science’s First Family – Shelley Emling
- Marie Curie was the first person to be honored by two Nobel Prizes and she pioneered the use of radiation therapy for cancer patients. But she was also a mother, widowed young, who raised two extraordinary daughters alone: Irene, a Nobel Prize winning chemist in her own right, who played an important role in the development of the atomic bomb, and Eve, a highly regarded humanitarian and journalist, who fought alongside the French Resistance during WWII.
Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon and Mars – Nathalia Holt
- Traces the pivotal achievements of the elite female science recruits at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where in the mid-20th century they transformed rocket design and enabled the creations of the first American satellites.
Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History – Sam Maggs and Sophia Foster-Dimino
- The best-selling author of The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy presents a fun and feminist look at the brilliant, brainy and totally rad women in history who broke barriers as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, adventurers and inventors, along with interviews with real-life women in STEM careers.
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One of the things the Library is known for is our history collection. Our Idaho Room is filled with thousands of cool local and regional history resources, such as the Polk City Directories, high school annuals, topographical maps, newspapers, police dockets… well, you get the idea. But, we are especially known for the historical photograph collection.
We’re almost to the 2019 Readers Dozen finish line… just two more challenges to go! In November, we’re asking you to pick up a book about animals. It can be fiction or nonfiction, wild or domesticated, two-legged, four-legged, or more – as long as it gives you a little insight into the life of a non homo sapien.
The Reference Desk at TFPL 