10 women who changed science and the world, Catherine Whitlock & Rhodri Evans (ISBN 9781472137432, Robinson)

Another book I picked up in bookstore Dominicanen in July 2022. It is a cheap paperback edition and I have to say I have read better written books of this type of collection of short biographies. Somehow I found the biographies were too much a collection of facts without a soul that inspires. But there were quite a few women I had only heard of by name without really knowing what they had done and there were even a few I hadn’t even heard of despite the obviously important contributions they made. The book also contains a good amount of references to other books for further reading. As a result I picked up a biography on Lise Meitner for example. Besides the inescapable Marie Curie there are 4 physicists included in the book which was a bonus as this topic interests me most of all. Although I didn’t find it an engaging read I did find it useful as I learned quite a bit about women scientists who worked on topics I wouldn’t naturally go and read a book about. So besides putting a well deserved light on some important female scientists it also managed to broaden my knowledge in general ever so slightly. One common thread which shouldn’t be surprising but which is highlighted in these stories is how difficult it was until very recently for women to be taken seriously in science or even to be allowed to study and pursue a scientific career. And although things have improved I am afraid that there exists even today still far too much prejudice against female intellectual capacities or their ‘role’ in society. For that reason alone I would actually argue this book should be mandatory reading and discussion material in schools as part of STEM programs.