Against the Odds

Women Pioneers of Science

John Gribbin & Mary Gribbin

• Publisher: Icon Books
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781837731312
• Subtopic: Science & Technology Biographies
• Index: Biological Sciences

Even in the third decade of the twenty-first century, it is still harder for women to make a career in science than men. Two centuries ago, however, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when science as we know it was just getting started, the situation was far worse. Then, the very notion of a female scientist would have been regarded as something of an oxymoron.


From bestselling and award-winning science writers John and Mary Gribbin, Against the Odds highlights the achievements of women who overcame hurdles and achieved scientific success (although not always as much as they deserved) in spite of male prejudice, as society changed over about 150 years, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century.

There is Eunice Newton Foote, who discovered the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect; Chien-Shiung Wu, who discovered the law which allows matter to exist in the Universe today; and Barbara McClintock, who discovered how genes turn on and off.

With a foreword from astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, this book is not only a cautionary tale about the stifling effects of prejudice against women in science, but is a celebration of those who achieved success against the odds - and an inspiration for the next generation.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword by Jocelyn Bell Burnell
• PREFACE: Overcoming Prejudice
• INTRODUCTION: Against the Odds
• CHAPTER 1: Eunice Newton Foote (17 July 1819–30 September 1888) Discovered the carbon dioxide greenhouse effect
• CHAPTER 2: Lise Meitner (7 November 1878–27 October 1968) Explained the process of nuclear fission
• CHAPTER 3: Emmy Noether (23 March 1882–14 April 1935) Found the mathematics that underpins particle physics
• CHAPTER 4: Inge Lehmann (1888–1993) Discovered the inner core of the Earth
• CHAPTER 5: Irène Joliot-Curie (1897–1956) Pioneered the development of artificial radioactivity
• CHAPTER 6: Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (1900–79) Discovered what stars are made of
• CHAPTER 7: Barbara McClintock (16 June 1902–2 September 1992) Discovered how genes turn on and off
• CHAPTER 8: Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (12 May 1910–29 July 1994) Used X-rays to determine the structure of vitamin B12
• CHAPTER 9: Chien-Shiung Wu (31 May 1912–16 February 1997) Discovered the law which allows matter to exist in the Universe today
• CHAPTER 10: Rosalind Franklin (25 July 1920–16 April 1958) Used X-rays to determine the structure of viruses
• CHAPTER 11: Lucy Slater (5 January 1922–6 June 2008) Pioneered the development of computer operating systems
• CHAPTER 12: Vera Rubin (23 July 1928–25 December 2016) Discovered the widespread existence of dark matter in the Universe
• Sources and Further Reading