The Buzz...About Books

Nobel prize winner Tim Hunt gave a speech recently where he talked about the problems with "girls" in the lab. Apparen'tly "you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticize them they cry". Perhaps it was a mistake to share this insight at the World Conference for Science Journalists. He apologized for his attempt at humour but maintains that having men and women in the same lab is a bad idea. 

The comments inspired the wonderful #distractinglysexy Twitter campaign.

Fortunately for the world, some women have taken time away from crying and falling in love to make important scientific contributions.

Jeanne Baret
Born in France in 1740, Baret is the first woman to circumnavigate the globe. Poor and uneducated, she worked as a housekeeper for naturalist Philibert Commerson and became his lover. When he was asked to join Louis Antoine de Bougainville's 1766 expedition, they disguised her as a boy to allow her to go along. She worked as the sickly Commerson's nurse and assistant, helping him to collect and catalogue specimens and was an expert botanist herself.

The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe by Glynis Ridley
• eBook

Rachel Carson
Marine biologist and conservationist Carson helped launch the global environmental movement. During the 1950s she realized that ecological damage was a side-effect of the US post-war industrial boom. Her book Silent Spring alerted millions of readers to the dangers of pesticides.

On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson by William Souder
• Audiobook
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Talking Book: CD Format (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Ada Lovelace
Daughter of poet Lord Byron, mathematician Ada Lovelace collaborated with Charles Babbage as he developed early computers. Considered the first computer programmer, she created an algorithm for the Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers, a complex equation specifically tailored for the computer. Lovelace is also considered the first person to perceive that computers could be used for non-mathematical functions.

The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason and Byron's Daughter by Benjamin Woolley

Dorothy Wrinch
High-spirited, irrepressible Winch made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, biochemistry, philosophy and physics. She used mathematical principles to study life structures, becoming a pioneer in the field of mathematical biology long before the term was coined. Her contributions were overshadowed by a dispute with Lionel Pauling over the structure of the protein molecule which limited her career.

I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science by Marjorie Senechal

More about women in science:

A to Z of Women in Science and Math by Lisa Yount

Headstrong: 52 Women who Changed Science–and the World by Rachel Swaby
• eAudiobook
• eBook

Magnificent Minds: Sixteen Remarkable Women of Science and Medicine by Pendred Noyce