Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science – and the World
Broadway Books, March 2015
The number of women working in the fields of math and science lags far behind that of men. While girls take the same number of math and science credits in high school as do boys, and even earn slightly higher grades, by college only 15 percent of women entering a university plan on majoring in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and medicine). What accounts for this huge decline? What can be done to inspire more women to enter the fields of genetics, physics, math, astronomy, biology, medicine, and technology? And who are the role models for today’s budding female scientists?
In HEADSTRONG: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World (Broadway Books, April 7, 2015), Rachel Swaby delivers a powerful and entertaining response. Swaby, a journalist whose work has appeared in Wired, NewYorker.com, O, The Oprah Magazine, Runner’s World, and more, writes about science and technology through the lens of human experience. Swaby was galvanized to write HEADSTRONG after coming across a March 2013 New York Times obituary for Yvonne Brill, a brilliant, award-winning rocket scientist who invented a propulsion system to keep communications satellites in orbit, but whose obituary 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.” The obituary—and consequent outcry in response—acted as a flash point, highlighting that the stories told about women in science are skewed. It’s not that young women considering STEM fields are lacking role models; it’s that the incredible accomplishments of scientists like Brill are often buried. HEADSTRONG seeks to change that.“While there are many amazing women working in STEM fields,” Swaby says, “the problem is that we aren’t reading about them.”
HEADSTRONG includes fifty-two insightful and inspiring profiles of women who were recognized during their lifetimes for the notable contributions they made to science, technology, engineering, and math: the first American astronomer to spot a comet, the doctor who developed the Apgar score for newborns, the seismologist who discovered Earth’s inner core, the first computer programmer, to name a few.Covering Nobel Prize winners and major innovators, as well as lesser-known but hugely significant scientists who influence us every day, these engaging profiles span centuries of courageous thinkers and illustrate how each subject’s ideas developed, from their first moment of engagement with science through the research and discovery for which they’re best known. Swaby’s book gives these women the attention and respect they deserve—with the aim to encourage and inspire a new generation of girls to put on their lab coats.
“With a deft touch, Rachel Swaby has assembled an inspiring collection of some of the central figures in twentieth-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, New Yorker writer and New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game
“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 bestselling author of Math Doesn’t Suck