Women of Science: Women in Chemistry

This biography highlights the achievements of America's first professional degreed female scientist, Ellen Swallow Richards (1842--1911). The book takes the reader from Richards's childhood on a Massachusetts farm where she was schooled at home, to her internationally renowned successes in multiple branches of science. - Schools, colleges, and libraries are searching for more books about remarkable, successful women. Richards paved the way for women to enter numerous fields of science previously believed to be the domain of men. - Currently there is much emphasis on nutrition; Richards pioneered in this field, teaching the American public about fats, carbohydrates, proteins and calories at a time when scarcely anyone knew of their importance. - Ellen Swallow Richards pioneered multiple fields of science and technology, opening doors for women to become chemists, biologists, geologists, ecologists, nutritionists, dietitians, science teachers, professors, and home economists. - Richards began the ecology movement, particularly relevant in today's world as more and more attention is being paid to the health of our planet.

Dr. Marie Maynard Daly received her PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1947. Although she was hardly the first of her race and gender to engage in the field, she was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in chemistry in the United States. In this book, Jeannette Brown, anAfrican American woman chemist herself, will present a wide-ranging historical introduction to the relatively new presence of African American women in the field of chemistry. It will detail their struggles to obtain an education and their efforts to succeed in a field in which there were fewAfrican American men, much less African American women.The book contains sketches of the lives of African America women chemists from the earliest pioneers up until the late 1960's when the Civil Rights Acts were passed and greater career opportunities began to emerge. In each sketch, Brown will explore women's motivation to study the field and detailtheir often quite significant accomplishments. Chapters focus on chemists in academia, industry, and government, as well as chemical engineers, whose career path is very different from that of the tradition chemist. The book concludes with a chapter on the future of African American women chemists,which will be of interest to all women interested in science.

Biographies of women scientists are few in number. This volume fills that gap in the literature. It includes extensive profiles, arranged alphabetically, of 75 women from different countries who have been influential in the development of chemistry and physics. Subjects were chosen on the basis of their advanced degrees, innovative research, influence in teaching, leadership in the profession, and scholarly publications. Each profile includes a biography, a career discussion, and a bibliography of works by and about the subject. Biographies provide personal information with special attention to influences on the subject's career. The career discussions indicate the significance of the subject's contributions in language accessible to the layperson. The work provides a valuable contribution to both women's studies and the history of chemistry and physics and should serve as an inspiration to young women seeking a career in the physical sciences.

Women in bio-, industrial, and analytical chemistry