Contents Introduction 3 1 Best All-Around Marie Curie 4 2 Most Inspired Chien-Shiung Wu 6 3 Most Likely to Have the Best Garden Ynes Mexia 8 4 Most Patriotic Ruby Sakae Hirose 10 5 Most Underrated Player Lise Meitner 12 6 Most Driven Susan La Flesche Picotte 14 7 Most Likely to Aim High Caroline Herschel 16 8 Best Collector Mary Anning 18 9 Best Artist Maria Merian 20 10 Trendsetter Annie Easley 22 11 Best Family Legacy Mary and Louis Leakey 24 12 Best Writer Maria Agnesi 26 Your Turn 30 Consider This 31 Glossary 31 Index 31 2
Introduction We are celebrating girl scientists Scientists study many topics They study space They study plants They study medicine They study rocks Science is everywhere Scientists work in STEM jobs STEM stands for science technology engineering and math Women have had to overcome many challenges in these fields But it hasn’t been easy being a girl scientist Things have changed There are many female scientists today But what took so long Throughout history women have shown that they’re tough They’re smart They’re strong The girl scientists in this book rise to the top They paved the way for today’s girl scientists Working in STEM is more than just crunching numbers and figuring out formulas It is about solving mysteries It’s about making something work It’s about dreaming and using your imagination Do you like to solve create and imagine Then you have the qualities of a scientist Here’s to you and all the girl scientists in our lives 3
4 chapter 1 BEST ALL-AROUND Marie Curie
Nothing in life is to be feared It is only to be understood Now is the time to understand more so that we can fear less Marie Curie The Best All-Around award goes to Marie Curie Curie made important discoveries She studied rays She discovered two elements Elements are substances in chemistry She helped develop x-ray machines that could travel X-rays are special energy They pass through things X-ray machines take pictures inside bodies At the time these machines were only in big cities World War I was happening Soldiers needed to be x-rayed But the battlefields were far from the city Curie helped She invented special x-ray machines The machines moved They traveled to hurt soldiers on battlefields Curie won 2 Nobel Prizes She was the only woman to win twice Her work saved many lives She also inspired other women to study science 5
