Beyond Curie : four women in physics and their remarkable discoveries, 1903 to 1963
Women physicists Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia, Meitner, Lise, Wu, C. S Mayer, Maria Goeppert,
IOP Publishing
2017
EISBN 9781681746456
1. Introduction.
1.1. Why am I writing this book?.
1.2. An essential tension.
1.3. A few words on names
2. Cecilia Payne.
2.1. Beyond Curie.
2.2. No insuperable objections.
2.3. The Harvard Computers.
2.4. Starstuff.
2.5. Two astronomers from Cambridge.
2.6. Reactions.
2.7. Blocked paths.
2.8. Love (of science) levels all ranks.
2.9. Science summary : stellar spectra
3. Lise Meitner.
3.1. Making up for lost time.
3.2. Questions of credit.
3.3. A scientific powerhouse.
3.4. Tumult.
3.5. How Nobel Prizes are selected.
3.6. Beyond uranium.
3.7. The breakdown of science.
3.8. Our Madame Curie.
3.9. Science summary : nuclear fission
4. Chien-Shiung Wu.
4.1. Mighty hero.
4.2. Exile.
4.3. Pushing back.
4.4. Rising through the ranks.
4.5. 'Wasting her time'.
4.6. Instant Nobel.
4.7. Honors.
4.8. Science summary : parity
5. Maria Mayer.
5.1. The seventh generation.
5.2. From nuisance to necessary.
5.3. A new era.
5.4. Magic.
5.5. A different way to win a race.
5.6. Quarter loafs.
5.7. A typical genius.
5.8. Science summary : nuclear shell model.
6. Afterword.
In the 116 year history of the Nobel Prize in Physics, only two women have won the award; Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Mayer (1963). During the 60 years between those awards, several women did work of similar calibre. This book focuses on those women, providing biographies for each that discuss both how they made their discoveries and the gender-specific reception of those discoveries. It also discusses the Nobel process and how society and the scientific community's treatment of them were influenced by their gender.
1.1. Why am I writing this book?.
1.2. An essential tension.
1.3. A few words on names
2. Cecilia Payne.
2.1. Beyond Curie.
2.2. No insuperable objections.
2.3. The Harvard Computers.
2.4. Starstuff.
2.5. Two astronomers from Cambridge.
2.6. Reactions.
2.7. Blocked paths.
2.8. Love (of science) levels all ranks.
2.9. Science summary : stellar spectra
3. Lise Meitner.
3.1. Making up for lost time.
3.2. Questions of credit.
3.3. A scientific powerhouse.
3.4. Tumult.
3.5. How Nobel Prizes are selected.
3.6. Beyond uranium.
3.7. The breakdown of science.
3.8. Our Madame Curie.
3.9. Science summary : nuclear fission
4. Chien-Shiung Wu.
4.1. Mighty hero.
4.2. Exile.
4.3. Pushing back.
4.4. Rising through the ranks.
4.5. 'Wasting her time'.
4.6. Instant Nobel.
4.7. Honors.
4.8. Science summary : parity
5. Maria Mayer.
5.1. The seventh generation.
5.2. From nuisance to necessary.
5.3. A new era.
5.4. Magic.
5.5. A different way to win a race.
5.6. Quarter loafs.
5.7. A typical genius.
5.8. Science summary : nuclear shell model.
6. Afterword.
In the 116 year history of the Nobel Prize in Physics, only two women have won the award; Marie Curie (1903) and Maria Mayer (1963). During the 60 years between those awards, several women did work of similar calibre. This book focuses on those women, providing biographies for each that discuss both how they made their discoveries and the gender-specific reception of those discoveries. It also discusses the Nobel process and how society and the scientific community's treatment of them were influenced by their gender.
