Women in Science - Trailblazers Before the 20th Century

March 8 - Today's post is provided by Patricia Stohr-Hunt of The Miss Rumphius Effect

Women in Science – Trailblazers Before the 20^th Century

Imagine a young girl enchanted with the world around her, spending her time outside. She nurtures and releases wounded animals, digs in the dirt searching for fossils and dinosaur bones, collects rocks, presses interesting leaves and flowers, watches the sky at night, and spends every spring at the farm down the road hoping to see a new calf or lamb make its way into the world. She has a family that encourages her pursuits. What she lacks are female role models. In the male-dominated world of science, her role models are Cousteau, Darwin, Mendel, Galileo, Einstein, Edison, and others.

That girl grew up to love and teach science, despite finding no one beyond Marie Curie to ignite her imagination. Today you can inspire young people with stories of women whose contributions in science span centuries and disciplines.

Hypatia (355-370 A.D. (estimated) – 415 A.D.)

The daughter of Theon, a mathematician, philosopher, and the last director of the Library at Alexandria, Hypatia was educated in the ways of many young men of her time and was one of the first women to study math, science, and philosophy. She is considered the first woman to make a substantial contribution to the development of mathematics, having written a treatise on conic sections. She is credited with the charting of celestial bodies and the invention of the hydrometer, though there is some disagreement about whether or not she was the first inventor of the astrolabe. OF NUMBERS AND STARS: THE STORY OF HYPATIA, written by D. Anne Love and illustrated by Pamela Paparone, provides a nice overview of the time and place in which Hypatia lived. The artwork evokes both Egyptian and Greek styles and nicely incorporates images that reflect the subjects Hypatia studied. This is a carefully crafted picture book biography on a woman that little is known of. Despite this, her story is one that will inspire. Included are an author's note and bibliography, as well as some additional notes about mathematics.


Maria Merian (1647-1717)
Poets and artists must have a bit of scientist in them, as they must closely observe the world around them in order to share it from their unique perspective. Maria Merian was an artist and scientist who studied plants and animals in their natural habitat and then captured them in her art. Not only did she document the flora and fauna in her native Germany, but in 1699 she also traveled to South America where she studied and sketched plants and animals unlike any others she had seen. SUMMER BIRDS: THE BUTTERFLIES OF MARIA MERIAN , written by Margarita Engle and illustrated by Julie Paschkis, is based on the true story of how Merian secretly observed the life cycle of summer birds (a medieval name for butterflies) and documented it in her paintings. Focusing on her young life, this book shows readers how curiosity at a young age can lead to a lifelong pursuit.

You can view a few of the paintings that were part of the 2008 Getty Center exhibition entitled Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Women of Art and Science.
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/merian/slideshow.html
You can view more of Merian’s paintings at the site for the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
http://www.nmwa.org/collection/portfolio.asp?LinkID=588

Mary Anning (1749-1847)
Often called “the greatest fossil hunter ever known,” Mary Anning made finds that challenged the way scientists viewed the processes by which the natural world changed. Mary began fossil hunting at a young age, having been taught by her father to look for and to clean fossils. The family sold these treasures to vacationers who came to Lyme in the summer. Even after the death of her father and through the destitute years that followed, Mary continued to hunt for fossils.

There have been several terrific picture book biographies written about this remarkable woman. RARE TREASURE: MARY ANNING AND HER REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES, written and illustrated by Don Brown, is an appealing look at Mary’s life from beginning to end. The text and watercolor illustrations combine to provide an insightful picture of a woman whose curiosity led her to spend her lifetime searching for fossils and studying everything she could about them. Mary didn’t just find fossils; she tried to understand them and wanted to know what they told us about our world.

MARY ANNING AND THE SEA DRAGON, written by Jeannine Atkins and illustrated by Michael Dooling, focuses on one year during Mary’s life when she worked tirelessly to unearth an ichthyosaur fossil. This same attention to Mary Anning’s childhood fossil hunting is at the heart of STONE GIRL, BONE GIRL: THE STORY OF MARY ANNING, written by Laurence Anholt and illustrated by Sheila Moxley. Finally, for something a bit different, THE FOSSIL GIRL: MARY ANNING'S DINOSAUR DISCOVERY, written and illustrated by Catherine Brighton, tells the story of Anning's discoveries in the form of a graphic novel.

You can see images of some of the most well known fossils Marry Anning found at the site of the Natural History Museum.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/galleries/green-zone/fossil-marine-reptiles/index.html

The Lyme Regis Museum web site has information about Mary Anning and displays some of her fossil finds.
http://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/exhibitions-and-events/in-the-museum/mary-anning

Maria Mitchell (1818-1889)

Known as the first female astronomer in the US, Maria Mitchell was a curious child. She was educated in school, though she was also tutored by her father. His influence on her life and learning was tremendous. Together they calculated the position of their home by observing a solar eclipse. They also acquired astronomical equipment and conducted obervations of the skies. One night she was observing the sky from the roof of the bank where her father worked when she spotted a small object that did not appear on her sky charts. Maria discovered a comet! MARIA’S COMET, written by Deborah Hopkinson and illustrated by Deborah Lanino, is a fictional picture book that imagines how Maria's interest in astronomy developed while she was a young girl. Narrated by Maria, readers will meet a girl who helps with her siblings (eight of them!), mends clothes, and engages in other chores typical for a girl of her era. However, Maria’s heart is clearly with the sky. The text is poetic and Hopkinson manages to include references to all kinds of astronomy known at the time, including planets, constellations, and comets.

You can download a reading guide for MARIA’S COMET from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/pdf/telescope/telescope_comet.pdf

The Maria Mitchell Association web site has a wealth of biographical information about Mitchell specifically written for students.

http://www.mariamitchell.org/mitchell-house/for-students/

Marie Curie (1867-1934)
Most know Marie Curie as the winner of two Nobel prizes, the first a shared award in physics (1903) for work on radioactivity, and the second in chemistry (1911) for the discovery of the elements radium and polonium. Her constant exposure to radiation and subsequent death are also well known. What is most fascinating, however, is the story of the woman behind these accomplishments. It is the accomplished biography that can make readers appreciate her love of learning and her incredible humanity, while also highlighting the feats that make her so well known. There are several terrific books that do just that.
SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING: MARIE CURIE AND RADIUM, written by Carla Killough McClafferty, is well-researched, highly detailed and well-documented. It’s everything good nonfiction should be. The icing on the cake is the fact that McClafferty spins the facts into a gripping tale. Readers won’t want to put this one down.

MARIE CURIE: THE WOMAN WHO CHANGED THE COURSE OF SCIENCE, written by Philip Steele, is also a stunning biography. Steele not only tells Curie’s story in an engaging fashion, but her provides readers with a clear picture of what life in Europe was like from the 1860s to the 1930s. Additionally, there are many photographs and sidebars (informational boxes), as well as a helpful timeline that runs across the bottom of every double page spread.

BORROWED NAMES: POEMS ABOUT LAURA INGALLS WILDER, MADAM C.J. WALKER, MARIE CURIE, AND THEIR DAUGHTERS, written by Jeannine Atkins, tells the story of three daughters moving from childhood to adulthood. Each of the three sections of the book begins with a bit of backstory about the mother and daughter and where their story in poems begins. The poems convey a real sense of person, and after reading them you feel you really know these women in an intimate way. The section on the Curie’s focuses on Marie’s relationship with Irène, who often worked by her mother’s side.  

The American Institute of Physics Center for History of Physics has a very nice biography and online exhibit on Marie Curie and the science of radioactivity.
http://www.aip.org/history/curie/

The Christian Science Monitor has a very interesting article entitled Marie Curie: Why her papers are still radioactive. It really brings home the dangers of the materials Curie spent her life studying.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2011/1107/Marie-Curie-Why-her-papers-are-still-radioactive

Women scientists of the 20^th century had some pretty big shoulders to stand on. They and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to these amazing women. In reading their biographies, a number of common traits appear. All of these women loved learning and had an incredible thirst for knowledge. They were tenacious and often overcame great obstacles to follow their dreams. They have blazed trails that we would do well to follow. After reading about them, I’m ready to pick up their mantle and carry on. Are you?

Visit me at The Miss Rumphius Effect tomorrow for the second half of this post, Women in Science of the 20^th Century. I’ll be writing about Rachel Carson, Mary Leakey, Jane Goodall, Sylvia Earle, and Wangari Maathai.

Editor's Note:
Patricia Stohr-Hunt has, in her lifetime, "worked as a boat hand on a private yacht, assembled physics equipment in a factory, and even tested dog biscuitsfor fat content."  She "now hold(s) the two best jobs in the world--one is teacher and the other is mom." In between work and home she manages "to find a few minutes to blog about teaching and books" she loves.

(Un)Celebrated Women of 2012

March 7 - Today's post provided by Elizabeth Bird of Fuse #8

(Un)Celebrated Women of 2012

I've a secret for you.  What's the number one way to teach a kid about famous women of history?  Turn their lives into catchy songs of six lines or less.  You don't think a person's entire life can be turned into such a short piece of singing magnificence?  Oh ye of little faith.  Why, if it hadn't had been for earworms of this sort how else would I have learned all about Rosa Parks?  And I quote from memory:

"Rosa Parks was tired and sat
In the front of the bus not back
They tried to make her change her seat
Because she was black
She refused to move
And with quiet dignity
All by herself she helped her people
To the road to equality."

Okay, admittedly a lot of that is just plain wrong.  But I remembered it.  We were made to memorize a lot of these songs back in third grade, Oakwood Elementary, Kalamazoo, Michigan (and I can do Sojourner Truth on request).  Trouble is, we only learned about the same four-five women.  Every year.  Every single year.  I can even tell who they were:

- Sojourner Truth
-Amelia Earhart
- Harriet Tubman
- Sally Ride
- Rosa Parks

Um . . . . .  that's about it.  These days kids can add Marie Curie and maybe some politicians to the mix but the list is pretty much the same (except that Sally Ride has fallen out of favor, doggone it).  What chaps my hide is the fact that there are tons of women out there that deserve to be celebrated above and beyond the usual crew.  Women with fantastic accomplishments and others who fooled the world.  Women, more to the point, who are appearing in some fine biographies for kids this year.


So let's start with the shysters.  Here's how you booktalk The Fairy Ring or Elsie and Frances Fool the World (A True Story) by Mary Losure (though, let's face it, that title sort of sells it right there).  You tell the kid standing in front of you, "Hey!  Did you know that about 100 years ago a nine-year-old and a fifteen-year-old fooled the whole world into believing that fairies were real?  True story."  If the fairies don't get 'em the notion that two girls could accidentally make the grown-ups around them seriously think that the photographs they produced were real will. I've always loved this story, but it never occurred to me that someone could turn it into a fun chapter book of nonfiction for kids.  Now Ms. Losure has taken this story and run with it.  The result is a story worth visiting and, to a certain extent, celebrating. 


Now every year there's one biographical subject who shows up at two-three different publishers for no discernible reason.  It's never because the authors knew of one another.  Nope, it's always a complete coincidence.  Remember a couple years ago when those two great bios of Althea Gibson came out the same time?  No?  Well you should check 'em out if you get a chance. That year it was Althea.  This year it's all about the Alice.  Alice Coachman, that is.  From Albert A. Whitman comes Touch the Sky, written by Ann Malaspina, illustrated by Eric Velasquez.  Meanwhile over at BoydsMills Press comes Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman, Olympic High-Jump Champion by Heather Lang, illustrated by Floyd Cooper .  Both are gorgeous to the eye (with those illustrators how could they not be?).  Both are picture book biographies.  Both highlight a woman who has certainly never been this well known before but whose life story is one every schoolchild should know.  Brava.

You could argue that Temple Grandin is one of the better-known names out there,simply because she had a movie where she was played by Claire Danes (pre-Homeland, post-My So Called Life).  Still, kids have never had a good biography to look at.  There's no Temple Grandin picture book, after all.  What there is is a chapter book, one that happens to be written by the great nonfictionwriter Sy Montgomery.  Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Horses Embraced Autism and Changed the World is one of the few books out there that can honestly live up to its grandiose title.  Temple did indeed change the world, and her story provides not just the rare glimpse of social activism at work in the modern age but also a heroic portrayal of a woman with autism.  Because those, I can assure you, are very rare finds on the bookstore and library shelves.

Now let’s hear it for the Girl Scouts.  I was one, though I admit that the primary reason I liked the Brownies was because they inspired my mom to bake‘em (brownies not Brownies, that is).  Shana Corey did a lovely job celebrating swimmer Annette Kellerman ("champion swimmer, risk-taker, and fashion rebel") in the delightful picture book bio Mermaid Queen.  Now she returns with Here Come the Girl Scouts: The Amazing All-True Story of Juliette“Daisy” Gordon Low and Her Great Adventure.  This is hardly the first Daisy bio, since last year’s Ginger Wadsworth title First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low came out.  Still, Wadsworth’s title was a chapter book and Corey’s, aided by illustrator Hadley Hooper, is of the picture book variety.  Daisy is well worth celebrating and truly did lead one strange and remarkable life.  To see how strange and remarkable, you’ll just have to read the book.

Finally, a tip of my hat to one author who has consistently written up or illustrated unsung women heroes year after year with remarkably little fanfare.  Claire A. Nivola drew the lives of Wangari Maathai in Planting the Trees of Kenya, Emma Lazarus in Emma’s Poem, and even herself in Orani: My Father’s Village.  Thanks to that last book her star has risen, which may account for the increased attention given to her newest work Life in the Ocean.  Pulling double duty by talking both about the life of Sylvia Earle and her ocean exploration and advocacy, Nivola's love of women activists takes a deep blue turn.

If you were to walk into Oakwood Elementary in Kalamazoo,Michigan (always assuming it’s still there) and then locate the third grade classrooms, I wonder if you would still find kids memorizing the same five to seven songs to celebrate the same five to seven women.  Like I say, songs are a great way to teach kids about historical figures. You know another way? Books!  And this year there are plenty for children of all ages to enjoy.  Go get ‘em.

Editor's Note:
(from SLJ)
"Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter @FuseEight."