Book Review: Nobel Prize Women in Science

Historically, women have been underrepresented in science. Despite this, remarkable achievements have been made by women in the scientific field. Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries focuses on the stories of the 15 female scientists that won the Nobel Prize or contributed to work that won a Nobel Prize. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne is a well-known author that has published books about scientific discoveries and the scientists behind them.

Nobel Prize Women in Science begins with somber chapter titled “Passion for Discovery” that asks the question “Why so few?” Out of several hundred scientists that have won, only 10 women have obtained a Nobel Prize. McGrayne states the answer to this question quite clearly and describes the refusal of academia to recognize women as professors or equals throughout history.  Interestingly, McGrayne also acknowledges the factors that played into these women persevering in a hostile environment and states that the better question to be asked is “Why so Many?” Despite the challenges these women faced, they achieved significant scientific contributions. McGrayne discusses their stories by categorizing these women into three different generations: first generation pioneers, the second generation, and the new generation.

In the first chapters, McGrayne recounts the achievements of the first generation pioneers, including Marie Curie’s discovery of radioactivity, Lise Meitner’s discovery of nuclear fission and Emmy Noether’s creation of abstract algebra and Noether Theorem that is the foundation of quantum physics. McGrayne describes their lives and the unfairness they experienced in their fields. These women lived during a time that discouraged or even prohibited higher education for women. Marie Curie did not obtain a professorship until she won a Nobel Prize. Lise Meitner, despite discovering nuclear fission, never won a Nobel Prize. Emmy Noether and Lise Meitner both faced opposition trying to become professors in Germany. In the end, were both driven out their prospective universities by the Nazi run government. Despite these hurdles they managed to accomplish so much.

Next, McGrane covers the stories of the second generation women: Gerty Cori’s discovery of the Cori cycle and phosphorylase, Irene Joliot-Curie’s discovery of artificial radioactivity, Barbara McClintok’s discovery of transposable elements, Maria Goeppert Mayer’s theory of the nuclear shell model, Rita Levi Montalcini’s discovery of nerve growth factor (NGF), and Dorothy Hodgkin’s use of X-ray crystallography to solve the structures of penicillin, vitamin B and insulin. Chien-Shiung Wu ran an experiment that demonstrated that the particles inside a nucleus violate the laws of parity. Gertrude Elion developed many life-saving drugs especially 6-MP6 that is used to treat childhood leukemia. Rosalind Franklin developed X-ray photographs of DNA that were vital to the discovery of its structure. Rosalyn Yalow developed a radioimmunoassay procedure that could diagnose several diseases. These women faced similar struggles to the first-generation pioneers but were from times that were less restrictive to women obtaining a higher education.

Despite their pivotal contributions to science, these women still struggled to obtain recognition for their work. Universities refused to hire Gerty Cori and her husband as professors, they were only interested in hiring her husband only as a faculty. Irene Curie was denied membership to the Academy of Sciences despite being a Nobel Prize laureate. Barbara McClintok spent years at the University of Missouri being excluded from faculty meetings despite being a faculty member. Maria Mayer did not obtain a university salary until a decade after her Nobel Prize winning work. Rita Levi Montalcini’s father refused to support her academic education and would only reluctantly agree to support her later. Dorthy Hodgkin did not hold a university appointment despite having a laboratory for a decade at Oxford University. Chien-Shiung Wu, despite being regarded as the expert of nuclear fission expert, did not have many job prospects outside of being hired at a women’s college. This continued until there was an increased demand of Physicists during World War Ⅱ. After completing graduate school, Getrude Belle Elion struggled to be hired for laboratory jobs due to her gender. Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray photographs were not credited for the discovery of the structure of DNA. Rosalyn Sussman Yalow was not allowed to teach engineering students as a teaching assistant at the engineering school at the University of Illinois.

In the final chapters, McGrayne recounts the lives and achievements the new generation of women Nobel Prize winners, including Jocelyn Bell Burnell’s discovery of pulsars, and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard’s discovery of genes responsible for embryonic development in fruit flies. But just like the previous generations before them, they had their own struggles. Jacelyn Bell Burnell did not win a Nobel Prize for the discovery of pulsars, but her advisor did. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhar struggled to gain a professorship.

Each chapter of Nobel Prize Women in Science focuses on a sole individual, allowing McGrayne to describe their upbringing and the influences that drove them to science. Nobel Prize Women in Science was published in 2006. The current year is 2024, raising the question – have there been Nobel Prizes awarded to women in the past decade? The answer to this question is yes. Six women have won the Nobel Prize since the publication of Nobel Prize Women in Science. Katelin Karikó won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her contribution to development of mRNA vaccine². Carolyn R. Bertozzi won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry³. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of CRISPR/Cas 9³.  Frances H. Arnold won the 2018 Prize in Chemistry for designing a method that allows the creation of new enzymes³. Ada Yonath won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the studies of ribosome function and structure³. This reaffirms McGrayne’s hope that women scientists would peservere just as their predecessors before them.I highly recommend reading it to learn more about the women that achieved Nobel Prize despite the multiple hurdles they had to face.

References

1. McGrayne, S.B. (2006) Nobel prize women in science: Their lives, struggles, and momentous discoveries. D.C, Washington: Joseph Henry Press.
2. Callaway, E., & Naddaf, M. (2023). Pioneers of mRNA COVID vaccines win medicine Nobel. Nature, 622(7982), 228–229.
3. Thomson, J. (2023, October 4). These eight inspiring women won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. Newsweek.

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