Forgotten Women: The Scientists

Forgotten Women

by Zing Tsjeng

Forgotten Women is a new series of books that uncover the lost herstories of influential women who have refused over hundreds of years to accept the hand they've been dealt and, as a result, haveformed, shaped and changed the course of our futures. From leaders and scientists to artists and writers, the fascinating stories of these women that time forgot are now celebrated, putting their achievements firmly back on the map.

The Scientists celebrates 48* unsung scientific heroines whose hugely important, yet broadly unacknowledged or incorrectly attributed, discoveries have transformed our understanding of the scientific world. From Mary Anning, the amateur paleontologist whose fossil findings changed scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the Earth's history to Emmy Noether dubbed "The Mighty Mathematician You've Never Heard Of" and whose theorem is still critical to modern physics - these are the stories of some truly remarkable women. Chapters including Earth & Universe; Biology & Natural Sciences; Medicine & Psychology; Physics & Chemistry; Mathematics and Technology & Inventions profile the female scientists who have defied the odds, and the opposition, to change the world around us.

*The number of Nobel-prize-winning women.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, History, Science, Biography, Historical, Womens

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 6, 2018

About the author

Singaporean author and jourmalist based in London. She is the author of the Forgotten Women book series.
She specializes in LGBTQ rights, politics, culture and lifestyle.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. reading vlog: https://youtu.be/b82234AUi40

an amazing series, this just isn't my personal favourite as I'm not as into science as some of the other topics. still would really recommend!

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great look into the history of women's role in science, from ancient times to the present day, taking 48 influential women and telling their stories, their discoveries, and the difficulties they faced. A really powerful, engaging and moving read, with a lot of information to learn - I would highly recommend!

[Montse Gallardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otra lectura de reivindicación y visibilización de tantas mujeres que por circunstancias de su momento fueron ninguneadas, olvidadas o directamente alejadas de la ciencia, por el hecho -tan simple- como casarse (se cuentan varios casos de científicas que al dejar de ser solteras fueron despedidas del laboratorio o la universidad en los que -hasta ese momento- eran reconocidas como muy buenas científicas. El matrimonio parece que destruye neuronas... en las mujeres...)

Pertenece a una serie de libros que se centran en diferentes sectores: la ciencia (este), el arte, la literatura y el liderazgo. Sólo está traducido al español este de las científicas, espero que alguien se anime a traducir los otros.

Cada breve historia va acompañada de una ilustración -de diferentes ilustradoras- que enriquecen la experiencia lectora.

Me ha parecido muy interesante como reivindicación de tantas mujeres que han contribuido a la ciencia y a las que se les han puesto tantas piedras en el camino, o se las ha ninguneado directamente.

Lo que le baja la calificación es que hay algunos errores de traducción (o, directamente, gramaticales) que me han chirriado bastante. Aun así, es un libro bastante recomendable

[Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an excellent collection of short biographies! I knew some of these women, but more importantly I knew about most of these accomplishments without knowing they had been achieved by women. Reading about all these exceptional scientists who were refused an education "by reason of sex" and how many of them were forced to give up their careers after getting married "because it was not appropriate" made me see red, but what really breaks my heart is thinking about how many brilliant things have yet to be discovered because the patriarchy still doesn't realise that half this world's population are more than moms and wives. Very recommendable, and I will for sure be reading the rest of the Forgotten Women series!

[Flapper72 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK. A long list about lots of women who had achieved something in the world of science but HIStory decided to ignore. There were a couple of pages written about each individual. Nice, easy read, enlightening I guess but nothing in too much depth. HIStory has been recorded by white, middle class and privileged men. Not surprisingly really that the authors report on people like themselves. There were plenty of amazing women out there (and continue to be might I say), it's refreshing that people actually go out searching for the alternative/real/more balanced story of our forebears.

[Stephanie Hiddleston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr interessant und gut zu lesen und hat gleich dazu geführt, dass ich zwei neue Bücher gekauft habe...

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series I have read. I find it really fascinating to learn about these forgotten women and the bitesize chunks are the perfect size to do so. And the illustrations are amazing, although I don't think they had quite the same effect on my tablet as when holding the print book.

[Liene Millere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very beautiful book about powerful, smart and amazing women thoughout the centuries . Inspiring book.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can't help but feel angry when thinking about the discoveries and inventions that might have happened, or might have happened earlier, if our society didn't constantly put down people based on their sex, race, and a bunch of other stupid categories.

Apart from anger though I also, naturally, feel very inspired and I'm looking forward to picking up the other books in this series!

I also really, really appreciate the effort that went into choosing who to write about and the fact that at the very beginning the author points out that white women and women not born into poverty would have had more opportunity than other women.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so enjoyable! I loved how we got just a small taste into each of the women’s lives and achievements all with a unique art style to match. Would definitely recommend!

[bobrusha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every woman from this book had invented or discovered something which heavily impacted the scientific fields they worked on. They faced a lot of stupid obstacles created by society for women in science, but despite that, they worked really hard and contributed to science:
Nettie Stevens, geneticist, who had discovered sex chromosomes. Rosalind Franklin, who had discovered the double-helix shape of DNA. Admiral Grace Hopper, programmer and the inventor of the concept of human-understandable programming languages. So on, and so on.
Although I’ve heard a few names from this book before, I didn’t know about their achievements and or understand the importance of their work.

[suradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a snippet of the eARC of Forgotten Women:The Scientists in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading biographies of women in STEM and especially those who worked on groundbreaking science. The book makes it clear that even if it's some women who get featured, it's groundbreaking that they were able to do science at their level given their circumstances, a sobering thought indeed. Do I agree with the nature of many of their origin stories? No. Did I roll my eyes at the slightly inappropriate nature of relationships between senior academics and these women? So much. Despite the lack of adequate context, are the stories of science and discovery fascinating? Big time. Looking earnestly to buy the full copy of the book for myself.

[Kenzie | kenzienoelle.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

*This book was absolutely fascinating. I don’t know about you, but the only female scientist, I remember learning about is Marie Curie and while I give mad props to her, she wasn’t the only woman who changed the scientific world!

*This book is absolutely gorgeous and the artwork is chef’s kiss!

*Each of the 48 women have two to four pages about them and their scientific contributions from Mathematics to Psychology and Medicine to Biology and Physics. I read through this slowly over the past month just reading a couple of stories a day and I highly recommend reading it that way to truly appreciate each individual story!

[Devan Wiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written and well researched, along with great illustrations. I enjoyed it as a science teacher because it has given me great info to integrate into lessons. But someone without a science background could still enjoy it; it isn’t overly technical.

[Varpu Reiniaho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alternative title: Men Steal Female Scientists' Work and Win Nobel Prices Claiming it Their Own - The Anthology.

[Richard Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is written to inspire it also angers. Story after story of women of genius who've had to struggle for their right to learn and earn both proper renumeration and equal credit.
Perhaps the fate of Hypatia is, though extreme, their symbol: a woman of learning seeking only to follow her chosen course hounded, chased and destroyed by the brutish agents of patriarchy.

[R.J. Southworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection telling the stories of lesser-known women in the sciences: I liked learning about these figures, and there was plenty of sobering emphasis on the difficulties they faced due to their gender. I would have liked more detail about some of the discoveries, however, and there were some other nitpicks. The Mary Anning section wrongly refers to a pterosaur as a dinosaur, and mentions people looking for dinosaur fossils at a time when the word ‘dinosaur’ hadn’t even been coined. A few sections also refer to the subjects by their surnames while also mentioning their husbands or fathers, making it confusing as to who is being talked about at points.

[Alina Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found myself absorbed in the life stories of these wonderful women and scientists. Was deeply inspired and encouraged by stories of discovery, courage, achievement and overcoming social barriers. Although not my usual read, the simplistic concept of the book was balanced by the enourmous character of these scientists.

[Sarah Jones]

4/5 really enjoyed. So many times I put it down to turn to my partner and say ‘did you know...’

[William Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of ‘Forgotten women: The scientists’ by Zing Tsjeng

Tsjeng, Z. (2018). Forgotten women: The scientists. London: Cassell Illustrated.

Reviewer: Dr William P. Palmer

This is a review of ‘Forgotten women: the scientists’ by Zing Tsjeng. However, it should be noted that the book is one in a series by the same author. Other titles in the series are ‘Forgotten women: the leaders’, ‘Forgotten women: the artists’ and ‘Forgotten women: the writers’: it may be that school librarians will be interested in the whole series.

The most curious aspect of this book is its printing style; the size of typeface changes in what appears to be a random fashion, which is a feature which I personally do not like, but it is said to help students retain interest. Forty-eight women scientists are chosen and each scientist has three to four pages that describe their life and work and include a portrait of the scientist. The illustrations by thirteen different artists are a major and very welcome feature of the book. Zing Tsjeng chose to describe the lives and work of the forty-eight women scientists because forty eight women have won a Nobel Prize for science. The forty-eight scientists are divided into seven groups based upon the subject areas in which they worked. The areas were: The earth and the universe, Biology and natural sciences, Medicine and psychology, Elements and genetics, Physics and chemistry, Mathematics and Technology and inventions. This is an unusual categorisation as women chemists can be found in two different groups. The subject areas with most female scientists mentioned were Medicine and psychology and Biology and natural sciences.
The key to the author’s choice of scientists is provided by one sentence in the introduction (p. 12) ‘The women who battled the interlocking foes of sexism, racism and class-based prejudice are those that I most admire...’ This is shown in the choices made where several of the women mentioned are not found in other books on women scientists. This is a factor in making the book a unique contribution to the study of women scientists. The title of the book implies that it will be those women who Zing Tsjeng believes to be forgotten scientists who feature in the book. It is a tribute to Zing Tsjeng’s scholarship that she has found more information about some of these women than is usually available. For example, Tapputi, (or Tapputi-Belatekallim) (p.140) who may have been the world’s first chemist, a perfume-maker mentioned in a cuneiform tablet dated around 1200 BC in Babylon in Mesopotamia, was one of Zing Tsjeng’s 48 scientists. She has obtained an impressive amount of information about Tapputi and her work. The information about the female scientists is remarkably accurate, though I did notice that Zing Tsjeng incorrectly stated that Dmitri Mendeleev published the periodic table in 1896 (p.116), rather than the correct date of 1869. This is an unfortunate error as chemists celebrate the 150th anniversary of the periodic table in 2019.

This book combines scholarship and general interest brilliantly and certainly deserves a place in the school library or amongst the favourites of any science student.

BILL PALMER

Review published: Palmer, W. P. (2019). A review of Forgotten women: the scientists by Zing Tjeng, in Teaching Science (The Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association) 65(3)46 (September).

[Jessica Maree · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://jessjustreads.com

Forgotten Women by Zing Tsjeng is a really wonderful new series, allowing readers to discover 96 women who I can guarantee you’ve never heard of before.

Each of these books features 48 incredible women of history, styled with beautiful artwork and colourful layouts. The Leaders is all about women who were true pioneers. They may not have lived long, or they may have been overlooked, but their contributions were important.

Grace O’Malley was a 16th century Irish pirate queen, Sylvia Rivera spearheaded the modern transgender rights movement, and Agent 355 was an unknown rebel spy who played a pivotal role in the American Revolution.

The series is both informative and interesting. I thought I would’ve gotten sick of these types of books, but I’ve found myself just as enthralled and intrigued as ever. In The Leaders, chapters are broken down into different categories, from rebels to warriors, rulers to activists. In The Scientists, the chapters range from Biology & Natural Sciences to Physics & Chemistry.

Each woman is given around three pages of information, so the books are pretty quick to read and the information not too heavy.

In The Scientists, we meet women whose scientific achievements or whose inventions have paved the way for the future, but unfortunately their successes weren’t as acknowledged or praised as highly or as often as they should’ve been.

Ruby Hirose developed a vaccine for polio, Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was a brilliant inventor who found ways to improve everyday struggles, and Ynes Mexia was a botanist who discovered 500 new plant species.

Both of these books are packaged beautifully. They’re hardback, with thick, high quality paper and bright colours. They look wonderful together on the shelf, and I hope the series will have more books coming out. I’m sure there are plenty more women out there whose achievements have been sadly forgotten.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of both books in exchange for an honest review.

[Yolanda Sfetsos · Rating 5 out of 5]

The other day I posted my review for FORGOTTEN WOMEN: The Leaders, and on that same day I actually received this very awesome book!

Just like LEADERS, this edition is absolutely stunning. It's hardback and the pages inside are colourful in both illustrations and knowledge. The way everything is set out kept me turning the page, wanting to consume all the information until I reached the end.

Although there are a bunch of women I do recognise listed here, there are too many I didn't. So I'm really grateful to this book for introducing me to these intelligent and innovative women in history.

I hate that these amazing ladies were considered forgotten at any time, because they deserve to be out there in the public eye. Every single one deserves their place in the history books!

Forgotten Women: The Scientists is another outstanding addition to my feminist reference books. I love learning about these very talented women and hope this series of books expands into every field so we can discover all of the pioneers left out for no other reason than their gender.

Love this book!

[Snorki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prompted by a survey of asking children to draw a scientist, and only 20% draw women - with the women all being drawn by girls. It’s a tour of a variety of women who have made great contributions to science through the ages, from Ancient Egypt to the 20th century. The book has examples from different cultures and ages, although the majority are western sciences in the last 100 years. Impressive achievements, but most stories include a great deal about prejudice, about fighting for recognition and in many cases, about a man getting more credit for the work. Good that someone is taking the time to collate and promote these stories.

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every #film #producer on the planet - read this book! There are a hundred stories of great lives to turn into quality films - #docos and #dramas. I learned so much reading Tsjeng's book and I intend to read it again (possibly even purchasing it first, rather than borrowing from the library), noting this time the names of the women about whom she's written. Many more paths to explore from that list, I can tell you! Don't be put off by the simple presentation or the seemingly simple writing; this is not a children's book (especially the story of Hypatia) but would suit young adults and older adults because of the plain, clear English. Just a winner, all round.

[teleri · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It’s made to believe
Women are the same as Men;
Are you not convinced
Daughters can also be heroic?”
– Wang Zhenyi.

Was this the most detailed account of these women’s lives? No. Yet I still learnt things, and felt inspired by the women I was reading about. It’s a cute, short account on these talented women and I enjoyed it for that.

I did expect it to be longer, and have more than five scientists mentioned, but I’m not annoyed by it’s lack of material. It was a quick read, and I liked it. Enough said.

[B.S. Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forgotten Women is a beautiful compilation of the women that History forgot - and a must-read for any woman who feels like there's nobody out there they can look up to. Delving deep into the worlds of medicine, technology, chemistry, maths, and the universe itself - this book says the name of women who changed the world in their own way and gives us a valuable insight into the contributions women really made to science. Beautifully illustrated, concise and easy to read, this book gives you a perfect starting point if you want to learn more about these amazing scientists.

[Cherith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic celebration of the women who have contributed so much to the various fields of science. It's such a shame we need special books like this to remember the women who changed the world. There are quite a few instances where women's contributions were overlooked and their male counterparts were unfairly awarded Nobel Prizes.

This is part of a collection of four books. The illustrations are lovely and each woman's achievements are wonderfully brought to light.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

"We were scientists, we were scholars. Neither of these words has a gender." - Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

I feel a lot as I finish this book (finally). Women strive. Women fight. Some have more privilege than others. Some dressed in drag to learn as men did. Some died brutal deaths for what they believed in. Some are completely invisible...

Oof. This book should be read by everyone, men and women and everyone in between.

[Simon Chipps · Rating 3 out of 5]

52 Book Club: Women in STEM
3 stars
I found the biographies interesting, and feel that I learnt some things that I was previously unaware of, such as the amount of scientists that up to very recently had to leave the industry when they married. The layout and the illustrations are excellent too. It is a reference book largely though, and as such the style of entries are repetitive, so it's more a book to pick off the shelf and read a chapter occasionally.

[Maite Maldonado · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro lleno de historias de las mujeres que han contribuido tanto al mundo pero han sido olvidadas e ignoradas. Me enojaba tanto cada vez que una de las historias terminaba en que las obligaban a dejar su trabajo por estar casadas. Gracias a todas estas mujeres es que ahora yo puedo estudiar lo que yo quiera y decidir por mi misma. Hermosos dibujos y el libro tiene un hermoso diseño. Gracias por compartir estas historias tan importantes <3