Mathematics for Ladies: Poems on Women in Science

by Jessy Randall, Kristin Divona (Illustrator), Jessy Randall

Poems about historical women in STEM fields.

Hilarious, heart-breaking, and perfectly pitched, these carefully researched poems about historical women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine will bring you to both laughter and outrage in just a few lines. A wickedly funny, feminist take on the lives and work of women who resisted their parents, their governments, the rules and conventions of their times, and sometimes situations as insidious as a lack of a women's bathroom in a college science building.

Discover seashells by the seashore alongside Mary Anning and learn how Elizabeth Blackwell lost her eye. Read about Bertha Pallan's side hustle in the circus, Honor Fell bringing a ferret to her sister's wedding, Annie Jump Cannon cataloguing stars, Mary G. Ross stumping the panel on “What's My Line?,” Alice Ball's cure for leprosy, and Roberta Eike stowing away on a research vessel. Some of these poems celebrate women who triumphed spectacularly. Others remember women who barely survived.

Explore the stories of women you may have heard of (Marie Curie, Jane Goodall, Émilie du Châtelet) alongside those of others you may not (Virginia Apgar, Maryam Mirzakhani, Ynes Mexia, Susan La Flesche Picotte, Chien-Shiung Wu). If you have come across Randall's poems in Scientific American, Analog, or Asimov's, you will have already opened the door to these tales, all the more extraordinary because they are true.

Illustrated with Kristin DiVona's portraits for NASA's “Reaching Across the Stars” project, this is a book to share with scientists, feminists, and poets, young and old and of any gender.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2022

Reviews

[Morgan Rondinelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't know most of the women in this book, and that is a shame. I found myself on the wikipedia page after each poem, wishing there had been more about each woman's story in the book itself. But perhaps that was the goal, and it was met.

[Jessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library Journal, September 23, 2022: As stated in the foreword to this pristine and intriguing collection from Randall (curator of special collections, Colorado Coll.; A Day in Boyland), 19th-century polymath Mary Somerville was the first person to be called a scientist—so dubbed after the publication of her On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences. Yet how many women scientists can we name? Randall sets out to rectify the situation in a series of bright, brief poems whose subjects range from the First Scientist ("Is there something inside a stone/ That doesn't show/ when it's broken open?") to Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani ("They say study, experiment, postulate,/ And I look out the window and see it complete"), who died, tragically, in 2017 at age 40. Along the way, a few recognizable names emerge, among them Hildegard of Bingen, Jane Goodall, Virginia Apgar, Lise Meitner, and of course Marie Curie. But most of the 70 women presented here will be unknown to all but the cognoscenti. Randall doesn't write extended narratives but give a pungent, personal glimpse of each woman (of 19th-century paleontologist Mary Anning, "Things she drew by the seashore:/ specimens// Things she loved and lost by the seashore: her dog, Tray") that should pique interest; readers will generally agree when Somerville says: "they block us from learning/ and then mock us for not having learned." VERDICT For science readers who love poetry, poetry readers who love science, and feminists and students of all ages. —Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal, September 23, 2022

[Dustin Fife · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most engaging collections of poetry that I have read in a long time. Would recommend to anyone.

[krispy · Rating 3 out of 5]

the subject matter of this book could probably fill at least 10x the number of pages these poems encompassed which is probably why my enjoyment was limited. it took quite a long time to read this book because i would want to read the women’s wikipedia pages right after reading their poems and switching between book and browser wasn’t very quick. the book has a sort of footnotes section in the back that goes into more detail of some of the women’s lives but i would have appreciated that paragraph of more context for each woman; a little blurb about each woman after their poem would have made this an easy 4/5 because every one of their lives is just so interesting but the poems weren’t able to go into great detail. i think this might also be because the poetry itself was a little underwhelming. i think many of them just felt too matter of fact and plainly worded that they didn’t inspire that much reflection beyond the words on the page. they were also often written with very similar voices regardless of first or third person or the woman narrating the poem which kind of made it seem as though women in science are all coming from the same perspective. this was emphasized by the poems often having similar themes, with the women characterized as responsible, serious, and tolerant. obviously they also had their stubbornness, their creativity, and their persistence, but because so many of them were disenfranchised or discredited in some way, it probably takes a little more than what this book gave to clearly distinguish their individual feats and motivations. maybe it’s kind of like how most immigrants or children of immigrants feel compelled to relate to the same struggles of assimilation, most women in science will converge on some shared plane of reckoning with the various barriers they face that their male peers have never needed to consider. there are definitely a lot of dimensions to this experience, but i still think that there could have been more celebration of their lives and accomplishments without focusing so much on the adversities. but i guess there’s more to admire when you consider them hmm. anyway i really like the quote by sarah frances whiting shared at the end of the book: “no chart can give so perfect a representation of the sky as a globe, but the globe has the disadvantage that the observer is looking at the celestial sphere from the outside instead of from the center.”

[Nicole Field · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this was as diverse in its selection of women scientist and mathematicians, I found that I didn't love it as much as its follow up The Path of Most Resistence.

A lot of that isn't necessarily to do with the strength of the individual poems. I would argue that each of the poems were as well researched as in the later volume. What does change between the two collections, however, is the way the poems feel like they reach forward or back towards each other. They are in conversation by the time Jessy writes her later conversation.

For this one, each poem seems more standalone. There's not much more than the merit of each individual's story and the snapshot poem to commend this collection. There's no overall commentary on the hardships faced by women, the sidelining at the hands of men - although of course it would be just as prevalent in reality. It's just not as present there in the writing.

Maybe it's because I read the later one first, but I expected a little more when I opened this one.

[Suzanne DeGrasse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry can be a bridge between art and life, between the reader and the subject, shining a brighter light in fewer words than a typical biography. That is exactly what this gem of a book does, bringing these ground-breaking, marvelous women of history out into the 21st century light. Through these poems we can see how far women have come in such a short time- and yet how ling it took and how far we still have to go. They persisted, the author persists in keeping them alive, and we as readers are inspired.

[Reagan Kapasi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the concept, showing diversity of female scientists throughout history (not just Marie Curie!). Poems fell a little flat IMO

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept and excellent resource for women across sciences.
The poetry had more opportunity to explore and experiment.

[Britt Kaufmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it and it made me mad. Which is precisely what I think the poet intended. I'm looking forward to the second installment The Path of Most Resistance.

[Sedona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled me with feminist rage! Definitely recommend (especially to women).

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too short for its own good. I felt like I needed to memorize every name.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of poems that document and highlight in some way, many women’s struggles to be recognized and appreciated for their wonderful interest in mathematics and scientific study!

[Abigail Zimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

19th-century Russian mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya wrote, "It is impossible to be a mathematician without being a poet in soul.... It seems to me that the poet must see what others do not see and see more deeply than other people. And the mathematician must do the same." 💗

Jessy Randall flips this a bit by bringing math into poetry. This poetry collection focuses on women scientists whose contributions have been overlooked or buried. The poems are funny and clever and distilled from a lot of reading and thinking about each scientist and the obstacles to her work. In the back of the book, a few of the scientists' stories are further detailed, which I wish Randall had done for each one. Still, I don't think it hinders the reading; the women's passion for their subject matter and their perseverance in studying shine through even without their full backstory. But this book will lead you down some good rabbit holes and more reading.

Also excellent is Randall's interview about this book on the Lost Women of Science podcast.