  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 06/01/2020 In this companion book to Finding Wonders (2016), Atkins presents the lives of seven girls who excelled in mathematics and later, often after overcoming significant obstacles, made significant contributions in related fields. Caroline Herschel discovered a comet, and Vera Rubin provided evidence of dark matter in the universe. Inventor Hertha Ayrton became the first woman electrical engineer. Meticulous statistical records were key to Florence Nightingale’s success in changing hospital care and Edna Lee Paisano’s progress in gaining significantly greater representation for Native Americans in Census Bureau reports. Marie Tharp turned a mountain of data into maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor, while Katherine Johnson calculated trajectories to the moon. Written in free verse, the text is welcoming, informative, pithy, wry, very readable, and occasionally haunting: as Florence Nightingale carries her lantern through the hospital wards at night, soldiers “reach out to touch the shadow she leaves behind.” Still, doctors resentful of her authority refer to her not as the “Lady with the Lamp” but as the “Lady with the Hammer.” A heartening celebration of mathematically gifted women. - Copyright 2020 Booklist. Loading...
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