pt. 1. The overview. Early years of radioactivity ; Pioneer women of radioactivity / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- pt. 2. The French group. Marie Curie : time only for science and family / Helena M. Pycior -- Ellen Gleditsch : professor and humanist / Anne-Marie Weidler Kubanek and Grete P. Grzegorek -- May Sybil Leslie : from radioactivity to industrial chemistry ; Catherine Chamié : devoted researcher of the Institut de Radium / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- Stefania Maracineanu : ignored Romanian scientist / Miruna Popescu, Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- Alicja Dorabialska : Polish chemist / Stephanie Weinsberg-Tekel -- Irène Joliot-Curie : following in her mother's footsteps / E. Tina Crossfield -- And some other women of the French group. Eva Ramstedt ; Irén Götz / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- pt. 3. The British group. Harriet Brooks : from research pioneer to wife and mother ; Fanny Cook Gates : a promise unfulfilled ; Jadwiga Szmidt : a passion for science ; Ada Hitchins : research assistant to Frederick Soddy ; And some other women of the British group. Jesse Mable Wilkins Slater ; Winifred Moller Beilby ; Ruth Pirret / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- pt. 4. The Austro-German group. Lise Meitner : the foiled Nobelist / Sallie A. Watkins -- Stefanie Horovitz : a crucial role in the discovery of isotopes / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- Marietta Blau : discoverer of the cosmic ray "stars" / Leopold E. Halpern -- Elizaveta Karamihailova : Bulgarian pioneer of radioactivity / Snezha Tsoneva-Mathewson, Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- Elizabeth Róna : the polonium woman / Marlene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham -- Ida Noddack : proposer of nuclear fission / Fathi Habashi -- And some other women of the Austro-German group. Berta Karlik ; Epilogue : the end of an era and a new generation / Marelene F. Rayner-Canham and Geoffrey W. Rayner-Canham
Summary
Contains 17 full biographies and 6 briefer accounts of most of the early women pioneers in the study of radioactivity