Chemistry was their life

By John Nicholson2010-07-01T00:00:00

John Nicholson reviews the history of the early female chemists

The latest figures suggest that, today, some 57 per cent of chemistry undergraduates in the UK are women, but it was not always so. About 100 years ago, a few pioneers struggled against indifference or outright opposition from men to establish themselves as chemists. This book gives us an insight to who they were and what they achieved. The authors have worked hard in recent years to document the careers of these early women chemists, and while the book focuses on British women chemists during 1889-1949, it also includes biochemists and pharmacists.

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