March is Women's History Month, a perfect time to celebrate women's contributions to the sciences. You never know where keeping your eyes open, and a nature journal handy, will lead. Here are some female heroes beyond Marie Curie who demonstrate the power of observation and imagination.
Women were not historically encouraged to pursue the sciences. The pioneering naturalists presented in Girls Who Looked Under Rocks couldn't help their curiosity. Featuring brief biographies and charcoal portraits of such noted environmentalists as Jane Goodall and Rachel Carson to lesser-known authors and teachers like Miriam Rothschild and Anna Botsford Comstock, this is a perfect book to encourage a passion in the outside world.
Maria Mitchell grew up in the 1800s, when most girls weren't allowed to go to school. Rooftop Astronomer details her struggle against these odds to become a teacher at her school, the first female professor at Vasser College and the first woman to discover of a comet. Having an amateur astronomer as a father who encouraged her interest in space helped a lot.
Marine biologist Sylvia Earle is sure to spark interest in the sea as our next unexplored frontier with a recounting of her adventures in Dive! After explaining how her love of oceans grew and evolved over time, from watching whales in their natural habitat to helping build and design her own deep-sea submersible, Earle leaves a message to the next generation to care for and preserve this underwater world.
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