Women who made significant contributions in the chemical sciences prior to the 20th century do not come readily to mind. Yet, as this book relates so engagingly, women have been influential in chemistry since the earliest period of recorded history. However, Women in Chemistry is more than a dated collection of biographical sketches of notable women scientists. The book highlights the main periods of history when it was possible for women to have some measure of success in the chemical sciences and focuses on their changing roles from alchemical times to the mid-20th century. By glimpsing into the life and work of individuals in the context of the time in which they lived, the authors impart a credible and moving image of the restraints imposed on aspiring women scientists and the obstacles that confronted them-making the extent of their contributions all the more remarkable.

Each chapter has a theme into which are woven selected biographical sketches. Chapter 1 offers a whirlwind tour of the centuries from Babylonian times (1200 B.C.E.) through the Middle Ages and into the 17th century, giving perspective on how the various civilizations did (or did not) consider women capable of intellectual achievement or permit such of them. This short but powerful chapter invokes appreciation for the major contributions made by women in the face of enormous obstacles of prejudice, superstition (witchcraft), monastic reprisals, pseudoscience (alchemy), and denial of education. The women featured include Maria Hebraea (around 300 C.E.famed for the water bath, bain Marie), Hypatia (mathematician, 400 C.E.), Western alchemists (de Gourney and Meudrac), and Chinese alchemists.

By the 18th century, science had progressed and alchemy was at an end. Though enlightened scientifically, western society still considered women's intellect inferior. But, as Chapter 2 relates, the literary salons of France nurtured intellectual discussion in society women, and it was in this context that such women pursued higher education. The role of women as "chemical assistants" to leading chemists of the day is well illustrated in the lives of du Chatelet, Paulze-Lavoisier, Picardet, and Necker de Saussure. Sadly, all this ended with the French Revolution when the woman intellectual became unacceptable.

Chapter 3 focuses on a few exceptional women of the 1800-1900s who succeeded independently in their scientific work in an era when, without access to universities and financial resources, it was almost impossible to function other than as a "chemical assistant". This chapter gives a fascinating account of the life and work of five women, including Elizabeth Fulhame, who is credited with the discovery of photoreduction and the concept of catalysis, and Agnes Pockels, who, without formal education or laboratory facilities, pioneered research in surface films.

By the 1850s, access to advanced education for women began in earnest. Chapter 4 tells of this radical change and its ramifications. This most readable account of the cultural conflicts that existed in Europe and the United States over educating women, admitting them to professional societies, and gaining faculty appointments is exemplified in the biographies of four U.S. women (Ellen Swallow Richards, Rachel Lloyd, Laura Linton, Ida Freund) and two Russian women (Yulya Lermontova and Vera Bogdanovskaia).

Much of the content of the book resides in the remaining chapters (5-10) and covers 20th century science through 1950. The titles, Women in: Crystallography (Chapter 5), Radioactivity (Chapter 6), Biochemistry (Chapter 7), Industrial Chemistry (Chapter 8), Analytical, Education and History (Chapter 9), suggest that women favored some areas of chemistry over others. Why did they tend to congregate in certain fields? The authors give cogent reasons why this was so. They observe that, in developing fields, there was initially a collegiality among colleagues and the support of senior mentors that established a working environment in which women felt welcome and in which they could flourish. The early success of women in crystallography, radioactivity, and biochemistry encouraged other women to follow. There also seems to have been more opportunity for women in emerging fields than in more established but more competitive areas of science.

The biographies of the women chemists featured are poignant accounts of their lives, their work, and the recognition they received for it. Though short, the biographies have been well researched and are well referenced, which should enable interested readers to delve more deeply into the subject if they wish. There are common threads that run through all the accounts, which the authors point to as important factors in determining success. These include encouragement in early years, particularly through sympathetic parents or close relatives; access to formal education; and family values that stress education. The encouragement of mentors is a recurrent theme, as is a hospitable working environment. Mentoring recognized as important not only for individual success but also in creating and sustaining whole areas of research (as we see in crystallography and radioactivity). Each biography documents an impressive record of achievement even when the obstacles encountered in the woman's personal as well as professional life were almost overwhelming. Regrettably, as the authors point out, most women left no personal records (or they have since been lost or destroyed), so we are denied their perspective on their life and times. Evidently, women did not feel sufficient self-worth to record their autobiographies. In fact, a feature that appears in several of the biographies is the "awful self-doubt" about their own abilities. But it is apparent that success increased self-esteem, which fueled further achievement. Other attributes necessary for success included great determination, incredible tenacity, and almost obsessive enthusiasm for chemistry.

The authors are selective in their choice of biographies. They feature women on the basis of importance and interest rather than just the most notable. The crystallography chapter reveals the paradox that outstanding work is sometimes recognized (Lonsdale and Hodgkin) and sometimes not (Franklin). Chapter 6 is a fascinating account of the roller-coaster fortunes of women in radioactivity (Curie, Gleditsch, Chamie, Joliot-Curie, Perey, Brooks, Horovitz, Meitner, Noddack, and Goeppert-Mayer) and is the strongest chapter of the book. The biochemistry chapter acknowledges the work of Hoobler, Pennington, Denis, Fuller Brown, Cori, Elion, Willcock, Menten, Wrinch, and others. Industrial Chemistry was not a haven for women during the first part of this century, but the remarkable contributions of a few (Leslie, Wall, Blodgett, and Lathbury) are described in Chapter 8. The barriers for women in industry were numerous, including policy bans on married women and perceptions that women were unskilled or incapable of chemical work, even though they proved otherwise in the urgent need of wartime. Chapter 9 is a mixed bag, beginning with analytical chemists (Cremer and Miller), including surprisingly few who became prominent in education (Emma Perry Carr of Mount Holyoke and Mary Fieser of Bryn Mawr and Harvard), and ending with the famous historian of science Helen Metzger.

In the concluding chapter, we are reminded of the ups and downs for women scientists in the first half of the 20th century. Blossoming educational and job opportunities led to record numbers of women in science by the early 1900s, but the numbers declined in the aftermath of World War I and to a lesser extent after World War II, as a result of changing societal attitudes when men and women compete for the same jobs. This thought-provoking book, elegantly written, concludes with the rhetorical question: will the current "second wave" of women scientists in this century be more permanent than the first, and will they play a full role in determining the nature and culture of chemistry in the 21st century. There is much to be learned from multiple readings of this interesting book.