This book critically examines the career development of female scientific pioneers. Drawing from existing biographical and ethnographical data, author Joyce Tang analyzes the life and career histories of ten extraordinary female scientists—Marie Curie, Irene Joliot-Curie, Margaret Mead, Barbara McClintock, Maria Goeppert-Meyer, Rachel Carson, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Dorothy Hodgkin, Rosalyn Yalow, and Fay Ajzenberg-Selove. The author explores the personal, political, cultural, and economic factors that led to the success of these women. Scientific Pioneers proposes that for a woman to be successful in science not only requires perseverance and talent, but also structural opportunities, institutional support, and conscious decision making.

Scientific Pioneers is an important addition to the growing literature about women in science, the sociology of science, and the dynamics of discrimination. This analysis of female scientific pioneers is an invaluable resource for both public policy debates and research on inequality.