Grasping Mysteries Read online

  MARIE THARP (1920–2006) loved joining her father in fields, where he took measurements for government maps. His job meant the family had to move almost every year, so Marie’s closest relationships were with her parents, who encouraged her to be independent and curious. She loved learning about all aspects of mathematics, but chose a career that involved moving figures taken from real places onto charts and maps. Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen created the first map of the entire ocean floor. The World Ocean Floor Panorama not only helped scientists understand what’s under the water that covers more than two-thirds of the earth, but suggests how the continents shifted. In 2009 the Marie Tharp Historical Map was added to Google Earth. The unknown parts of the ocean are shown as blurry on the map to suggest what’s still left to discover.

  KATHERINE JOHNSON (1918–2020) loved to figure out math problems, even before she started school. There, she excelled in all subjects and stayed at the top of her class through graduate school, which she left after becoming pregnant with the first of her three daughters. After taking a job at NASA, she calculated trajectories, launch windows, and emergency plans for missions to put Americans in space and on the moon. She made plans for flights to Mars. Many of her honors came after the end of her remarkable career. NASA gave her five Special Achievement Awards and named a research building after her. The Oscar-nominated movie Hidden Figures was partially based on her life, and highlighted the time when astronaut John Glenn was scheduled to be the first American to orbit Earth but asked that Katherine Johnson first check the math. She worked swiftly, calculating to two decimal points beyond what the computer did. In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

  EDNA LEE PAISANO (1948–2014) loved mathematics and the plains and canyons where she grew up. Because she wasn’t sure how math could help her give back to the Nez Perce Nation, she earned an advanced degree in social work. Working in schools, she encouraged children to play with blocks, thus learning to love addition, subtraction, and division. When rheumatoid arthritis made it increasingly painful for her to sit on floors or crouch by little chairs, Edna Lee Paisano took a job in Washington, DC. As the first Native American to work full-time for the United States Census Bureau, she worked with sets and subsets to compare the needs of young people in various places, factoring in the ways that hunger and uncertainty might affect anyone’s ability to pay attention. As a supervisor, she developed a more inclusive census program, evaluated and interpreted data, researched administrative records for tribal governments, conducted workshops, and prepared testimonies for Congress. During her twenty-year career at the Census Bureau, she oversaw a large increase in the representation of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

  VERA RUBIN (1928–2016) grew up asking lots of questions. Her interests were encouraged by her father, an electrical engineer who helped her build a telescope in the backyard of their Washington, DC, home, during a time shortly before light pollution in the city made it difficult to see stars. Although she was told that girls couldn’t study astronomy, she earned a degree in the subject at Vassar College, then went on to earn a PhD at Georgetown University. She studied more than two hundred galaxies during her career and proved the existence of dark matter. Vera Rubin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and won the National Medal of Science, the most prestigious award for science in the United States. She used the recognition of her work to help other women who loved math and science feel confident in workplaces that were too often unfriendly. In 1996 she became the second woman to win the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. An area of Mars is named the Vera Rubin Ridge, and a small planet is named Asteroid 5726 Rubin in her honor.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Books noted with * were written for young readers.

  CAROLINE HERSCHEL

  Caroline Herschel has never entirely vanished from the history of science, but her role as a devoted sister often has been more emphasized than her work charting celestial orbits. Caroline’s letters and journals remain in print, with many thanks due to Michael Hoskin, who has written much about the extraordinary Herschel family, including the two books listed here.

  * Armstrong, Mabel. Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars. Marcola, Oregon: Stone Pine Press, c2008.

  ———. Caroline Herschel: Priestess of the New Heavens. Sagamore Beach: Science History Publications/USA, 2013.

  Hoskin, Michael A. Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, c2011.

  * McCully, Emily Arnold. Caroline’s Comets: A True Story. New York: Holiday House, 2017.

  Osen, Lynn. M., Women in Mathematics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1974.

  * Venkatraman, Padma. Double Stars: The Story of Caroline Herschel. Greensboro, NC, Morgan Reynolds Publishing, c2007.

  Winterburn, Emily. The Quiet Revolution of Caroline Herschel: The Lost Heroine of Astronomy. Stroud, UK: The History Press, 2017.

  HERTHA AYRTON

  The memoir written by Evelyn Sharp, who was a friend of Hertha Ayrton’s daughter, Barbara Ayrton-Gould, was my main source on their lives. I also read Hertha’s scientific book about arc lights, some about the history of electric lights, and the movements in England to promote female education and the vote. Some books about Hertha’s friend, the prize-winning physicist Marie Curie, also provided information about women in science in the early twentieth century.

  Jones, Claire G. Femininity, Mathematics, and Science, 1880–1914. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

  Sharp, Evelyn. Hertha Ayrton: A Memoir. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1926.

  Swaby, Rachel. Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science—and the World. New York: Broadway Books, 2015.

  FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

  Of all the women in this book, the most has been written about Florence Nightingale. She was famous in her day, had a funeral that filled London streets, and has remained in the public eye, with many nurses reciting a pledge that honors her goals. Most of her fame is due to the way Florence opened the nursing profession to women and emphasized humane care in hospitals. I focused on the way that mathematics shaped her life and work. Also, having long heard Florence being called “the Lady with the Lamp,” I could not resist reporting the story of why she was also less famously called “the Lady with the Hammer.” While she brought compassion to medical care, it took strength, grit, and mathematics to enact her reforms.

  Gill, Gillian. Nightingales: The Extraordinary Upbringing and Curious Life of Miss Florence Nightingale. New York: Random House, 2004.

  * Gorrell, Gina K. Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale. Toronto, Canada: Tundra Books, 2000.

  * Noyce, Pendred E. Magnificent Minds: 16 Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine. Boston, MA: Tumblehome Learning, 2015.

  * Reef, Catherine. Florence Nightingale: The Courageous Life of the Legendary Nurse. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016.

  MARIE THARP

  The biography Soundings, by Hali Felt, was my main source of information on Marie Tharp. I also looked at professional articles, and the book Marie wrote with colleagues, to get a sense of the shape of her work.

  Marie Tharp did most of her ocean studies before women were allowed on a government research ship. Title IX changed that restriction. Evelyn J. Fields, who graduated college with a math degree in 1971, became the first woman to work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and years later the first woman and first African American to hold the position of NOAA rear admiral.

  While Evelyn helped collect data in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, and Alaskan waters, much of the ocean, which covers almost three-quarters of Earth, remains unmapped. Stories also are yet to be known of the many women of color who work doing math and science in the uniformed services.

  * Burleigh, Robert. Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016.

  Felt, Hali. Soundings: The Story of the Remarkable Woman Who Mapped the O
cean Floor. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2012.

  *Lawlor, Laurie. Super Women: Six Scientists Who Changed the World. New York: Holiday House, 2017.

  KATHERINE JOHNSON

  Those of us who write these days about Katherine Johnson owe a big debt to Margot Lee Shetterly, whose books about Katherine, and other “hidden figures” who worked for NASA, reveal an inspiring history. I read and listened to interviews posted online, and articles about civil rights and space exploration, to understand some of what this brave mathematician faced at school and work.

  * Becker, Helaine. Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2018.

  * Cline-Ransome, Lesa. Counting the Stars: The Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019.

  * Slade, Suzanne. A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon. New York: Little Brown Books and Company, 2019.

  * Johnson, Katherine G. Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019.

  Shetterly, Margot Lee. Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. New York: William Morrow, 2016.

  * ———. Hidden Figures: Young Readers’ Edition. New York: HarperCollins, 2016.

  * Shetterly, Margot Lee, and Winifred Conkling. Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race. New York: HarperCollins, 2018.

  Warren, Wini. Black Women Scientists in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1999.

  Williams, Talithia. Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics. New York: Race Point Publishing, 2018.

  EDNA LEE PAISANO

  The sections in the books noted here are precious, but most other information about Edna Lee Paisano is online, and often about rather technical details of her work. As I did with all the women here, I read about where she grew up and worked, letting the places she loved suggest her values. I studied pictures of goods, like those Edna sold with her grandmother as a girl on Nez Perce land, noting the math, as well as the art, that’s needed in beading and weaving. Both math and poetry are shaped by patterns, so I wanted Edna’s work in statistics to echo the themes in the section about Florence Nightingale, despite the other differences of their lives. In 2022, the NSF Vera C. Rubin Observatory will open in Cerro Pachón, Chile, as the first observatory operated by the United States to be named after a woman.

  Perl, Teri. Women and Numbers: Lives of Women Mathematicians Plus Discovery Activities. San Carlos, CA: Wide World Publishing, c1993.

  Sterrett, Andrew, ed. 101 Careers in Mathematics. 3rd ed. Rhode Island: American Mathematical Society, 2014.

  VERA RUBIN

  Reading the New York Times obituary of Vera Rubin made me wonder: Why haven’t I heard about this scientist? That question is often the origin of my writing. Vera became the second woman, after Caroline Herschel, to win the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, which reflects how much needs to change for math- and science-loving women, as well as what has changed. While Caroline’s work was built upon the way she could help her brother, Vera’s life shows that a woman with a good husband can raise four children and do pathbreaking work.

  I read online interviews and Vera’s collected essays and speeches in a book I borrowed from the Science and Engineering Library at the University of Massachusetts. Some I read while sitting on the edge of the campus near a sun wheel—a circle of stones that shows changes in the sky—made under the direction of Vera’s daughter, Judy Young, who was a professor in the astronomy department.

  Ambrose, Susan A., et al. Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal Constants. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997.

  Clinton, Hillary Rodham, and Chelsea Clinton. The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2019.

  *Ignotofsky, Rachel. Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2016.

  Lightman, Alan P., and Roberta Brawer. Origins: The Lives and Worlds of Modern Cosmologists. MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.

  Rubin, Vera C. Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters. New York: American Institute of Physics, c1997.

  * Stille, Darlene R. Extraordinary Women Scientists. Chicago: Childrens Press, c1995.

  More from the Author

  Finding Wonders

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JEANNINE ATKINS is the author of several books for young readers about courageous women, including Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science; Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis; and Borrowed Names: Poem About Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C. J. Walker, Marie Curie, and Their Daughters, Jeannine teaches writing for children and young adults at Simmons University. She lives in western Massachusetts. Visit her at jeannineatkins.com.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Jeannine-Atkins

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2020 by Jeannine Atkins

  Illustrations copyright © 2020 by Victoria Assanelli

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  The illustrations for this book were rendered in pencil, then worked digitally.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Atkins, Jeannine, 1953– author.

  Title: Grasping mysteries : girls who loved math / Jeannine Atkins.

  Description: First edition. | New York City : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2020] | Audience: Ages 10 Up. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: A biographical novel in verse of seven girls from different time periods who used math to explore the mysteries of the universe and grew up to do innovative work that changed history.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019037196 | ISBN 9781534460683 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534460706 (eBook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 1750–1848—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Nightingale, Florence, 1820–1910—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Ayrton, Hertha, 1854–1923—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Tharp, Marie—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Johnson, Katherine G.—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Paisano, Edna L.—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | Rubin, Vera C., 1928–2016—Childhood and youth—Juvenile fiction. | CYAC: Novels in verse. | Herschel, Caroline Lucretia, 1750–1848—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Nightingale, Florence, 1820–1910—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Ayrton, Hertha, 1854–1923—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Tharp, Marie—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Johnson, Katherine G., 1918–2020—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Paisano, Edna L., 1948–2014—Childhood and youth—Fiction. | Rubin, Vera C., 1928–2016—C
hildhood and youth—Fiction. | Mathematicians—Fiction. | Scientists—Fiction. | Sex role—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.5.A85 Gr 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037196