Lab Coats and Lace
˜Lab Coats and Lace: The lives and legacies of inspiring Irish women scientists and pioneers"
Edited by Mary Mulvihill
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'Lab Coats and Lace' review in the Irish Medical
News (click here:)
To order a copy of the book please send a cheque for €22.50 (€20 +€2.50
pp) to WITS, PO Box 3783, Dublin 4 including your return address,
please note for WITS members the discounted price is €17.50 (€15 +€2.50 pp)
and for retired/unwaged/student members of WITS the discounted price is
€12.50 (€10 +€2.50 pp)
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Lab Coats and Lace was Launched at Dunsink Observatory on
Wednesday 8th April 2009
with Guest Speakers: Prof. Dervilla Donnelly and Prof. Luke Drury
Meet the fabulous Boole
sisters, and the "flying feminist" Lilian Bland, who was probably the first
woman in the world to build and fly a plane. Physicist Alice Everett was
among the first people researching television technology in the late 1920s.
A type of diamond is named after Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, whose work revealed
the structure of many chemical compounds. Mathematician Kay McNulty worked
on the ENIAC computer during World War II, helping to inaugurate the field
of modern computer programming. Dr Dorothy Price introduced the BCG vaccine
to Ireland, and saved hundreds of lives from TB. And a trio of women
professors who headed up UCD science departments in the 1960s.
Just some of the Irishwomen who, over the last 150 years, have led the way,
many of them in non-traditional careers and often fighting institutionalised
discrimination, yet going on to achieve national and international
recognition. From 19th-century amateurs to 20th-century
professors, their stories will inspire you.
A companion volume to Stars, Shells and Bluebells (WITS, 1997), and
presented in the same easy to read style and attractive manner, with
numerous contemporary illustrations and photographs, and an introductory
foreword and chapter to set the context.
Authors: include broadcaster Éanna ní´Lamhna, author and
mathematician Prof Des MacHale, science writers Claire O'Connell and Karlin
Lillington, as well as academic subject experts and historians.
About the editor: Mary Mulvihill is an award-winning science writer
and broadcaster. She edited the companion volume, Stars, Shells and
Bluebells (1997), and her own books include Ingenious Ireland
(2002), and Drive like a Woman, Shop like a Man (2009), a guide to
sustainable living.
Contents: Foreword; the 19th-century: 1. "Laurels for fair
as well as manly brows"; 2. ˜The glorious privilege"; 3. First in their
field; 4. Erratics, intrusions and graptolites; 5. The fabulous Boole
sisters; 6. Torch-bearing women astronomers. The 20th Century: 7.
Revolutionary doctors; 8. Anatomy of a bog body; 9. An inspiring zoologist;
10. Queen of the plant viruses; 11. The doyenne of Irish chemistry; 12. The
stuff of diamonds; 13. One of the world's first computer programmers.
To order a copy of the book please send a cheque for €17.50 (€15 +€2.50
pp) to WITS, PO Box 3783, Dublin 4 including your return address.
Please note for retired/unwaged/student members of WITS the discounted
price is €12.50 (€10 +€2.50 pp)
Lab Coats and Lace is also available to purchase on
Amazon
Audience: General, second-level, women's studies, history of
science
WITS (Women in Technology & Science), Dublin
www.witsireland.com
ISBN 978-0-9531953-1-2
pbk 200pp, 57 illustrations, RRP €20
Click Here to View
Press Release
Click Here to View Launch
Invite
Click Here to read The Irish Times Article
Click
Here to view Launch Speech on YouTube
Click Here to View Irish Medical
News Review
Click Here to View
Science Spin Magazine Review
Notes from the Chairperson on the Launch Event at Dunsink Observatory:
I would like to thank everyone who helped in making the
Lab Coats
and Lace book lunch at Dunsink Observatory last week such a great
success.
Lab Coats and Lace was launched by Professor Dervla Donnelly and
Professor Luke Drury from DIAS last Wednesday evening. There was
a great turn out of both WITS and non WITS members, of all ages.
One of our colleagues on the Executive Christian Field attended
the launch with her husband and two young boys, this was a family
history lesson as well, as her great grand father worked at the
observatory and her grand father was born there.
We were very lucky to have a guided tour of the observatory after
the launch including the south telescope as well as several other
telescopes which were made available on the grounds of the
observatory for everyone to see the clear skies with. We had some
great views of Saturn and one of it’s many moons Titan as well as
some great views of the moon.
This was a very successful event and there was a great buzz about
it, both with regards to the book launch and the observatory tour
thereafter, and it had a distinct family feel to it, with the
presence of the WITS family as well as children and husbands of
some of the scientists honored in the book in attendance. Lastly
but not least it was a great networking opportunity around a
lovely glass of wine and some finger food provided by
www.thetastingroom.ie.
Once again thank you to everyone who made the event such a success
Charlotte
WITS Chairperson
women in technology and science