Status: Due to repeated requests for copies, WITS plans to revise and re-issue the book Stars, Shells & Bluebells first published in 1997. Celebrating the lives & achievements of a selection of women who made historic contributions to science in Ireland in centuries past, featuring 15 biographies of naturalists, astronomers, and even a pioneering aviator.

A sub-committee has now been formed to produce a new expanded edition. Many thanks to WITS members for all your suggestions of the women to be profiled.

Details: 'Stars, Shells and Bluebells' is a celebration of 15 women of Ireland who lived from the 18th century onwards. These were not the women of tea parties and embroidery, although that may have also been a part of their lives. These were the women of science, of exploration and of adventure. This book tells the inspiring story of their contribution, made despite immense cultural, social and behavioural barriers. It is an important new contribution to an area of Irish history - women in science -that has been much ignored until now. 

Click on the image to view Contents Page of Stars...

Whether they remained on this island or spent their time in foreign parts, they were all distinguished by their determination, their skills as scientists and their perseverance despite the adversities of working in a male-dominated environment. These were the women, refused access to the illustrious institutions and scientific research facilities, who made their mark in their chosen field whether that was astronomy, photography or botany. They sought excellence whether rearing jellyfish in a home-made laboratory or catching scorpions in the tomb of Rameses IX. 

Stars, Shells and Bluebells chronicles the lives and exploits of some of our many women scientists and pioneers among them both the well-known and the unsung, all of whom have contributed to our understanding of the world around us. Many of the essays contain explanatory panels, as for example about the 'devil's darning needles' (as dragonflies were once known), the chemical information which can be gleaned from starlight, the naming of plants and the importance of the National Herbarium. 

The lives of these 'Irish scientific grandmothers' are written by nine authors, the majority of them scientists themselves. The book is completed with an introduction by the historian Mary Cullen and a foreword by Mary Robinson, President of Ireland until September 1997 and Patron of WITS. It has been sponsored by the Department of Education and Science. 

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