Dignifying Science: Stories About Women Scientists - Softcover

Ottaviani, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0966010647 ISBN 13: 9780966010640

Publisher: G.T. Labs, 2000

Synopsis

This original graphic novel features famous women scientists including Marie Curie, Emmy Noether, Lise Meitner, Rosalind Franklin, Barbara McClintock, Birute Galdikas, and Hedy Lamarr. The stories offer a human context often missing when we learn about the discoveries attached to these scientists' names. Readers, drawn in by the compelling anecdotes, will discover intriguing characters. End notes and references will lead them to further information on the scientists they've read about.

About this title

About the Author

Jim Ottaviani, a nuclear engineer, librarian, and comics writer, has written professionally for the comics industry for over 10 years. Two-Fisted Science, first trade paperback, focused on physicists, won a Xeric Grant and was an Eisner nominee. His second book, Dignifying Science (stories about women scientists), earned him another Eisner nomination and an invitation to speak about comics at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm. His third book Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb earned him yet another Eisner nomination, an Ignatz nomination, and was selected by Booklist as one of the top 10 graphic novels of 2002.

From Publishers Weekly

A collection of women-drawn comics profiling women scientists should be a great way to celebrate unknown and underappreciated female professionals and inspire young women to go into the scientific fields. But this collection almost entirely misses the mark, failing to tell clear, interesting stories or to impart much useful information about the remarkable scientists it covers. The fault lies in Ottaviani's writing and organization, not in the skillfully executed black and white illustrations. The profiles--of Lise Meitner, Rosalind Franklin, Barbara McClintock, Marie Skladovska, Hedy Lamarr (yes, the actress) and Birute Galdikas--unfold almost entirely through dialogue. Secondary figures are introduced without historical context or explanation of their relationship to the main character. Even the unusual profile of movie star/inventor Lamarr is bewildering (who exactly is Gene Markey?). Ottaviani provides an appendix with panel by panel notes offering historical and biographical context, but the reader will tire of flipping from comics to notes and back again. Both the narrative and notes jump into scientific terminology without sufficient plainspoken explanations. The book leaves one longing for what it originally promised: biographical sketches of significant women's scientific accomplishments in comics form, presented in a manner that the dame on the street can understand. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: G.T. Labs
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0966010647
• ISBN 13: 9780966010640
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 144