Female Innovators Who Changed Our World: How Women Shaped STEM (Trailblazing Women)

We are not all born with equal opportunities. Yet there have been countless of women who have overcome a range of barriers such as prejudice, illness, and personal tragedy to advance our understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They used their knowledge to change the world, and their stories are fascinating.

This book offers a concise introduction of the lives of 46 women, taking you into the cultural and social context of the world they lived in. Through their intelligence, courage, and resilience, they used STEM to defy expectations and inspire generations to follow in their footsteps. Some of them invented items we use day-to-day and discovered causes and treatments for epidemics that ostracized whole sections of society, while others campaigned for the reproductive rights of women and harnessed mathematics to send people into space and break ciphers. These women are proof that females can and did have a hugely significant role in shaping the world we live in today.

Emma Shimizu is a half-Japanese, half-British engineer who has had a passion for improving lives and sharing her love of STEM since her teenage years. She studied Materials Science and Engineering at university, specializing in tissue engineering and materials used in healthcare. Emma has been an active STEM ambassador for several years, and especially enjoys working with schools to introduce how science and engineering is used to shape our day-to-day lives. Emma currently works for a paediatric medical device manufacturer, liaising with different departments to plan and develop new products. Having a keen interest in promoting partnerships between industry and academia, Emma has been honoured to be a guest speaker for a university bioengineering module and take part in industrial liaison. She lives in Sheffield with her husband who is also an engineer, and cat Elsa who is not.