Recommended: Rocket Girl
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
By Anna Kuchment
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America*amp*apos;s First Female Rocket Scientist
George D. Morgan
Prometheus Books, 2013 ($18)
Morgan tells the fascinating story of his mother, Mary Sherman, who had only a high school diploma yet helped the U.S. launch its first satellite during the cold war. Talented in science and math, Sherman dropped out of college when a top U.S. munitions maker offered her a job designing explosives during World War II. Determined to keep working after returning soldiers claimed women's jobs, she applied to North American Aviation, where she invented the rocket propellant hydyne. Morgan, who based Rocket Girl on a play he wrote about his mother, re-creates dialogue and adds other creative flourishes that may put off some nonfiction readers, but the touches make for a dramatic, suspenseful tale.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
