Review: Sisters in Science by Olivia Campbell

Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History

by Olivia Campbell

Release Date: December 31, 2024

2024 Park Row

Ebook Edition; 384 Pages

ISBN: 978-0778333395

ASIN: B0CQ5GY9RN

Audiobook: B0CSL5XYD9

Genre: Non-Fiction / History / Science

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

2 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

In the 1930s, Germany was a hotbed of scientific thought. But after the Nazis took power, Jewish and female citizens were forced out of their academic positions. Hedwig Kohn, Lise Meitner, Hertha Sponer, and Hildegard Stücklen were eminent in their fields, but they had no choice but to flee due to their Jewish ancestry or anti-Nazi sentiments.

Their harrowing journey out of Germany became a life-and-death situation that required Herculean efforts of friends and other prominent scientists. Lise fled to Sweden, where she made a groundbreaking discovery in nuclear physics, and the others fled to the United States, where they brought advanced physics to American universities. No matter their destination, each woman revolutionized the field of physics when all odds were stacked against them, galvanizing young women to do the same.

 

My Thoughts

Sisters in Science is one of those books that I was excited to receive as I did my undergrad in science and my son is a theoretical physicist so I thought a book that finally highlighted the achievements of women during a time period that constantly put them down or credited the men with which they worked would be great to read.  Unfortunately, while I was glad to see the emphasis put on these women, I couldn't get past some of the projection that was written into this book, especially with how the women thought and felt without actual proof, nor did I enjoy the addition of rhetorical and leading questions that guide the reader to a certain way of thinking. Sorry, but this is not scholarly non-fiction writing.  

 

First of all, I do want to mention that this is an extraordinary topic and more research needs to be done on pioneering women in a variety of research fields, to highlight their achievements, to ensure their discoveries are credited to them, and to show how difficult it was for them in a world that was dominated by men.  As someone who also has a background in history, I appreciated the historical context, the difficulties as they struggled to get their voices heard, to get credit for their work, in a time period that was becoming even more and more challenging.  However, as a historian, I also can't overlook the issues in this book.

 

While this was interesting, the author did take some liberties in this book that just didn't sit well with me.  I wonder if perhaps this would have worked better as a fictional novel rather than a non-fiction book. One, unless there are journals and personal accounts, how a person feels and thinks should never be mentioned and I couldn't find any evidence to support this in this book.  My professors used to call this projection and it was always considered a big no-no in non-fiction writing.  Second, making assumptions and leading readers through questions to your way of thinking.  Another big no-no. Showing two sides to an issue is fine if there is supporting evidence, but asking rhetorical questions in such a way to lead readers to your viewpoint or to how a historical person many be thinking or feeling, not good scholarship writing.  The reality is, we just don't know what they were thinking or feeling.  I also felt the writing style was quite meandering; it didn't need to be chronological necessarily, but I did find it jarring to jump back and forth so much because the transitions weren't smooth or clear.

 

Verdict

Sisters in Science had a lot of potential and highlighting women's achievements in a subject area where women are constantly underrepresented made me happy.  And while it does go into detail with regards to physics, I didn't feel like the descriptions were unrealistic for someone without a science background to follow.   The author clearly put a lot of research into this book, but too many liberties were taken with the writing style that I just couldn't overlook. The meandering style was a slog to read after a while and I think I just finished it out of stubbornness. I was really excited to learn more about these groundbreaking and pioneering women in science, but honestly, I've read textbooks that were more interesting.