Nathalia Holt

Harvard Book Store welcomes local science writer NATHALIA HOLT—former Fellow at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard University and author of Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV—for the paperback release of her book, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars.

About Rise of the Rocket Girls

The riveting true story of the women who launched America into space.

In the 1940s and 50s, when the newly minted Jet Propulsion Laboratory needed quick-thinking mathematicians to calculate velocities and plot trajectories, they didn't turn to male graduates. Rather, they recruited an elite group of young women who, with only pencil, paper, and mathematical prowess, transformed rocket design, helped bring about the first American satellites, and made the exploration of the solar system possible. 

For the first time, Rise of the Rocket Girls tells the stories of these women—known as "human computers"—who broke the boundaries of both gender and science. Based on extensive research and interviews with all the living members of the team, Rise of the Rocket Girls offers a unique perspective on the role of women in science: both where we've been, and the far reaches of space to which we're heading. 

Praise

"The book acts as a fascinating time capsule, capturing what it was like to be a working woman at a time when only 20 percent of women worked outside the home, or when a woman could be fired simply for being pregnant." —Smithsonian Magazine

"Intercut with the human stories, Holt carefully lays out practical problems—such as the need to minimize fuel weight while ensuring that a rocket could reach escape velocity—and how mathematics helped to solved them. Here, maths is dramatic, not mundane. Calculating is a physical, even athletic, act." —Nature

"Holt's accessible and heartfelt narrative celebrates the women whose crucial role in American space science often go unrecognized." —Publishers Weekly, starred review