A Lab of One's Own

2018 marks the centenary not only of the Armistice but also of women gaining the vote. A Lab of One's Own commemorates both anniversaries by exploring how the War gave female scientists, doctors, and engineers unprecedented opportunities to undertake endeavours normally reserved for men.

Patricia Fara lectures in the history of science at Cambridge University, where she is a Fellow of Clare College. She is the President of the British Society for the History of Science (2016-18) and her prize-winning book, Science: A Four Thousand Year History (OUP, 2009), has been translated into nine languages. In addition to many academic publications, her popular works include Newton: The Making of Genius (Columbia University Press, 2002), An Entertainment for Angels (Icon Books, 2002), Sex, Botany and Empire (Columbia University Press, 2003), and Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science and Power in the Enlightenment (Pimlico, 2004). An experienced public lecturer, Patricia Fara appears regularly in TV documentaries and radio programmes such as In our Time. She also contributes articles and reviews to many journals, including History Today, BBC History, New Scientist, Nature and the Times Literary Supplement.

Preserving the Past, Facing the Future
1: Snapshots: Suffrage and Science at Cambridge
2: A Divided Nation: Class, Gender, and Science in Early Twentieth-Century Britain
3: Subjects of Science: Biological Justifications of Women's Status
Abandoning Domesticity, Working for the Vote
4: A New Century: Voting for Science
5: Factories of Science: Women Work for War
6: Ray Costelloe / Strachey: The Life of a Mathematical Suffragist
Corridors of Science, Crucibles of Power
7: Scientists in Petticoats: Women and Science Before the War
8: A Scientific State: Technological Warfare in the Early Twentieth Century
9: Taking Over: Women, Science and Power During the War
10: Chemical Campaigners: Ida Smedley and Martha Whiteley
Scientific Warfare, Wartime Welfare
11: Soldiers of Science: Scientific Women Fighting on the Home Front
12: Scientists in Khaki: Mona Geddes and Helen Gwynne-Vaughan
13: Medical Recruits: Scientists Care for the Nation
14: From Scotland to Sebastopol: The Wartime Work of Dr Isabel Emslie Hutton
Citizens of Science in a Post-War World
15: Inter-War Normalities: Scientific Women and Struggles for Equality
16: Lessons of Science: Learning from the Past to Improve the Future
Bibliography