Section I: Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Section II: The renaissance & the enlightenment
Section III: The long nineteenth century
Section IV: The twentieth century, pre-world war II
Section V: the twentieth century, post-World War II
Introduction: Reading women's silence in the history of science
Section I: Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Physicians, midwives, and "grannies" ; The supernatural and the sanctified
Section II: The Renaissance & The Enlightenment. Women calculate their own path to science ; The wives and sisters of scientific partnerships ; Women and the science of the body in the Scientific Revolution ; Empire and exploitation in the Age of Exploration
Section III: The long nineteenth century. Women science writers and popularizers ; Botany for ladies ; From the home to the hospital ; Home physicians and lady doctors
Section IV: The twentieth century, pre-World War II. "Powerful levers that move worlds!" ; The home as laboratory ; Women's reproductive freedom and the eugenics movement ; Women archeologists and anthropologists humanize their past ; What cannot be unmade
Section V: The twentieth century, post-World War II. The plight of women refugee scientists coming to America ; Nature's housekeepers begin a movement ; The double bind in the sciences ; More than astronauts ; Reconfiguring the female ; The problem with "female firsts"
