Media ReviewsExtraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of AchievementHeldStalwarts of self-sacrificePhiladelphia General Hospital Photograph CollectionDocumenting the Historical Experiences of African Americans in Southeastern Michigan With Regard to Health Care, the Health Professions and the Health Sciences

Abstract

Despite their outstanding achievements, women remain underrepresented in many scientifi c fi elds and leadership positions. Th e public exhibition Extraordinary Women in Science & Medicine: Four Centuries of Achievement is intended "to raise awareness and understanding of women's roles in the development of the sciences." 1 Th e exhibit explores the legacy of 32 women who made remarkable contributions to the physical and medical sciences. In the physical sciences are 23 women representing physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics, and computing, whereas 9 women represent the medical sciences in women's health, cardiology, genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry. Details of this exhibit can be found at the Grolier Club's website under Past Exhibitions.More than 150 original items related to each woman's scientifi c work are on display, including manuscripts, periodicals, off prints, dissertations, letters, portraits, contemporary color miniatures, and laboratory apparatus on loan from the American Philosophical Society, the National Library of Medicine, and several private collections. Th ese items are arranged in a single large room on the ground fl oor of the Grolier Club. A comprehensive catalogue with an index supplements the exhibit and off ers highly valuable supplemental material, including two essays: "Women in Science throughout History" by Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie and "Paving Roads for Th emselves and Others: Women in Science and Medicine" by Randi Hutter Epstein (available for purchase through the website, $35.00).Few women scientists who worked outside the United States or Europe are included in the exhibit. Nonetheless, the breadth of the exhibit is exceptional, ranging from Louise Bourgeois Boursier, who served as midwife to King Henry IV and Marie de Medici in 16th-to early 17th-century France, to Grace Hopper, a pioneering 20th-century American computer scientist. Th is broad chronological and geographic scope proves a strength and occasional weakness, both highlighting common themes and occasionally masking dif-