A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman

Planetary scientist Elkins-Tanton traces her path from MIT geology student to principal investigator of NASA’s Psyche mission in this often poetic memoir. After graduating from MIT with a bachelor’s in geology, a master’s in geochemistry, and eventually a Ph.D. in geology, Elkins-tanton performed field studies in Siberia that helped her develop a theory for the cause of a Permian-era extinction event, and worked on NASA’s Psyche mission, set to launch in August 2022 with a mission to explore an asteroid that “may be a piece of one of the first metal cores to form in our solar system.” Interspersed with her account of her professional accomplishments are personal stories of challenges the author faced, including her divorce, periods of profound depression, and the sexism she’s faced: “All of us women were told at one point or another that we were at MIT on sufferance, that we were not really good enough.” Elkins-Tanton shines in her ability to render the process of scientific discovery in eloquent prose: “I wish with all my heart that every person could, in at least one discipline, pursue and come to know through a long path traveled all that has been discovered, right to the edge of human understanding.” This is a wonderful paean to the beauty of scientific exploration. (June)