Nobel Prize laureate—one of the most sought-after of international honors. Nearly 500 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists—but only 10 were women. The Triumph of Discovery: Women Scientists Who Won the Nobel Prize tells the story of four of these scientists from their early struggles to their breakthrough discoveries:

• Maria Goeppert-Mayer who fought prejudice toward women in science to study physics in her native Germany. Her work led to the development of the atomic bomb and experimentation with shell-models.
• Rosayln Yalow, a scientist, wife, and mother, whose study of nuclear physics led her to discover ways of "tagging" substances in blood with radioactive tracers.
• Barbara McClintock who overcame the opposition of her family to attend college and devote her life to the study of maize genetics.
• Rita Levi-Montalcini who survived anti-Semitism in Fascist Italy to train as a doctor and biologist investigating nerve growth.

Follow the careers of these four determined women on their lifelong searches for innovation and scientific discovery.

From the book