Did you know that the first computer program was written by a woman a century before computers existed? Or that it was a mathematician who clarified the strangest aspects of Einstein's Theory of Relativity? Have you heard that our current image of the universe is due to the work of several almost unknown female astronomers? Or that the genetic code was not explained by the two men who won the Nobel Prize for it, but by a biochemist who had the results of her experiments stolen? This book, written in a friendly and accessible tone, traces the lives of some women who were key to the advancement of science: Hypatia of Alexandria, Sophie Germain, Ada Lovelace, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Emmy Noether, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, Chien-Shiung Wu, Vera Rubin, Margarita Salas... Visiting magnificent cities, splendid and terrible eras, and fascinating biographies, its pages ultimately constitute an unknown history of science that partially restores the true contribution of women to our understanding of nature. "I would love nothing more than for parents to give this book to their teenage sons and daughters. Perhaps reading it will encourage them to follow the path of science. We desperately need female intelligence, and every brain cell counts."