Queen of Carbon, women's champion in science

From graphite to graphene to government, Mildred Dresselhouse champions equality across all fields.

Carbon nanostructures surround us everywhere, from sports equipment to microelectronics to reinforced concrete. One of the people we have to thank for this is Mildred Dresselhaus. Her pioneering studies of the fundamental physics of materials such as graphite and carbon nanotubes in the 2nd half of the twentieth century and her defense of gender equality in science dubbed her the Queen of Carbon.

Among the stars of his generation, Dresselhaus overcame adversity and discrimination, winning almost every award except the Nobel Prize. Even before she came into contact with scientific celebrities – for example, when she walked daily with physicist Enrico Fermi – Dresselhouse's childhood talent as a violinist earned her an audience with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. 

Yet, at the end of his illustrious career, the 2014 visit to Washington where Barack Obama received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom was almost a footnote. Now science writer Maya Weinstock details Dresselhouse's extraordinary life in the vibrant biography of Carbon Queen - bringing the same riches she once brought to create a personalized Lego figure to celebrate her character.

Promising property

Born in 1930 to Polish-Jewish immigrants in Depression-era New York, Dresselhouse was a determined student. Food is often so scarce that she began working odd jobs to support her family at the age of eight, Weinstock said, despite struggling to make ends meet with the limited education available to girls. 

After graduating in physics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he received his doctorate in 1958 from the University of Chicago, Illinois. In the same year, he married Jean Dresselhouse, a physicist who became a partner.