authors@mit presents "Carbon Queen" with Maia Weinstock in conversation with Prof. Evelyn Hu

As a girl in New York City in the 1940s, Mildred “Millie” Dresselhaus was taught that there were only three career options open to women: secretary, nurse, or teacher. But sneaking into museums, purchasing three-cent copies of National Geographic, and devouring books on the history of science ignited in Dresselhaus (1930–2017) a passion for inquiry. With curiosity and drive, Dresselhaus defied expectations, making highly influential discoveries about the properties of carbon and other materials and reshaping our world in countless ways—from electronics to aviation to medicine to energy. She was also a trailblazer for women in STEM and a beloved educator, mentor, and colleague.

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About the speakers:

• Author Maia Weinstock is an editor, writer, and producer of science and children's media whose work has appeared in Scientific American, Discover, SPACE.com, BrainPOP, and Scholastic's Science World. She is Deputy Editorial Director at MIT News, a lecturer at MIT on the history of women in STEM, and creator of LEGO's “Women of NASA.”

• Moderator Evelyn Hu is the Tarr-Coyne Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, and a recent recipient of the IEEE's Andrew S. Grove award.

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The authors@mit series is co-sponsored by the MIT Press, the MIT Press Bookstore, and the MIT Libraries. To learn more about Carbon Queen: The Remarkable Life of Nanoscience Pioneer Mildred Dresselhaus, please visit https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/carbon-queen