Explores the lives of seventeen women who have made major contributions to the scientific fields of physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, medical science, and astronomy, such as Émilie Du Châtelet, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, and Sophie Germain.

Fire and living force, Émilie Du Châtelet : physics -- Reluctant prodigy, Maria Gaetana Agnesi : mathematics -- Flesh and bones, Marie-Geneviève-Charlotte Thiroux d'Arconville : chemistry -- The shimmering cloth, Elizabeth Fulhame : chemistry -- Numbers and vibrating plates, Sophie Germain : mathematics -- Electrical suffragette, Hertha Ayrton : electrical engineering and physics -- Anatomical researcher, Florence Rena Sabin : medical sciences -- Starburst traces of cosmic rays, Marietta Blau : physics -- Energy cycle, Gerty Cori : medicine and biochemistry -- Artificial radiation, Irène Joliot-Curie, physics -- Saving blue babies, Helen Taussig : medical sciences -- What stars are made of, Cecilia Payne-Gaboschkin : astronomy -- Nuclear shell model, Maria Goeppert Mayer : physics -- Nerve growth factor, Rita Levi-Montalcini : neuroscience and medicine -- Chemotherapy pioneer, Jane Cooke Wright : medical sciences -- From charcoal to viruses, Rosalind E. Franklin : chemistry -- Antibodies for diagnosis, Rosalyn Sussman Yalow : medical sciences.