Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Chronology xiii
5. Actors in a Supporting Role xvii
6. Introduction: A Sextet of Firsts, Variations on a Theme 1
7. One. Mathematician and Philosopher: The “Celebrated Mlle Ferrand” (1700–1752) 16
8. Two. Astronomer and “Learned Calculator”: Nicole Reine Lepaute (1723–1788) 62
9. Three. Botany in the Field and in the Garden: Jeanne Barret (1740–1807) and Madeleine Françoise Basseporte (1701–1780) 107
10. Four. Anatomist and Inventor: Marie-Marguerite Biheron and Her Medical Museum (1719–1795) 166
11. Five. Chemist and Experimentalist: Marie Geneviève Charlotte Thiroux d’Arconville and Her Choice of Anonymity (1720–1805) 212
12. Epilogue 260
13. Notes 267
14. Index 323