Erased from official history, women scientists find a voice in literature. Whether it is biographies, novels or essays, the authors use fiction and narrative to rehabilitate those who have advanced science without always receiving merit.
Literature as scientific memory
Literature has often been used to build scientific myths, but rarely to highlight the women who are their heroines. Today, several writers are working to repair this invisibility by telling the history of science differently. These works make visible journeys that had been forgotten by textbooks or institutions.
Marie Curie
A key figure, Marie Curie has inspired many works, such as Marie Curie and her time of Eve Curie or the graphic novel Radioactive by Lauren Redniss. These stories show a woman dedicated to research, but also to the struggles for female recognition in a world of men.
Long remained in the shadow of Watson and Crick, Rosalind Franklin is today recognized thanks to works like Rosalind Franklin, the discovery of the DNA of Brenda Maddox, or even in contemporary novels where her name finally appears alongside theirs.
In La fille du Dr Gautier (fiction novel inspired by her life), we give the floor back to this French researcher who identified the third chromosome responsible for trisomy 21, before being overshadowed by her male colleagues.
By Valentin DEROO, student in MMI Published on 20/10/2025