Inspired and Incensed: A Guest Post by Olivia Campbell

The powerful true story of four trailblazing women who were scientific pioneers during World War II and beyond, and the incredible lives they led. Read on for an exclusive essay from author Olivia Campbell on writing Sisters in Science.

I wanted to write about what it was like to be a woman scientist under the Nazis, so I began by delving into a Northeastern University research project on the 80 women academics who the Nazis turned into refugee scholars needing to flee occupied territories. When I stumbled upon the names of three women physicists who helped each other escape to America, then discovered that world-renowned physicist Lise Meitner was also involved, well, that sounded like a story I needed to tell. I love telling group histories because they can illuminate a meaningful period of time where lives overlapped — a snapshot of how people shaped each other’s stories. In this case, I firmly believe that they saved each other’s lives.

Two of the women were Jewish, and two were not, which made for an interesting juxtaposition of their experiences. They fought sexism and anti-Semitism to achieve their goals of becoming accomplished research scientists and professors. But just as they were getting firmly established in their careers, the Nazis came to power and cut them down. All four women found themselves out of a job thanks to the Nazis, ultimately forcing them out of the country. All four women had to leave to make a living; the two Jewish women were fleeing for their lives. (One of the others found herself branded an enemy of the state.)

The research process for this book took several years and proved quite intense. I unearthed an abundance of documents related to these women in archives across the world. It’s always better to have a lot of source material to work from, but it sometimes feels like searching for a needle in a haystack when digging through documents to find just the right quotes, key information, and colorful anecdotes to flesh out the fullness of these lives and histories. I think of it like sorting pieces from ten different puzzles to find the ones that complete my story. I sifted through thousands of pages: boxes of letters, diaries, photos, telegrams. I tapped oral histories recorded by the American Institute of Physics, read thousands of pages of academic texts and research papers on these women, their work, and life in Germany during this era. I even hired a German translator.

I hope readers come away from the book feeling both inspired and incensed. The amount of sexism and anti-Semitism leveled against these women was simply extraordinary. It should make everyone angry, but hopefully, it will also make them more invested in continuing the fight to eradicate such bigotry. To see these women persist and achieve despite all this, and then go above and beyond to help other women — whether it be professional mentorship or helping them escape impending death at the hands of Nazis — is deeply moving. Their stories illustrate the importance of hope and sisterhood in the face of fascism.