Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Rocket Girl The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan America's First Female Rocket Scientist by George D. Mo Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America’s First Female Rocket Scientist, by George D. Morgan. Margaret Weitekamp on a woman who helped get the US space programme off the ground. Mary Sherman Morgan raised a fine son. Actually, she raised five children: two boys and three girls. But before she retired to attend to her family full time, she worked as a chemist, first during the Second World War for Plum Brook Ordnance Works, testing the purity of nitric acid used in explosives, and later for North American Aviation, where she invented the liquid fuel hydyne (the first-stage propellant for the Jupiter-C rocket that boosted the first successful American satellite, Explorer 1 , into orbit in 1958). Morgan’s eldest son, George, has written a compelling memoir of his mother’s role as the first female rocket engineer. But Rocket Girl is not a straightforward biography; it is a detective story, a family tale and a historical reconstruction all blended together with the aim of resurrecting the record of this secretive but significant woman. George grew up to be a playwright, and Rocket Girl first appeared as a stage play produced at the California Institute of Technology in 2008. He describes this book, which draws on that play, as creative non-fiction. Faced with inconsistent family lore and an even more gap-ridden documentary record, he has relied on his dramatist skills to fill in the story. The current holder of North American Aviation’s archival record, Boeing, “chose not to participate” (one senses the frustration in the final Author’s Note), which necessitated the invention not only of dialogue, which would have been lost to history regardless, but also some participants’ names and other details. This is not a straightforward biography; it is a historical reconstruction resurrecting the record of this secretive but significant woman. The result reads much more like a novel than a history (someone really should option the film rights), offering insights into characters’ thoughts, long exchanges of specific dialogue and vivid descriptions of long-ago settings. The narrative jumps back and forth between Mary’s desperately poor childhood and early professional life, Wernher von Braun’s rocket development in Germany and later in the US (as the architect of the engine that burns Mary’s hydyne), and George’s dogged research as he tries to uncover the history of the woman who became his mother. The prose occasionally tends towards the purple, with distracting similes. But overall, Rocket Girl draws the reader into a colourful personal account of the development of the space age in the immediate post-war era, with much of its texture restored. At the centre of it all, of course, is a distant, secretive and possibly obsessive-compulsive woman with a phobia of being photographed, who was nonetheless an accomplished practical chemist and an expert bridge player. The disparate threads of the narrative come together in Mary’s greatest professional accomplishment. In 1957, she worked out how to blend a powerful new liquid propellant mixture to fuel von Braun’s Redstone rocket engine, working within strict limitations already built into the engine’s inalterable construction. The result launched the Americans’ answer to the Soviets’ Sputnik – and began the space race. As a mother of three, I’m always hopeful when I see an account of another mother with a professional life as well (It can be done! How did she do it?). But for Mary, as for so many women of the time, her professional life and her family life did not overlap very much. Just as her professional career peaked, she started her family and retired. And this is of course a son’s view, written after her death and without the benefit of her own insights and reflections – assuming she would have shared them if asked. It is a tribute to her previously unheralded contribution and a son’s decade-long effort to restore his mother to her place in history. He succeeded. Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America’s First Female Rocket Scientist. By George D. Morgan Prometheus, 325pp, £11.83 ISBN 9781616147396 and 7402 (e-book) Published 9 July 2013. Rocket Girl : The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's First Female Rocket Scientist. LIKE THE FEMALE SCIENTISTS PORTRAYED IN HIDDEN FIGURES , MARY SHERMAN MORGAN WAS ANOTHER UNSUNG HEROINE OF THE SPACE AGE--NOW HER STORY IS FINALLY TOLD. This is the extraordinary true story of America's first female rocket scientist. Told by her son, it describes Mary Sherman Morgan's crucial contribution to launching America's first satellite and the author's labyrinthine journey to uncover his mother's lost legacy--one buried deep under a lifetime of secrets political, technological, and personal. In 1938, a young German rocket enthusiast named Wernher von Braun had dreams of building a rocket that could fly him to the moon. In Ray, North Dakota, a young farm girl named Mary Sherman was attending high school. In an age when girls rarely dreamed of a career in science, Mary wanted to be a chemist. A decade later the dreams of these two disparate individuals would coalesce in ways neither could have imagined. World War II and the Cold War space race with the Russians changed the fates of both von Braun and Mary Sherman Morgan. When von Braun and other top engineers could not find a solution to the repeated failures that plagued the nascent US rocket program, North American Aviation, where Sherman Morgan then worked, was given the challenge. Recognizing her talent for chemistry, company management turned the assignment over to young Mary. In the end, America succeeded in launching rockets into space, but only because of the joint efforts of the brilliant farm girl from North Dakota and the famous German scientist. While von Braun went on to become a high-profile figure in NASA's manned space flight, Mary Sherman Morgan and her contributions fell into obscurity--until now. Отзывы - Написать отзыв. LibraryThing Review. The story of a fascinating incredible woman who was responsible for our ability to put rockets into space. Without her, it’s possible that Wehrner von Braun would not be as well known as he is today . Читать весь отзыв. LibraryThing Review. I saw this book at the bookstore and was intrigued, but something about it made me hesitate, and I decided to check it out from the library instead. While I did enjoy this book, I think I'm pretty . Читать весь отзыв. Million Dollar Literature. Mary Morgan Sherman: invented hydyne in 1957, the rocket propellant that launched America's first satellite (in response to Sputnik); "retired" from work c. 1958; born 1921, "retired" 1958 at about age 37; one child at home; pregnant, and eventually four children (two boys, two girls) in that family (one much earlier in life given up for adoption) Born / raised on a farm near Ray, North Dakota; November 4, 1921 -- three months older than my own dad. Father Michael. Three daughters: Mary, Elaine (youngest), Amy; three brothers: Michael, Vernon, Clarence (confirmed p. 243) Started school two to three years late; rode horse she named Star to school; given to her by child protective services so she could get to school; emotionally (maybe physically) abused by three brothers, alcoholic father; one sister, Elaine. Valedictorian of Ray High School. Very, very strong in math, chemistry. The Great Escape: ran away from home, after high school; caught bus at Rachel's Diner in Ray; Rachel's Diner had Williams County's first neon sign. Bussed to Toledo, Ohio; DeSales College; first two years; never graduated. Recruited in sophomore year to work at Plum Brook Ordnance Works, the largest supplier of explosives for the US military during WWII; this book has a nice history of Plum Brook Ordnance Works. Mentions how she learned to play bridge; off the radio, 1943; American bridge export Alfred Sheinwold. Gives up newborn in 1944; travels to St Vincent's Hospital in Philadelphia; War ends; work ends at PBOW. First mentions his mother playing bridge, page 131; Takes bus to Los Angeles; finds her way to North American Aviation, Downey. Irving Kanareck story begins on page 134; parents born in USSR; on job application he says parents born in USSR; clerk reviewing application for accuracy has never seen "USSR" before, changes it to USA; Tom Meyers at NAA sees her application; he is human resources for theoretical performance specialist (TPS), someone who is strong in both chemistry and math; preferably college graduate; Project Paperclip mentioned on page 149. Accepted for position as "analyst" at NAA, at the Inglewood facility. "Analyst" = engineer without a college degree; lower pay than an engineer. Reported for work, July 15, 1947. Age: 26 years old. First woman to be hired on the "engineering floor." Meets Carl Amenhoff -- a TPS, just like Mary. Hired by Tom Meyers; her boss. Sees copy of one of Alfred Sheinwold's books on bridge; asks if she can play with the other engineers. Introduces his dad, page 162, 1950: George Richard "Red" Morgan. Caltech graduate (Pasadena). Author would be born three years later. Working on "viable fuel and oxidizer compounds." By the end of 1950, almost all of the "viable fuel and oxidizer compounds had been theoretically calculated; many of them had been synthesized." All with pluses and minuses: hydrazine is an excellent fuel, and unlike LOX is liquid at room temperature, but highly explosive.