Rocket girl : the story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's first female rocket scientist

Rocket girl The story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's first female rocket scientist

George D. Morgan

Book - 2013

"Blending a fascinating personal history with dramatic historical events, this book brings long-overdue attention to a brilliant woman whose work proved essential for America's early space program. 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."--

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Subjects
Morgan, Mary Sherman, > 1921-2004.
Rocketry > Biography.
Women scientists > Biography.
Rocketry > History > 20th century.
Published
Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books 2013.
Language
English
Main Author
George D. Morgan (-)
Physical Description
325 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-309) and index.
ISBN
9781616147396
  • Foreword
  • Chapter 1. This Is a Story
  • Chapter 2. Prairie Girl
  • Chapter 3. The Raketenflugplatz
  • Chapter 4. The ABC's of Milking Cows
  • Chapter 5. I Have No Idea What You're Talking About
  • Chapter 6. "Mother Does Not Abide Photography"
  • Chapter 7. The Great Escape
  • Chapter 8. A Little of This, a Little of That
  • Chapter 9. An Odd Number
  • Chapter 10. Hidden Fortress
  • Chapter 11. A New Kind of War
  • Chapter 12. Whitewashed in White Sands
  • Chapter 13. Alias Chief Designer
  • Chapter 14. Red
  • Chapter 15. Politics, Philosophy, Television, and Cush' Sobash'ya
  • Chapter 16. Your Very Best Man
  • Chapter 17. Welcome to the Monkey Cage
  • Chapter 18. The Mysterious Unknown Propellant Project
  • Chapter 19. Smoke and Fire
  • Chapter 20. Don't Drink the Rocket Fuel
  • Chapter 21. Pusk!
  • Chapter 22. The Dutchman Cometh
  • Chapter 23. 310 at 1.75 and 0.8615 for 155
  • Chapter 24. The Law of Unintended Consequences
  • Chapter 25. Satellite without a Name
  • Chapter 26. Wings of the Condor
  • Author's Note
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Rocket Girl is an intriguing biography of a woman who kept many secrets, the least of which was her part in crafting the rocket-fuel recipe for the satellite Explorer 1. She had a bitter and brutal childhood, put a child up for adoption, and was unpaid for many years for the dangerous work she did in a male-dominated field. Most of all, as her son, author Morgan, recalls, there was something not quite right about her. Call it depression or OCD or just years of suppressed emotion, but Mary Sherman Morgan was not a happy woman. Determined to explore her complicated past, Morgan first wrote a play and then, delving into more detail, this portrait. The narrative is a bit unwieldy in its jumping back and forth in time and in Morgan's attempts to enter the minds of Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev, and many questions remain unanswered. Still, the personal story and family detective work are truly gripping, and Mary, in all her contradictions, emerges as a fascinating subject.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Playwright George Morgan (Second to Die) knew that his mother, Mary Sherman Morgan, had done important work as a rocket scientist for the U.S. during the Cold War, but it wasn't until her funeral in 2004 that he began to understand the extent of her contributions. At the service, a man who had worked with Mary told George that she had "single-handedly saved America's space program... and nobody knows it but a handful of old men." In addition to being a very private person, Mary was further constrained by the top-secret status of her projects. She kept such a low profile that when famed German scientist Werhner von Braun wrote to her, he addressed the letter to a "Dear Unknown Lady." In the early 1950s, Morgan-with only a high school diploma-was the sole female analyst among 900 rocket scientists at North American Aviation. If it weren't for her invention of the propellant hydyne, America's first satellite would've never made it off the ground. Based on a play of the same name that Morgan put on in 2008, this portrait of a mother shrouded in mystery and largely forgotten by the field she pioneered is a compelling read, though folks looking for a more objective biography might be put off by Morgan's dramatic flourishes and the lack of critical distance between author and subject. Agent: Deborah Ritchken, the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Morgan (playwright in residence, Cal Tech) is the son of rocket scientist Mary Sherman Morgan (1921-2004). Here he recounts the role she played in enabling the rocket launch that carried America's first satellite into space in 1958. She is credited with inventing Hydyne, the liquid fuel used to lift Explorer 1 into orbit. The strength of this biography rests in how the author contextualizes his mother's story within the better-known one of Wernher von Braun during NASA's early days. This is an accessible and enjoyable read, covering Mary Sherman Morgan's young life in North Dakota through her career working as a chemist for North American Aviation. Morgan initially told his mother's story in a play of the same title; his playwriting skills are evident here. Unfortunately, given his mother's preference for privacy, as well as the secrecy surrounding early rocket projects, plus a dearth of archival sources, the author turns to dramatizing some of his narrative with fictionalized dialog. VERDICT The scarcity of documentation raises questions about historical accuracy here, circumstances that detract from the work but remind us of the need to record and credit adequately the contributions of women scientists, like Morgan, to obtain the fullest account in our history of science collections. Recommended.-Faye Chadwell, Oregon State Univ. Lib., Corvallis (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 7 Up-Mary Sherman Morgan grew up during a time when girls could only dream of having a career in science. Growing up on a farm where education was not valued, Morgan eventually made her way to college. As time passed, she found herself in a challenging situation that caused her to leave college and find a job. It wasn't long before she was working among engineers and helping to launch rockets into space. While it seems like a dream come true for any scientist, Morgan's life was mysterious. Her playwright son manages to uncover secrets that were hidden from her family and reveals what he believes to be the truth. While the story is nonfiction, Joe Barrett's voice adds intrigue as the story unfolds. His inquisitive tone slowly discloses secrets that were buried with Morgan. Some momentum is lost because the story goes back and forth in time, which can be confusing. Details about science and combustion are necessary but will seem long-winded to those more interested in Morgan's obscure life. However, the detective work that exposes the secrets about the author's mother will hold listeners' attention. VERDICT Teens interested in engineering, science, or women's experiences in male-dominated fields will enjoy this audio.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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