The Lost Women of Science: Volume 1

Melina Gerosa Bellows · Katie Hafner

Aug 2025 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Katie Hafner and Katie Koster

About this audiobook

From the popular Lost Women of Science podcast, comes an empowering collection that recognizes ten trailblazing female scientists whose lives and works have been lost to history...until now. Uncover the truth behind some of the world's greatest accomplishments—and the women who made it happen.

For far too long, women in science have been overlooked. But despite the missing pages from the history books, these remarkable ladies conducted groundbreaking experiments, discovered diseases that changed lives, deciphered codes that altered the course of world wars, and so much more. And now, we know their stories.

From the creators of award-nominated Lost Women of Science podcast comes an illuminating and moving portrayal of ten revolutionary women in STEM who dared to break barriers even when no one was watching. Through insightful stories, unearth the lives and triumphs of these science pioneers whose influence cannot be forgotten.


* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF that contains the exercises and Selected Bibliography from the book.

About the author

The Lost Women of Science Initiative is a nonprofit with two overarching and interrelated missions: to tell the story of female scientists who made ground-breaking achievements in their fields, yet remain largely unknown to the general public, and to inspire girls and young women to pursue education and careers in STEM.

Melina Bellows is the President of Fun Factory Press, a boutique publishing business specializing in children’s nonfiction content. During her career at National Geographic, she created hundreds of new products and franchises, including the New York Times bestselling National Geographic Kids Almanac, Weird But True!, and the reintroduction of National Geographic Kids magazine. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her two children and numerous pets.

Katie Hafner is the host and co-executive producer of Lost Women of Science. Katie was a longtime reporter for The New York Times, where she continues to be a contributor, writing obituaries and advance obituaries. Katie is uniquely positioned to tell the stories of lost women of science. Not only does she bring a skilled hand to complex narratives, but she has been writing about women in STEM for more than 30 years. She is the author of seven books of nonfiction, and her first novel, The Boys, was published in 2022 by Spiegel & Grau. She is at work on her second novel. Katie is also the host and executive producer of Our Mothers Ourselves, an interview podcast that celebrates extraordinary mothers.

Karyn Lee (she/her/hers) is a designer, freelance illustrator, and native New Yorker. Sometimes she dreams of moving somewhere else… but would miss the drama of NYC way too much. She’s currently a senior designer at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and received her BFA from Pratt Institute in Communications Design. Nothing gets her by like a carefully curated playlist and thinking about characters that don’t exist irl.