Physics & Astronomy

While many of us presume to know gravity quite well, the brightest scientists in history have yet to fully answer the simple question: what exactly is gravity? De Rham reveals how great minds—from Newton and Einstein to Stephen Hawking, Andrea Ghez, and Roger Penrose—led her to the edge of knowledge about this fundamental force.

Claudia de Rham shares captivating stories about her quest to gain intimacy with gravity, to understand both its feeling and fundamental nature. Her life’s pursuit led her from a twist of fate that snatched away her dream of becoming an astronaut to an exhilarating breakthrough at the very frontiers of gravitational physics.

Claudia de Rham is a world-renowned physicist seeking gravity’s true nature and who has found wisdom in embracing its force in her life. Listen to a sample chapter from the audiobook.

A significant gender gap has long plagued all areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines across our global community. While progress has been made in increasing women’s participation in these areas of research and higher education, they remain under-represented in STEM fields.

In France, Dorothea Klumpke earned her Docteur-ès-Sciences at the University of Paris in mathematical astronomy in 1893, after completing her thesis, “L’etude des Anneaux de Saturne” (A study of the rings of Saturn), thereby becoming the first woman to achieve the academic distinction of earning an advanced degree for work done in astronomy.