
Beginning with Katherine Johnson, who most people know from Hidden Figures, her story details her perseverance in education for herself and the calculations she made for NASA. Jill Tarter is another name I know as the cofounder of the SETI institute. Jill made strides in listening to space through radio waves and cataloging star systems that could be habitable based on her research. Emily Lakdawalla is a contemporary scientist whose focus is to bring space education to the masses in interesting and easy to understand ways. Tanya Harrison helped to engineer the Mars Rovers and discovered many different geological aspects on the Mars surface. Sara Seager focuses her work on finding exoplanets, especially exoplanets that might support life. Renée Hložek studies how the universe changes over time and ultimately how it will end. Ashley Walker studies the chemistry of other atmospheres to see if life could exist elsewhere.
Each woman's journey into their fields and what sparked their interest from chemistry, physics, geology, history or just the love of outer space, showing that there are many different routes into astronomy. Their stories are accompanied by easy to read facts that break down the science of what they are studying with background information and vocabulary. Written for middle grade readers, Searching Beyond the Stars encourages you to find your curiosity.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.