Elizabeth Finkel – författare

Offering a dramatic counterpoint to the findings that from elementary school through to college, women's interest in science steadily declines, and that "real science" only occurs in research and laboratory investigation, this text describes women engaged with science or engineering at the margins. In an innovative high school genetics class, a school-to-work internship for prospective engineers, an environmental action group and a nonprofit conservation agency, the authors found a high proportion of women who were successful at learning and using technical knowledge, and advancing in equal percentages to men. This text explores how women still had to pay a price, working outside traditional laboratories, receiving less financial compensation and little public prestige, unless they acted like male professionals.

Australia’s best science writing is showcased in this collection drawn from some of this the nation’s best publications. Questions such as these are addressed: How were Ned Kelly’s bones finally identified? What makes cockroaches some of the most successful creatures on the planet? Could some obscure bacteria finally rid the world of dengue fever? and How did infant reflux become the disease of the moment? From the furthest reaches of the universe to the microscopic world of our genes, science offers writers the kind of scope other subjects simply can’t match. Good writing about science can be moving, funny, exhilarating, or poetic, but these essays are honest, rigorous, and true to the research that underlies it.

A compelling journey through science's big breakthroughs, by an award-winning Australian science writer

Humans developed the scientific method over centuries. Its departure from what came before was that theories should be fuelled by data, not opinion. Today, the institutions that underpin democracy – the law, academia, government, journalism – all rely on its central idea: seeking facts and interrogating them through robust discussion and real-world testing. Yet in the post-truth era, public conversations can feel far from scientific.

In Prove It, Elizabeth Finkel describes how the scientific method plays out in a series of controversies, from proving the existence of Einstein's gravitational waves to identifying the origins of Covid-19, from understanding human origins to defining consciousness. Through these tales of dispute and discovery, she breaks down the key elements of scientific thinking.

Full of politics, prejudice, obsession, heroism and eccentricity, Prove It captures the drama and excitement of scientific discovery and debate and argues compellingly that its lessons are more crucial now than ever.