The Atomic Women is a portrait of the World War II female scientists who worked in laboratories and secrets sites of the Manhattan Project, and whose contributions have been left unstudied. Recruited not only from labs and universities from across the country, but also from countries abroad, these women scientists helped, and often initiated the development of the atomic bomb, taking a starring role in the Manhattan Project; in fact, their involvement was critical to its success.

This book explores not just the critical steps towards the creation of a successful nuclear bomb, but also the moral implications of such an invention.

Centering The Atomic Women are the groundbreaking leading female scientists of the atomic era, who gave rise to the project: Lise Meitner and Irene Joliot-Curie (daughter of Marie Curie), who from Europe led the groundwork for the Manhattan Project, though they were not fully aware of the consequences. Elizabeth Rona, the foremost expert in plutonium, whose expertise gave rise to The Fat Man and Little Boy, the bombs dropped over Japan. As well as Leona Marshall, Elizabeth Graves, and Joan Hinton, who looked upon the European scientific ideals for inspiration, but went ahead and carved their own path.