"Daughters can also be heroic."
- ASTRONOMER & POET
- Rejected the traditional role of women to pursue science and speak out against social injustice
- Born into an aristocratic family, and encouraged by her father to study math and astronomy
- Wrote 12 books on the subjects, but they've since been lost to history
- Her works that did survive include essays on astronomy and 13 books of poetry
- Created a model of the Earth, Sun, and Moon to identify the cause of eclipses, and published her findings in her book, The Interpretation of the Eclipse of the Moon
- Able to accurately predict weather patterns, including floods and droughts, thanks to data she gathered from countless hours observing the sky
- Also studied horseback riding and archery
- Rewrote and published existing but obscure academic textbooks into simple language so more people could read and understand them
- Most of her poetry is a passionate condemnation of the plight and cruel treatment of poor Chinese
Bibliography: Cavallo, Francesca and Elena Favilli. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women. Canada: Timbuktu Labs, Inc., 2016. Print.
Harvey, Joy and Marilyn Ogilvie. "Wang Zhenyi (Chen-i)." The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, Vol. 2. Routledge, 2000, 1345.
Maggs, Sam. Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2016. Print.
Harvey, Joy and Marilyn Ogilvie. "Wang Zhenyi (Chen-i)." The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science, Vol. 2. Routledge, 2000, 1345.
Maggs, Sam. Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2016. Print.
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