in my mother, the scientist charles hirshberg talks about the sexism encountered by geophysicist joan feynman, sister of the more famous richard.

at oberlin, her lab partner was ill-prepared for the advanced-level physics course in which they were enrolled, so my mother did all the experiments herself. the partner took copious notes and received an A. my mother got a D. “he understands what he’s doing,” the lab instructor explained, “and you don’t.”