Mildred Dresselhaus was a pioneer of nanoscience, a champion for women in STEM, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science. Weinstock shows that Dresselhaus's was not an easy path: her childhood was impoverished; her graduate advisor felt educating women was a waste of time. She went on to become the first female professor at MIT, and identified key properties of carbon forms leading to applications that have changed our world. -- adapted from jacket