06/05/2026
C is for… Caroline or Chien? Or C for Confused whom to choose! (Sorry. Can't help it. Hey that's a C too.)
Meet my two contenders for the letter C:
Chien-Shiung Wu — the First Lady of Physics, who worked on the Manhattan Project, rewrote the laws of nuclear physics, and did the actual experiment that won two of her colleagues a Nobel Prize. Which they then collected. Without her. The utter audacity.
I've already ranted a lot about the Matilda effect.
Chien's journey from China to the US described vividly was a fascinating read. Described as 'worldly, witty, and elegant', she was popular everywhere she went.
Caroline Herschel — the 18th century astronomer who discovered comets, catalogued thousands of stars, and became the first woman to be paid for scientific work.
An attack of typhus had Caroline blind in one eye, as well as her growth rather stunted so her mother decided she'd train her to be a house servant. However, Caroline persevered, and was a singer par excellence as well as an astronomer.
So that's two women for C. Both wonderful. Both brilliant. Both criminally overlooked in their time.
So how did I choose?
The C sound. Caroline starts with that crisp, clean "Kuh" — perfect for a rhyme and perfect for little mouths learning their alphabet. Chien-Shiung, while extraordinary in every way, is a softer, more complex sound for an A-Z picture book.
Sometimes the prosaic makes the poetic decision.
