- Lise Meitner and Irne Joliot-Curie (daughter of Marie Curie), who laid the groundwork for the Manhattan Project from Europe
- Elizabeth Rona, the foremost expert in plutonium, who gave rise to the "Fat Man" and "Little Boy," the bombs dropped over Japan
- Leona Woods, Elizabeth Graves, and Joan Hinton, who were inspired by European scientific ideals but carved their own paths
This book explores not just the critical steps toward the creation of a successful nuclear bomb, but also the moral implications of such an invention.