Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights

Using unadorned verse, Metcalf (Tomatoes on Trial) chronicles the experiences of scientist Eunice Newton Foote (1819–1888) combatting gender discrimination to pursue patents for her groundbreaking inventions in this comprehensive fictionalized biography of an overlooked pioneer. Born in Goshen, Conn., Foote—the youngest of 12 and cousin of Sir Isaac Newton—is raised in a science-minded family (“Justice & science/ fold into curious Eunice,/ mold into her bones”). At 15, she attends Troy Female Seminary, the country’s first school for women’s higher education. In 1841, she marries attorney Elisha Foote and, in 1842, invents a device that regulates the heat of stoves. Aware of the scientific community’s prejudice against women, Foote shares her ideas by whatever means she can, including applying for patents under her husband’s name. And when Irish scientist John Tyndall is credited with launching initial investigations into climate science in 1859, Metcalf challenges that accreditation in a poem titled “Combustion,” employing forthright lines to detail Foote’s own experiments on greenhouse gases and her subsequent findings, which were presented to the American Association of the Advancement of Science in 1856—three years before Tyndall. Diligently researched passages highlight the accomplishments of a female scientist only recently being recognized for her discoveries. Back matter includes an author’s note, family tree, bibliography, and more. Ages 12–up. Agent: Emily Mitchell, Wernick & Pratt. (Feb.)