Melissa L. Sevigny

In 1938 two intrepid women botanists from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor launched a difficult expedition down the dangerous Colorado River to map and collect botanical specimens. This was at a time when women scientists were still a rarity and it was generally believed that women did not belong on a trip like this. On this episode of Inquiry, we talk with writer MELISSA L. SEVIGNY, science journalist at KNAU (Arizona Public Radio). Her new book is a vivid account of this scientific expedition: BRAVE THE WILD RIVER: THE UNTOLD STORY OF TWO WOMEN WHO MAPPED THE BOTANY OF THE GRAND CANYON.