Scientist and Governor, Dixy Lee Ray (An American Women in Science Biography)

Dixy Lee Ray grew up near the sea in Washington State. As a girl she was a scholar and a champion athlete--at age 12 the youngest person to scale Mt. Everest, America's highest mountain. She earned a doctorate in Marine Biology, had her own television show, and led an international scientific expedition. Dixy Lee became the first woman to head the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and, later, the first woman to be elected governor of Washington.