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EVER heard of Dorothy Wrinch? Me neither. But Marjorie Senechal will change that in her biography I Died for Beauty (named after a poem by Emily Dickinson). In it, Senechal makes a decent case for the brilliant mathematician who ended up at the heart of one of science鈥檚 big controversies.

A first class honours graduate in mathematics from the University of Cambridge in 1916, Wrinch was one of few women in a male-dominated environment. But she excelled, going on to study with philosopher Bertrand Russell.

During the next two decades Wrinch published many papers, including some with Harold Jeffreys, a renowned probability mathematician. But as part of a diverse group including biochemist Joseph Needham and crystallographer J. D. Bernal, she became more interested in explaining life.

To this end, she developed a model of protein structure, the 鈥渃yclol鈥�. The model was backed by Nobel prizewinners Niels Bohr and Irving Langmuir, Senechal tells us, but the formidable chemist Linus Pauling hated it, leading to one of science鈥檚 spats, now long forgotten. Wrinch, a bit of a diva (now calling herself Delta), held her ground 鈥� until the data eventually defeated her.

鈥淲rinch, a bit of a diva, held her ground 鈥� until the data eventually defeated her鈥�

Senechal sensitively documents Wrinch鈥檚 later life 鈥� the few flashes of brilliance illuminating career marginalisation; and the tragedy of her daughter鈥檚 death. But it is with the big ideas from early on that Senechal argues Wrinch should join the ranks of great names we should remember.