Nathalia Holt, Ph.D. (born December 13, 1980) is an American author of non-fiction. Her works include Cured, Rise of the Rocket Girls and The Queens of Animation.

Nathalia Holt
Born	(1980-12-13) December 13, 1980 (age 41)
Occupation	Author
Alma mater	Harvard University, University of Southern California, Tulane University
Genre	Non-fiction
Notable works	Rise of the Rocket Girls, The Queens of Animation, Cured

Life

Holt is from New York, NY. She studied at University of Southern California, Tulane University, and Harvard University. Her career includes work at the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute.[1]

Her research as a science writer has included work at the JPL archives, the Caltech Library, and the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard.[2] Her work appears in The Atlantic,[3] The New York Times,[4] PBS,[5] Popular Science,[6] and NPR.[7]

Her book Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV (2015) discusses the scientific complexities of two patients who have been exceptions to the usual procession of AIDS. Each has experienced a "functional cure", raising hopes that researchers may someday find a "safe and reliable way" to protect patients against HIV. Two types of genetic mutation - the “exposed uninfected” and the “elite controllers,” - appear to be able to resist the disease. Holt describes the science involved, to the extent that it is currently understood.[8]

Holt's book Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars (2016) chronicles the lives of women computers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.[9] It also puts them into the context of milestones in both scientific and more general history. Supervisors Macie Roberts and later Helen Ling employed women as computers at a time when few scientific careers were open to women.[10]

Holt lives in Monterey, California.

Works

• Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV. Penguin Publishing Group. February 24, 2015. ISBN 978-0-14-218184-3. OCLC 937872774[11][12]
• Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars. Little, Brown. April 5, 2016. ISBN 978-0-316-33891-2. OCLC 969388193[10][13]
• The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History. Little, Brown. 2019. ISBN 978-0316439152.[14]

See also

• Timothy Ray Brown
• Susan G. Finley
• Mary Blair
• Retta Scott

References

External links

• Official website
• Appearances on C-SPAN