Mary Somerville from Burntisland 🏴 , arguably the world's first scientist
This is an article written for the #julyinleo writing prompt series with this article being for being Day 23 ....
Today's topic comes close to home!
Day 23! Women in STEM. What contributions are you aware of?
You can read the info here
Brilliant topic ... Being both a Chemical Engineer and female admirer this is a wonderful topic to educate people about the incredible advancements some women made to make the world a better place for all of us.
When I decided I would write an article about some of the amazing female pioneers in STEM who are Scottish I rattle a fair few names and knew there was no way I could write about them all in one post.
Perhaps I shall make a series about these wonderful ladies.
First up is a quite amazing lady.
Mary Somerville from Burntisland 🏴 , arguably the world's first scientist
I had to start with this remarkable lady. She was born Mary Fairfax in Jedburgh a small town in the Scottish borders in 1780.
The reason I know so much about her is that I lived in a house in Somerville Street in Burntisland.
Mary Somerville grew up in the family home in Burntisland in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland.
Yes they named a street close to the Links after her, and that is where I lived.
Mrs T actually had googled her and told me about her a few years ago and what she achieved will amaze you, like it did us...
The lead image for this article I took a few moments ago.
When I decided earlier to write about Mary, I knew I had to get to an ATM and withdraw some cash. I took a stroll in the park before meeting Mrs T after work and got the cash, job done.
Yes in 2017, Mary Somerville was put on the front of the Ten Pound note (ten british pounds sterling), the tenner. The bank was The Royal Bank of Scotland. Come to think of it, I think they are the only bank in Scotland that issues money now.
This is the new polymer variety, and the name Mary Somerville is written in a fluffing awful font, you can barely make it out.
Dedication for you.
But Tengo what the fluff was Mary famous for ...?
Okay I mentioned in the title that she was arguably the first scientist ... Remember that?
Let's recap...
Mary Somerville was no “man of science”, but she had achieved so much in chemistry, astronomy and magnetism, not to mention her passion and zeal mathematics required a new gender-neutral term be created.
This was performed by the English philosopher and historian of science William Whewell.
He coined the term "scientist" in 1833. He then used it in print for the first time in his anonymous 1834 review of Mary Somerville's "On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences" which was published in the Quarterly Review.
So fluff yeah, don't you agree that Mary Somerville is the first scientist...
Latin
What do you think of when you hear the worn Latin?
For me it is ...
amō
amās
amat
amā́mus
amā́tis
amant
Which is of course the Indicative Present tense of the Latin verb amare ... to love.
Yes we learnt Latin at school, and used to her knuckles whacked with a ruler if we got a verb table wrong. Thank you Mrs Kennedy you were fluffing vicious!
As you will find out Mary was a huge advocat for women's rights, I wonder what she would have made of my bully of a female teacher!
The reason I brought up Latin is that she loved to learn Latin with her uncle in Jedburgh.
In fact, Mary loved learning!
Indeed she even claimed that she was never happier than in those months when she was learning Latin with her uncle in Jedburgh.
Her family disapproved of her intellectual pursuits.... after all that was not what a young lady did!
Mary Somerville Uranus and Neptune
I have already mentioned that she published in On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences in 1834, which was reviewed by our boy William Whewell.
Well in this publication she included a mathematical prediction of a planet orbiting Uranus.
This had not been discovered, however John Crouch Adams was so inspired by her predictions and calculations that he scoured the skies.
He hit the jackpot in 1846 and the planet Neptune was discovered.
Take a bow Mary Somerville ... you rock or is it you planet Neptune!
Education
I mentioned she loved learning.
Well after that book of 1834 she published three more books including a book of her Personal Reflections.
Somerville moved in the leading IT scientific and artistic circles of her time.
She even was a private tutor to Ada Lovelace in 1819.
Ada Lovelace I am sure some of you will know is widely considered to be the first computer programmer.
How cool is that.
Somerville college in Oxford University was named after her, 7 years after her death age 91.
A great biography can be found on their website
The liberal and advocate for women's rights
Mary was married twice, her first husband seems an arse and would not let study but her second husband Dr William Somerville aided and supported her studies.
She refused to sugar in her tea as a protest to the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
In Stuart Mill's unsuccessful petition for women’s suffrage in 1868, her name was the first signatory.
“I resented the injustice of the world in denying all those privileges of education to my sex which were so lavishly bestowed on men.”
Mary Somerville in her 'Personal Reflections'
Can you imagine how much farther society would have advanced in a mucher quicker timeframe had women been freely allowed access to education?
Of course she was honoured before and after her death. As I mentioned her name adorns Somerville College, Oxford. There is also a lunar crater, an asteroid, a ship, streets names and even an island in Canada.
In 1835 the Royal Astronomical Society made her one of their first honorary members, she then received a civil pension from the British Government.
What a lady, what a STEM pioneer Mary Somerville was.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my response to the prompt.
Sources and Reference documents
This article is an entry for this month's Inleo writing initiative #julyinleo
You can find all the details in this thread
This prompt is Day 23 ! Women in STEM
All ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo unless otherwise stated, all photographs are all orginal and taken by me the author.
