At 14, Mary Fairfax (later Mary Somerville) studied algebra & mathematics, defying her father’s wishes.
Eventually, she began experimenting & writing about #science. Her interests spanned fields from astronomy to chemistry to physics. Mary published articles & books & is now celebrated as a mathematician, scientist & writer.
also the term scientist was invented to describe her in 1834, since the commonly used words then described men. https://allthatsinteresting.com/mary-somerville (so if you want to be particularly pedantic and a bit provocative, you could argue there are no female scientists, there are only scientists and male scientists!)
I had known Mary Somerville is credited for the term 'scientist', but didn't know the story was as convoluted as it is -- she didn't invent the word, and the person who did did so as a way to say she wasn't one because he was using the word pejoratively! Shades of Fred Hoyle and 'Big Bang'!
RawLawDog
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •GalaxyRise aka Dustin A Ruoff
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •Kraken Mare
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •(so if you want to be particularly pedantic and a bit provocative, you could argue there are no female scientists, there are only scientists and male scientists!)
Mary Somerville: The First Person To Be Called A Scientist
Erin Kelly (All That's Interesting)Vinay ಕಶ್ಯಪ್ (Mr./Dr.)
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •JoJaSciPo
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p083pk35
Mary Somerville: The queen of 19th-Century science
BBCMark Brown
in reply to Sheril Kirshenbaum • • •