Mrs. Somerville: First Scientist

Did you know the United Kingdom’s first recognized “scientist” was a self-educated Scots woman?

Today, December 26, is the birthday of Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872). Mary was  illiterate until age 9. But she possessed magnificent powers of observation and a deep desire to learn. Even when her first husband discouraged her academic leanings, she kept on.

Today, we’d considered her a popular science writer. But she published a treatise so ahead of its time, one of her peers coined a new term for her — scientist — because the old one, man of science, no longer applied!   

Her Classroom Was The Sea

Mary was a wild child, wandering along the Firth of Forth and honing her powers of observation:

I knew the names of none of the seaweeds, though I was well acquainted with and admired many of these beautiful plants. I also watched the crabs, live shells, jelly-fish, and various marine animals, all of which were objects of curiosity and amusement to me in my lonely life…

Her father, a naval officer, was at sea most of the time. Captain Fairfax returned to find that his nine-year-old daughter could neither write nor do sums. He sent Mary to Miss Primrose’s School for a year. A horrid place, according to Mary. She came home with a deep dislike of conventional schooling, but luckily it didn’t kill her passion for learning.

The summer she turned 13, Mary stayed with her aunt and uncle Somerville in Jedburgh. Her uncle encouraged her to study Latin. He told her that women in ancient times had been very accomplished. (Mary also probably spent time with her cousin William, who became her second husband.)

Her Father Fears For Her Sanity

Mary studied music and painting, required accomplishments for her era.  One day her painting teacher mentioned that Euclid’s theories not only explained perspective in painting, they formed the basis for understanding astronomy and other sciences.

That sounded much more fascinating than parlor skills. Mary persuaded her brother’s tutor to help her with Euclid. Her father didn’t approve in the least.

My father came home for a short time, and, somehow or other, finding out what I was about, said to my mother, ‘Peg, we must put a stop to this, or we shall have Mary in a strait jacket one of these days. There was X., who went raving mad about the longitude!’

He wasn’t kidding. They actually thought too much intellectual stimulation could drive a girl insane.

Mary’s mother encouraged her to attend tea parties, practice her dance steps and peruse illustrated fashion magazines.

Ladies’ periodicals often contained puzzles. Mary tried to solve what looked like a simple math problem in one, only to find the answer full of exotic symbols. She discovered they were algebra equations. Intrigued, she commenced a life-long course of study.

Her parents, at wit’s end, wed Mary to a distant cousin, Samuel Grieg, when she was 24.  Her new husband firmly discouraged Mary’s intellectual pursuits.

Grieg died three years later, leaving Mary with two young sons. (None of her biographies mention how he expired.)  But as a widow, she could finally pursue her studies.

She Finds Her Love and Her Life’s Calling

Upon returning to Scotland, Mary corresponded with Dr. William Wallace, professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh.  Wallace guided her study of math and astronomy, and encouraged her to read Newton’s Principia and Laplace’s Mécanique Céleste (the latter would change her life).

He also suggested which books should form the basis for her science library.

I could hardly believe that I possessed such a treasure when I looked back on the day that I first saw the mysterious word ‘Algebra,’ and the long course of years in which I had persevered almost without hope. It taught me never to despair. I had now the means, and pursued my studies with increased assiduity; concealment was no longer possible, nor was it attempted. I was considered eccentric and foolish, and my conduct was highly disapproved of by many, especially by some members of my own family…

In 1812, at age 32, Mary wed her first cousin William Sommerville, son of her uncle and mentor.  William was as progressive as his father, and encouraged Mary’s pursuits.  They had four children together.

The couple moved to London, where Mary gained access to the greatest minds of her time, including inventor Charles Babbage and astronomer John Herschel.  She became Ada Byron’s first mathematics tutor.

(Some circles credit Ada, Lord Byron’s daughter by his estranged wife, with originating the concept of software programming.  The U.S. Department of Defense ADA programming language is named after her.)

In 1827, Mary received a request to translate Laplace’s Mécanique Céleste. She went beyond the assignment, however, and explained the equations.  At the time, many English mathematicians didn’t understand them.

John Murray published her translation, Mechanism of the Heavens, in 1831, when Mary was past 50.  It reaped both financial and critical success, and established her in the scientific community.

She also wrote On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), Physical Geography (1848), and Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869). She completed the latter in her late 80s.

In a review of Connexion, William Whewell coined the word scientist to describe Mary Somerville. She had rendered the general term men of science obsolete.

Somerville College, Oxford (right), was named after her.

Mary’s daughter, Martha Somerville, published Mary’s autobiography after her death at age 92.  Martha notes that despite the hours her mother spent studying and writing, she home-schooled her daughters in math and science, and engaged tutors for them in other subjects.

Throughout her life, Mary championed education for women.

What Later Bloomers Can Learn From Mary Somerville:

• Don’t let lack of a degree hold you back.  Read, learn online, enroll in community college. Find an alternate path to your purpose.

Sources:

All quotes from Mary Somerville’s Personal Recollections at Project Gutenberg.

John H. Lienhard of the University of Houston writes and hosts an amazing radio series called The Engines of Our Ingenuity. His Mary Somerville segments include No. 224 and No. 1934.

Tagged as: Scientists, Self-Learning, Women