#mary somerville

[sideshow-tornado]

[simply-sithel]

It is only well after I left college that I figured out the fun of finding reasons to 'research' things. The treasure hunt of digging for something not easily found online. I'm not creative (or curious) enough for this to come up often but am delighted when I get the chance to explore the depths of a library's offerings.

It's also rewarding to chase down a tight run of connections. This week's has been Dicken's Fair -> a musical about "The Naming of Uranus" -> reading about historical lady mathematicians -> visiting the Suzzallo library -> getting to use the Micro Print machine!

I'm perhaps known amongst some friends for my love of pushing the printing limits in making mini books. Imagine my awe and delight at getting to hold a micro print page! Now THIS would make a tiny book!

100 pages per sheet and absolutely not legible with the naked eye! Pages were brought into focus (on the digital screen) by panning the tray about. Not only easy to use, it made reading more fun! The book I wanted was actually missing the first sheet- thankfully there was a scanned copy I could read on a library machine -- interesting to see the aged pages in the 'digital' version, but I much preferred reading the micro print (even though it too was delivered to me 'digitally' at the end)

If I'd brought my Moment macro lens I could have taken some sweet photos (and read on my phone!) -- my new Pixel 8's macro mode just barely makes the text legible.

The initial bio on Mary Somerville I read mentioned that her writing was accessible and after reading a chunk of it for 20 minutes I heartily agree. Initially published in 1834, I'm sure there's a couple copies floating around out there (the library does have a physical copy, but it's at the off-site auxiliary and requires planning/advanced notice to get ahold of) -- makes me happy to now have a title to keep an eye out for in those rare bookshops/the collectables field.

[haggishlyhagging]

Mary Somerville did not just translate Laplace's work; she presented her 'own very valuable opinions' which were not only accepted, but praised (Osen, 1974, p. 108). Her book was entitled The Mechanisms of the Heavens, and, with aims that were very similar to those that Martineau was to adopt in her Illustrations, Somerville tried to explain her work in terms that were accessible to lay people. (The wonder of it is, of course, that Somerville was not dismissed as a ‘populariser’ but perhaps this is because so little attention has been paid to her and her work.) When today practitioners of women's studies insist that there must be no mystification, when they argue that all people are capable of knowing and understanding, they are not doing something new, but are continuing in a tradition established by such women as Mary Somerville, Frances Wright, and Harriet Martineau.

‘After the publication of The Mechanisms of the Heavens in 1832, she was raised to the first rank among scientific writers of the time’, says Osen (1974), and ‘distinctions were showered on her. The British Royal Society ordered her bust by Chantry to be placed in their great hall; a civil list pension was awarded to her; and her work became a required textbook for the honor students at Cambridge’ (p. 110). The irony of the latter was undoubtedly not wasted on Mary Somerville who was, of course, not permitted to attend Cambridge (women were not admitted there as full students until 1948, see Rita McWilliams-Tullberg, 1975) and who was well aware of the arguments put forward by men that women were not capable of serious study, particularly scientific study. Her ‘ideas’ in this case could be used by patriarchy, and were duly taken—without any modification to the basic thesis of the denial of women's intellectual ability.

-Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them

[mariasmemo]

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Observatory – Dec. 5, 1873

President Raymond,

            A plaster cast of the head of Mary Somerville by the sculptor Moe Donald, has been received as a donation to the Observatory.  It is not only a beautiful ornament in itself, but it has the additional value of being the gift of another remarkable woman Frances Power Cobbe of London.  I have supposed that some other notice should be taken of it, beside the unofficial letter which I shall write to Miss Cobbe.

            Maria Mitchell

Mary Somerville, as I have mentioned before, was one of Maria Mitchell’s heroes.  On her first trip to Europe in the 1850s, Maria met Somerville.  While she made comments regarding this in her journal, I can only image how she truly felt in her presence – something words on paper might not convey.  This plaster cast remained in a position of prominence in the observatory during the remainder of Maria’s time at Vassar.

She met Frances Power Cobbe, the donor of this bust, on her second trip to Europe in the summer of 1873.  Maria had a letter to deliver from Julia Ward Howe and also wished to leave Power Cobbe with a pamphlet regarding Vassar College – fundraising I am sure!  She was worried she would not be at home but she was and Power Cobbe knew who Maria was straight away – she had been told Maria was in London!  After some initial misinformation, Maria came to know that Power Cobbe was indeed a powerful force among the Suffragettes.

JNLF

[factoides-yajan]

Factoide #4723

(#4723) El término 'científico/a' fue acuñado en 1830 para definir a Mary Somerville, dado que "hombre de ciencia" no se podía aplicar a ella por ser mujer y ella no solo era una física, química o geóloga... era las 3.

Tal era la admiración que se le tuvo, que a su muerte fue honrada como 'La Reina de la Ciencia del Siglo XIX'

[Publicado originalmente el 18 de Octubre del 2024]

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

From Edinburgh to Italy, take an animated tour of the life and work of Mary Somerville and find out how her knowledge and ambition led to her being the first person to be described as a scientist. (Animation by Zoe Buyers)

[elf-4-hire]

Going to uni and doing physics (specifically astronomy) means that you find out there are at LOT more women in STEM than highschool made you think.

[ch3rubd0lls]

Dissecting animals at 3 A.M. like the mad scientist I am

[magpieluiz]

I can’t tell you how homesick these make me.

[scotianostra]

The Scottish Polymath Mary Somerville died on November 28th 1872 in Naples.

Today Somerville’s name lives on in an Oxford college, but her wider legacy is largely forgotten. She is the face of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £10 banknote – the first non-royal woman to be honoured in this way.

Born in Mary Fairfax, Jedburgh on 26th December, 1790, Somerville grew up in the Fife seaside town of Burntisland. She was fascinated by the natural world from the start, collecting shells and fossils, and observing birds and sea creatures.

When her father returned from the sea, he discovered 8- or 9-year-old Mary could neither read nor do simple sums. He sent her to an elite boarding school, across the Firth of Forth, Miss Primrose's School in Musselburgh.

Miss Primrose was not a good experience for Mary and she was sent home in just a year. She began to educate herself, taking music and painting lessons, instructions in handwriting and arithmetic. She learned to read French, Latin, and Greek largely on her own. At age 15, Mary noticed some algebraic formulas used as decoration in a fashion magazine, and on her own she began to study algebra to make sense of them. She surreptitiously obtained a copy of Euclid's "Elements of Geometry" over her parents' opposition.

Four years after marrying, Mary Somerville and her family moved to London. Their social circle included the leading scientific and literary lights of the day, including Ada Bryon and her mother Maria Edgeworth, George Airy, John and William Herschel, George Peacock, and Charles Babbage. Mary and William had three daughters and a son who died in infancy. They also traveled extensively in Europe.

In 1826, Somerville began publishing papers on scientific subjects based on her own research. After 1831, she began writing about the ideas and work of other scientists as well. One book, "The Connection of the Physical Sciences," contained discussion of a hypothetical planet that might be affecting the orbit of Uranus. That prompted John Couch Adams to search for the planet Neptune, for which is he is credited as a co-discoverer.

Mary Somerville's translation and expansion of Pierre Laplace's "Celestial Mechanics" in 1831 won her acclaim and success: that same year, British prime minister Robert Peel awarded her a civil pension of 200 pounds annually. In 1833, Somerville and Caroline Herschel were named honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society, the first time women had earned that recognition. Prime Minister Melbourne increased her salary to 300 pounds in 1837. William Somerville's health deteriorated and in 1838 the couple moved to Naples, Italy. She stayed there most of the remainder of her life, working and publishing.

In 1848, Mary Somerville published "Physical Geography," a book used for 50 years in schools and universities; although at the same time, it attracted a sermon against it in York Cathedral.

William Somerville died in 1860. In 1869, Mary Somerville published yet another major work, was awarded a gold medal from the Royal Geographical Society, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

By 1871, Mary Somerville had outlived her husbands, a daughter, and all of her sons: she wrote, "Few of my early friends now remain—I am nearly left alone." Mary Somerville died in Naples on November 29, 1872, just before turning 92. She had been working on another mathematical article at the time and regularly read about higher algebra and solved problems each day.

Her daughter published "Personal Recollections of Mary Somerville" the next year, parts of a work which Mary Somerville had completed most of before her death.

[bonaesperanza]

I think Lymond's early scenes with the Somervilles gain a lot more nuance and impact and emotional punch when you reread them.

Because, okay, on the first read they seem like kind, intelligent, respectable people who love each other very much - the warmth and connection and the instinctual wordless understanding between Gideon and Kate is immediately palpable - but at that point you don't really know enough about Francis to understand how they appear to him specifically. At this point he just seems like a callous cunt who takes pleasure in offending anyone who isn't Christian.

But think about it - artistic, intellectual boy grows up in a family full of constant acrimonious conflict (Mother bought a crate of books, Father burned it, they fought over it, Father drank...), his interests cnstantly belittled as too soft and his things smashed against walls until he learns to be vicious enough to defend himself. Father seems resentful about his very existence, angelic little sister has suicidal tendencies, Mother loves him but can be a manipulative bitch. He's a POW at sixteen, then groomed by an older woman, then sent to a probable death by that same woman. He's accused of treason over an incident that killed the sister, spends years as a slave suffering through every kind of abuse imaginable, tries coming back home but Father kicks him out because he doesn't believe him.

Ends up running a band of outlaws and considering how he later admits to hating the St. Mary's lifestyle - where his officers are all middle class intellectuals handpicked by himself - because he misses his music and his clever conversation and being friends with women? Can you imagine how he must have felt with the outlaws, where he, who used to read books on ethics for fun, had to constantly keep them entertained so they don't rape and pillage their way across their own countryside?

And then he goes to Flaw Valleys and sees a music room? And one of the first things to come out of Kate's mouth is how must not get many opportunities to play the harpischord with his kind of lifestyle, and how he must miss it a lot? She has no idea how much she's hit it right on the head.

And then he gets to know them, and they're... probably his Platonic ideal of a perfect family? He probably didn't think families like that existed outside of his own imagination (just compare them to every other family we see in the series). And then compare them to Francis's own interests and personality.

The husband is an accomplished musician, and the wife adores him for it and begs him to play every opportunity she gets. When he's in a mood, she knows how to draw him out of it skillfully and subtly and wittily and without being too intrusive. He, in turn, knows her well enough to anticipate her every need and delights in making her happy and giving her everything he can. There's palpable love and respect and understanding between them - they seem to understand each other wordlessly. They're both kind and empathetic and well-educated and keep themselves up-to-date on current events, on which they have nuanced and insightful opinions beyond picking a side. The wife is a master of witty conversation and enjoys and can keep up with Francis's own barbed back-and-forth. The husband and Francis come to an immediate understanding over politics despite technically being on opposite sides of a very complicated war. The husband's managed to keep his hands clean throughout it. Their daugher is already growing up to be a person of intellect, talent, and bold personality, because she's growing up surrounded with love and care and support and books and music and opportunities to be carefree and make messes and run around with the village boys.

He's barely twenty and he's been to hell and back so many times that he feels subhuman, and these picture perfect people take him in even though he's done nothing but treat them like shit, and they offer him their kindness and care and support and try to help him every way they can despite having zero reason to trust him or like him.

Can you imagine the kind of pedestal he'd put them on? It's no wonder he keeps coming back and maintains that friendship through everything. They're like the only stars he can see from his pitch-black gutter.

And I think this makes all his hand wringing over Philippa a lot more understandable, especially considering how he now sees himself as subhuman in ten additional ways after the extra trauma of the intervening years? On the first read you kind of just want to smack him because he's being so unreasonable, but really at that point you've spent so much time in Philippa's head and so little in Francis's that she's just Philippa to you (despite all the admiration she gets), while Francis is the one everyone is constantly panting over.

But to him she's part of a family so perfect and loving and healthy and aligned with all his ideals that he can't quite bring himself to believe that not only do they exist but they also like his miserable self, a family to whom he owes a great personal debt he can never repay (as he tells Kate in RC) and Philippa's the brightest and most impressive and accomplished member of that family. She is on a pedestal so high there's literally nothing he can do to measure up to what she means to him short of becoming a god.

And then consider how he later thinks that she's broken herself beyond repair over him. They're the only pure and flawless thing he knows of, the literal embodiment of how he dreams of people being in an ideal world, and he's destroyed it.

[words-and-coffee]

So this last year, though I didn't read too much fiction, I read a lot of poetry, most of which was from poets I had never read before. Here are my favourite poetry books of those I read in 2023 (trigger warnings I noticed in the read more).

Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón (5/5) An intimate, beautifully sincere look into a vulnerable space of life, loss, love, and lust. Limón expresses herself with exquisite language, without the aftertaste of pretence. I had never read Limón's work previously, but I will be looking at her back catalogue.

C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor (4.5/5) I had never read Joelle Taylor before; however, it became evident almost immediately that she is an extremely skilled and experienced poet and wordsmith. Taylor's writing is intentional and powerful, with times of both great beauty and brutality. The collection itself is centred around reflecting on butch counterculture.

Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville (4.5/5) Always Italicised is a wonderful collection centred around a visually powerful concept of italicising foreign (non-native) words following the suggestion that foreign (non-English) words should be italicised in a fantastic act of malicious compliance. The primary focus is on colonisation and Te Punga Somerville's experience as a Māori writer and scholar in Aotearoa. Reflecting on the loss of language, the stigma and the historical oppression that Maori people have experienced/continue to experience as a consequence of colonisation.

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (4.5/5) This book has my favourite title of the year and the poetry lives up to it. My previous experience with Choi was in her spoken word work and I found this collection just as enjoyable, I listened to her narration on audiobook while reading along and found the poems to be beautifully reflective, personal, and rich in atmosphere.

Flèche by Mary Jean Chan (4/5) Chan's short collection is complex and interesting, she mainly reflects on her relationship with her mother, and her experiences as a queer person of colour. The collection feels raw in a beautiful and occasionally painful way.

The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang (4/5) Another banger of a title. I really loved the imagery in Chang's writing. She writes with intent and skill which is obvious from the get-go. While I struggled to connect with this collection on an emotional level I still was in awe of it on a technical level.

Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón Graphic: Grief, Death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness Moderate: Animal death, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism Minor: Alcoholism and Drug abuse

C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor Graphic: Hate crime, Death, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Violence Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised by Alice Te Punga Somerville Graphic: Colonisation Moderate: Racism Minor: Miscarriage

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, War, Racism, Violence, Grief, Police brutality, Sexual assault, and Colonisation Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexism, Suicide, Rape, and Police brutality

Flèche by Mary Jean Chan Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Racism Moderate: Mental illness and Self harm

The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang Moderate: Death

[theaskew]

Mary Kocol (American, b. 1962), Christmas Tree, Somerville, Massachusetts, 1999. Chromogenic print, 95.9 × 65.1 cm. | 37 3/4 × 25 5/8 in. (Source: Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA)

[mariasmemo]

William Mitchell Kendall and the Boston Public Library, Completed 1895 

Among many of the buildings William Mitchell Kendall helped to design, the “BPL” as it is fondly referred to, sits on Copley Square in Boston.  Carved into the friezes around the building are the names of the world’s famous scientists, poets, authors, mathematicians, astronomers, and more.  Located on the Copley Square side, close to the name of her hero, Mary Somerville, is Maria Mitchell’s own name – likely influenced in its presence and position by her nephew, William Mitchell Kendall.      

JNLF

[head-post]

Three jailed after throwing soup at Van Gogh paintings

Three people have been charged with criminal damage after soup was thrown at two Van Gogh paintings at London’s National Gallery on Friday.

On Friday, the Just Stop Oil activists poured tomato soup on two of Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, part of the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition at the National Gallery. They were soon detained.

The Metropolitan Police reported Stephen Simpson, 61, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, Phillipa Green, 24, of Penryn, Cornwall, and Mary Somerville, 77, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The protest occurred almost exactly an hour after the sentencing of two other activists. Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were jailed on Friday after causing around £10,000 worth of damage to a gilded picture frame when they attacked it at the National Gallery in London in October 2022.

In a Friday online statement, Just Stop Oil said that its supporters took part in the protest as “a sign of defiance after the original soup throwers, Plummer and Holland were imprisoned for up to two years at Southwark Crown Court today.”

The National Gallery said in a statement the demonstrators “appeared to throw a soup-like substance over two works… police were called and three people have been arrested. The paintings were removed from display and examined by a conservator. The paintings are unharmed. We are aiming to reopen the exhibition as soon as possible.”

Read more HERE