Mary Somerville

KEYWORDS: Mary Somerville, Queen of Nineteenth-Century Science, Mechanism of Heaven, Royal Astronomical Society, Halley’s Comet

SHE THOUGHT IT

The first major work of Mary Somerville, and arguably the paper that paved the way for her scientific acknowledgement¹ (p. 202), was ”On the Magnetizing Power of the More Refrangible Solar Rays”. Taking advantage of a period of exceptionally good weather in Chelsea, London, Somerville attempted to prove that magnetism was related to light by exposing a number of needles, partly covered by paper in order to encourage polarity, to solar rays². While her conclusion that there is a causal relationship between magnetism and exposure to violet, green and blue rays of the solar spectrum² was retrospectively dismissed³ (p. 236), Somerville’s paper is credited until today for its major contribution to stimulating further investigation⁴ (p. 184) around what was then considered a very contentious topic⁵ (p. 328).

As a result of this wider recognition, Somerville received her most important professional proposal one year later. Her acceptance of Lord Henry Broughman’s offer to translate Laplace’s Mecanique Celeste solidified Somerville’s reputation as one of the greatest science writers of her era⁶ (pp. 57-58) and her work Mechanism of the heavens was praised for being ”much more than a translation”⁴ (p. 185). Sir John Herschel characterised it as a book for posterity⁷ (p. 167), while the Literary Gazette exalted its simplicity and scientific accuracy by labelling it as the ”readiest means […] possible” to comprehend the complex work of Laplace⁶ (p. 83). Indeed, the achievement of Somerville’s undertaking is perfectly reflected in her own words: ”I simply translated Laplace’s work from algebra into common language”⁸ (p. 253). The preliminary dissertation which accompanied her translation contained the essential mathematics to introduce the reader to Laplace’s text⁴ (p. 185), while her analysis through the use of diagrams⁹ made this knotty work more accessible to a wider audience¹⁰ (p. 164).

Her second book, On the connexion of the Physical Sciences, was immensely successful⁶ (p. 135) and attempts to integrate various branches of science with the aim of highlighting their interdependence⁴ (p. 186). This symposium of sciences is split into different sections and covers physical astronomy, matter, sound, light and its phenomena, heat, electricity and magnetism and descriptive astronomy¹¹. Somerville’s work was so influential that it prompted Elizabeth Patterson to label it as the book which determined the notions of what constitutes Physical Sciences for over three generations⁶ (p. 129). The book is also credited as being the major inspiration in initiating the investigation which led to the discovery of Neptune¹².

In her Physical Geography book she further developed her thoughts on the concept of heat budget and altered some of her initial ideas presented in her Physical Sciences¹³. She backtracked on her position that the same quantity of heat received by the earth is remitted to space¹¹ (p. 299) and, instead, concluded that one-third of the heat the earth is exposed to is absorbed by the air before it reaches the earth¹³ (p. 270). She also made a strong case on the influence of the sea on climate modification by claiming that seven tenths of the atmosphere lie in the oceans¹³ (p. 289). Physical geography, despite its descriptive nature⁴ (p. 186) and mostly secondary-based analysis¹² (p. 65), exceeded the demands of simply summarizing the work of Somerville’s contemporaries¹⁴ (p. 415). According to Sanderson, it managed not only to examine the causes of the phenomena described, but also to explain the connections between them¹⁴ (p. 415).

At the age of 89, she published her last book, On Molecular and Microscopic Sciences, in which she attempted to cope with the rapid advancements in microscope technology and the discoveries that ensued⁴ (p. 189). The book was published in two volumes and examines the new discoveries in vegetables and marine animal life and structure¹⁵.

Somerville also made significant contributions to the study of comets¹² (p. 67) through the publication of an essay on Halley’s Comet in the Quarterly Review, in which she explored, among other things, the possible outcome of a comet striking the earth¹⁶. A lesser known, yet equally remarkable achievement by Somerville was her major influence on the Russian government’s decision to carry out simultaneous observations of the tides on the empire’s coastline¹⁴ (pp. 418-419).

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

                Mary Somerville

Mary Fairfax Somerville was born in Jedburgh, Scotland in 1780. Despite the legal background of her mother’s family and her father’s admiral position in the British navy, Mary did not receive any formal education. She was only offered lessons in fields that were deemed to be appropriate for females¹⁴ (p. 411), such as piano and needlework. It was her uncle and later father-in-law, Thomas Somerville, who introduced her to the achievements of female scholars⁷ (p. 37) and cultivated her passion for learning⁷ (p. 37). Her brother’s help in providing her with advanced reading material was pivotal in her intellectual development¹² (p. 17), since access to advanced reading material for women was very restricted¹⁷ (p. 6). She acquired a copy of Euclid’s Elements of Geometry and later attempted to learn Greek so she could read Herodotus and Xenophon⁷ (p. 48). However, the idea of a woman deeply interested in sciences was so alien to society that Mary recalled her father saying to her mother, ”Peg, we must put a stop to this or we shall have Mary in a strait jacket one of these days”⁷ (p. 54).

At the age of 24, she got married to Samuel Greig, a Captain in the Russian navy who died three years later. As a widow, she further pursued her interest in mathematics by reading Ferguson’s Astronomy and Newton’s Principia. She gained access to academic circles as a result of her marriage to her second husband, Dr. William Somerville, who was a fellow of the Royal Academy and a very supporting figure in Somerville’s intellectual pursuit¹⁸ (p. XI). She soon found herself interacting with the most acclaimed scientists of her era such as John Herschel⁷ (p. 148), Roderick Murchison⁷ (p. 58), John Playfair⁷ (p. 81) and, most importantly, William Wallace; the person that encouraged her to study Laplace’s Mécanique Céleste¹² (p. 19) and paved the way for her acclaimed translation¹⁹ of the book (p. 404).

While her career was largely left intact by society’s prejudice against female scientists⁴ (p. 185), mainly due to both Somerville’s exceptional qualities and alleged femininity⁴ (p. 182), she never managed to overcome her own preoccupations against women²⁰ (p. 318). Alic describes Somerville as ”something of a paradox”⁴ (p. 182) due to her pro-feminist ideas which essentially contradicted her derogatory views on women’s intellectual abilities¹⁴ (p. 420).

In 1835, one year after the highly successful publication of The Connection of the Physical Sciences²¹ (p. 38), she and Caroline Herschel became the first women to be elected to the Royal Astronomical Society.

Due to her husband’s deteriorating health condition²¹ (p. 40), the couple moved to Italy in 1836, where they spent the rest of their lives. In Italy, she authored a series of unpublished articles, published two more books and gained membership of six Italian scientific societies. She outlived her husband and four of her six children and died in her sleep in Naples in 1872. As a tribute to her passing, the London Morning Post hailed her as the ”Queen of Nineteenth Century Science”⁴ (p. 182).

SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION AND RECOGNITION

Despite the significant influence of important figures of the scientific world on Mary Somerville, her work was solely authored by her. Her Mechanism of the Heavens became a source of pride for the British public⁶ (p. 83) and was celebrated by Somerville’s contemporaries as one of the most important achievements in science⁶ (p. 83). Galloway’s adulatory review called it ”the most remarkable works that female intellect ever produced, in any age or country”²² (p. 1). Likewise, On the Connexion of Physical Sciences was both financially successful and critically acclaimed⁶ (pp. 135-146). Its simple, yet accurate, approach to complicated scientific issues was particularly praised in the Quarterly Review²³. Physical geography was also positively received by the scientific world and was hailed for its lucid style¹⁴ (pp. 414-415). The last book by Mary Somerville, On Molecular and Microscopic Sciences, was also her least successful, commercially and critically, and its revised edition was never published⁴ (p. 188).

SHE SAID IT

I must say the idea of making money had never entered my head in any of my pursuits, but I was intensely ambitious to excel in something for I felt in my own breast that women were capable of taking a higher place in creation than that assigned to them in my early days, which were very low. 

Cited in Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville, (1874), Boston, Roberts Brothers, p. 60.

[…] for when I was a girl I took the anti-slavery cause so warmly to heart that I would not take sugar in my tea, or indeed taste anything with sugar in it. 

Cited in Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville, (1874), Boston, Roberts Brothers, p. 124.

Age has not abated my zeal from the emancipation of my sex from the unreasonable prejudice too prevalent in the Great Britain against a literary and scientific education for women. 

Cited in Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville, (1874), Boston, Roberts Brothers, p. 345.

My liberal opinions, both in religion and politics, have remained unchanged (or rather have advanced) throughout my life, but I have never been a republican. I have always considered a highly educated aristocracy essential not only for government, but also for the refinement of a people.

Cited in Personal recollections, from early life to old age, of Mary Somerville, (1874), Boston, Roberts Brothers, p. 46.

THEY SAID IT

Since Somerville has achieved so much, will any girl be prevented from seeking  knowledge of the physical sciences if she wishes it? 

Cited in Fuller, Margaret (1845), Woman in the Nineteenth century, New York, Greeley & McElrath, p. 87.

Mrs. Somerville, alone perhaps of women, knows as much of mathematics as is now needful for making any considerable mathematical discovery. 

Cited in Mill, Stuart, John (1869), The subjection of women, Early Modern Texts, p. 41 http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1869.pdf> ( last accessed 3 Mar.2017)

Who throughout her very long life, has been eminently distinguished by her proficiency in those branches of science which form the basis of Physical Geography.

Roderick, Murchison, ”Medals and awards”, Royal Geographical Society, <http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/C5962519-882A-4C67-803D-0037308C756D/0/GoldMedallists18322011.pdf> (last accessed 5 Mar.2017)

PRIZES, ACHIEVEMENTS, HONOURS

1834: Honorary membership to the Society of Physics and Natural History of Geneva
1834: Honorary membership to the Royal Academy in Dublin
1834: Honorary membership to the Bristol Philosophical Institution
1835: Election to the Royal Astronomical Society
1857: Honorary membership to the Geographical and Statistical Society of New York
1869: Awarded with the Patron’s Victoria Medal by the Royal Geographical Society
1869: Receiver of the first Gold Medal awarded by the Geographical Society of Florence
1870: Membership to the Royal Italian Geographical Society
Honorary membership to Accademia Tiberiana
Honorary membership to Imperial and Royal Academy of Science, Literature and Art of Arezzo
Honorary membership to Accademia Potoniana
Elected Associate at the College of Risurgenti
Somerville island (74°44′N 96°10′W) named after her by Sir Edward Parry

BRIDGING GAPS

While Somerville’s work was overwhelmingly scientific, her book Physical geography provided an insight into her ideological and political views. She fiercely criticised slavery¹³ (p. 492) and expressed her concerns on class struggle and egalitarianism¹³ (p. 505), concluding that inequality is inevitable¹³ (p. 505). She also advocated women’s right to education³ (p. 237) and accused British laws of being adverse to women⁷ (p.344). Somerville praised John Stuart Mill’s book The Subjection of Women and wholeheartedly supported his petition in the House of Commons to grant women voting rights⁷ (p. 344). Her feminist activism never abated despite the failure of Mill’s attempt, and she would joined the General Committee of Women suffrage in London and demanded that university degrees be granted to women too⁷ (p. 346). Mary Somerville also adamantly rejected the 19^th-century idea of ”the great man theory” and instead believed in the collective nature of scientific breakthroughs⁴ (p. 188).

INTERTEXTUAL MATERIALS

Phillips, Thomas ( 1834), Mary Fairfax, Mrs William Somerville, 1780 – 1872. Writer on science, Oil on Canvas, 762mm x 635mm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh.

Legatt Chantrey, Francis (1840), Sculpture bust of Mary Somerville, Marble, height: 707mm, width 500mm, depth 290mm, The Royal Society, London.

MacDonald, Lawrence (1844), The Vassar bust of Mary Somerville, Bronze, Rome.

MacDonald, Lawrence (1844), Plaque of Mary Somerville, Bronze, Diameter: Diameter: 222.25mm Depth: 25.4mm, Rome.

Mr Turner (2014), dir. Mike Leigh, wri. Mike Leigh, perf. Lesley Manville, Entertainment One, Film.

Royal Bank of Scotland (2017), Fabric on Nature: Mary Somerville, De La Rue’s Safeguard Polymer, Scotland.

WORKS BY MARY SOMERVILLE

”On the Magnetizing Power of the More Refrangible Solar Rays” (1826), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol.116 (1/3), pp. 132-139.

Mechanism of the heavens (1831), London. J. Murray.

A preliminary dissertation on the mechanism of the heavens (1832), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Carey&Lea.

On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), London, J.Murray.

”The Comet” (1835), Quarterly Review, IV, pp. 195-233.

Physical Geography (1848), London, J.Murray.

On Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869), London, J .Murray

Personal recollections, from early life to old age (1874), Boston, Robert Brothers.

WORKS CITED

1. Creese, Mary R.S (1998), Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900, Lanham, Maryland, Scarecrow Press.
2. Somerville, Mary (1826), ”On the Magnetizing Power of the More Refrangible Solar Rays”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 2, pp. 132-139.
3. Morrow, Charlene/Perl, Teri (1998), Notable Women in Mathematics: A Biographical Dictionary, London, Greenwood Press.
4. Alic, Margaret (1986), Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science from Antiquity to the Late Nineteenth Century , London, The Women’s Press Limited.
5. Sir Brewster, David (1826),’’On the Magnetizing Powers of the More Refrangible Rays of Light by Mrs Mary Somerville’’, The Edinburgh Journal of Science vol.4, Edinburgh, William Blackwood.
6. Patterson, Elizabeth (1980), Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science, 1815–1840, Boston, Massachusetts, Martinus Nijhoff.
7. Somerville Mary (1874), Personal Recollections from Early Life to Old age, Boston, Massachusetts, Roberts Brothers.
8. Carruthers, Robert (1830), Chambers’s Cyclopaedia of English Literature: A History, Critical and Biographical, of British and American Authors, with Specimens of Their Writings, 3rd edition, Volume 7, New York City, New York, American Book Exchange.
9. Somerville, Mary (1832), A preliminary dissertation on the mechanism of the heavens, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Carey&Lea.
10. Ogilvie, B. Marilyn (1990), Women in Science: Antiquity through Nineteenth Century, Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press.
11. Somerville, Mary (1834), On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, London, J.Murray.
12. Chapman, Allan (2004), Mary Somerville and the World of Science, Bristol, Canopus Publishing Limited.
13. Somerville, Mary (1855), Physical Geography , ed.1807-1895, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Blanchard and Lea.
14. Sanderson, Marie (1974), ”Mary Somerville: Her Work in Physical Geography”, American Geographical Society, 64(3), pp. 410-420.
15. Somerville, Mary (1869), ”Preface”, On Molecular and Microscopic Science”, London, J. Murray.
16. Somerville, Mary (1835), ”About Halley’s Comet”, Quarterly Review CIX, VII, pp. 195-233.
17. Barnett, C. Rosalind / Sabattini, Laura , ”A Short History of Women in Science from tone Walls to Invisible Walls”, Women’s Study, Brandeid University Centre, <http://www.brandeis.edu/barnett/docs/7654.PDF> (last accessed 9 Mar.2017).
18. Strickland, Elisabetta (2016), The Ascent of Mary Somerville in 19th Century Society, New York, Springer.
19. Hartely, Cathy (2003), A Historical Dictionary of British Women, London, Routledge.
20. Patterson, Elizabeth (1969), ”Mary Somerville”, The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 4, pp. 311-339.
21. Bradley, J. Michael (2006), The Foundations of Mathematics: 1800 to 1900, New York, Chelsea House Publishers.
22. Galloway, Thomas (1832), ”Art. I. Mechanism of the Heavens. By Mrs. Somerville”, Edinburgh Review , vol.1, pp. 1-25.
23. The London Literary Gazette (1834), Journal of Belles, Lettres, Arts and Sciences No.891, London, Literary Gazette, British Literary Magazine.