Mary Somerville

-
Standard Name: Somerville, Mary
Birth Name: Mary Fairfax
Married Name: Mary Greig
Married Name: Mary Somerville
Eminent Scottish mathematician and scientist MS was best known as the author of four popular expository texts on science: Mechanism of the Heavens (1831), On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834), Physical Geography (1848), and On Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869). She also published the results of three of her experiments, an article on Halley's comet, and an autobiography.
Image from head-and-shoulders chalk drawing of Mary Somerville by James Rannie Swinton, 1848. She looks down, away from the viewer, wearing a white scarf and white ruffled cap, her dark smooth hair parted in the middle and pulled back. This was engraved as frontispiece to her "Physical Geography", vol. i, 1848.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Education Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon
Her aunt Julia was a great influence on BLSB , who through her met Harriet Martineau , Mary Somerville , and Amelia Opie .
Family and Intimate relationships Frances Power Cobbe
Lloyd was the daughter of the squire of Rhagatt in Merionethshire, Wales; a maiden aunt in the family had been a friend of the Ladies of Llangollen (Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby )...
Family and Intimate relationships Florence Nightingale
FN 's mother was born Frances (Fanny) Smith , the daughter of abolitionist and member of parliament William Smith . Fanny's grandfather was a wealthy London merchant. One of Fanny's acquaintances was Mary Somerville .
Dossey, Barbara Montgomery. Florence Nightingale: Mystic, Visionary, Healer. Springhouse Corporation, 2000.
47
Nightingale, Florence. Ever Yours, Florence Nightingale. Editors Vicinus, Martha and Bea Nergaard, Harvard University Press, 1990.
13
Friends, Associates Harriet Martineau
HM 's social circle vastly expanded at this time until she knew virtually all the prominent people, particularly the political men, of her day. As she recorded in her Autobiography, however, she refused to...
Friends, Associates Frances Power Cobbe
During her 1860 sojourn in Italy she declined an invitation to meet George Eliot because the latter was living with a married man. Her friendship with distinguished scientist Mary Somerville blossomed during this trip, and...
Friends, Associates Maria Edgeworth
Among her many social engagements, she attended a house-party at the home of Whig MP and agriculturalist Sir John Sebright , whose guests included Dr Wollaston and the science-writers Jane Marcet and Mary Somerville ...
Friends, Associates Eliza Fletcher
Joanna Baillie (a well qualified judge) thought few people have so many friends as EF , and that they all warmly esteemed as well as loving her.
Baillie, Joanna. The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie. Editor Slagle, Judith Bailey, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999, 2 vols.
2: 699
At first meeting, Fletcher did not...
Friends, Associates Joanna Baillie
On the other hand she was fully appreciative of Maria Edgeworth , whom she first met on 16 May 1813. She sounded a little patronising about Edgeworth after this first meeting, but felt an immediate...
Friends, Associates Emily Shirreff
ES 's circle of friends included Sir William Grove (inventor of the Grove battery), scientist Mary Somerville , lawyer and Royal Society president Lord Wrottesley , astronomer Sir George Biddell Airy , Sir John Herschel
Friends, Associates Jessie Boucherett
Partly through her membership of the Kensington Society (a social and political discussion group of about fifty women inaugurated in 1865), JB broadened her acquaintance with significant members of the feminist movement, including Frances Power Cobbe
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Rigby
While in Florence, she met Mary Somerville , the mathematician and astronomer.
Rigby, Elizabeth. Journals and Correspondence of Lady Eastlake. Editor Smith, Charles Eastlake, AMS Press, 1975, 2 vols.
2: 104
Friends, Associates Henry Peter Baron Brougham
Brougham had a number of friends among women writers. He was at primary school in Edinburgh with Susan Ferrier (who, however, declined to acknowledge him later, probably for political reasons). His political work brought him...
Friends, Associates Augusta Ada Byron
AAB became friendly with and sought mathematical guidance from Mary Somerville .
Patterson, Elizabeth Chambers. Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science, 1815-1840. Martinus Nijhoff, 1983.
148-9
Friends, Associates Maria Grey
The Shirreffs were a sociable family whose friends and acquaintances were varied. The scientist Mary Somerville , geologist Sir Charles Lyell , and Sir William Grove , inventor of the Grove battery, were numbered among...
Friends, Associates Caroline Herschel
In old age CH corresponded with a distinguished fellow-scientist, Mary Somerville , and received an authorial gift of On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences with respect and gratitude.
Brock, Claire. The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel’s astronomical ambition. Thriplow, 2007.
210

Timeline

11 October 1797: A British victory over the Dutch in the naval...

National or international item

11 October 1797

A British victory over the Dutch in the naval battle of Camperdown restored the reputation of the navy after the mutiny at Spithead earlier that year.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Adam Duncan

1835: Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were...

National or international item

1835

Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville were awarded honorary memberships by the Royal Astronomical Society .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
112
Alic, Margaret. Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. Women’s Press, 1985.
132
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
114-16, 137-9, 159-162
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
161
Phillips, Patricia. The Scientific Lady. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1990.
115

17 February 1847: The Whittington Club (named after the poor...

Building item

17 February 1847

The Whittington Club (named after the poor boy who became Lord Mayor of London) held its first meeting. Unlike traditional gentlemen's clubs, it welcomed women and lower-middle-class men.
Woodring, Carl Ray. Victorian Samplers: William and Mary Howitt. University of Kansas Press, 1952.
122

2 May 1857: A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened...

Building item

2 May 1857

A grand dome designed by Panizzi was opened in what had been the central courtyard of the British Museum .
Barwick, George. The Reading Room of the British Museum. Ernest Benn, 1929.
65, 71, 88, 102, 104-5, 136, 139
Walkowitz, Judith R. City of Dreadful Delight. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
69

1862: Educator Anne Sheepshanks was awarded honorary...

National or international item

1862

Educator Anne Sheepshanks was awarded honorary membership in the Royal Society .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
113

April 1879: James Murray—editor since 1 March of what...

Writing climate item

April 1879

James Murray —editor since 1 March of what was to become the Oxford English Dictionary—issued an Appeal for readers to supply illustrative quotations.
Winchester, Simon. The Meaning of Everything. Oxford University Press, 2003.
93, 107, 109

October 1879: Somerville College, one of the two first...

Building item

October 1879

Somerville College , one of the two first residential women's colleges at Oxford University, opened its doors to students.
Green, Vivian Hubert Howard. A History of Oxford University. Batsford, 1974.
185
Howarth, Janet. “Women”. The History of the University of Oxford: The Twentieth Century, edited by Brian Harrison, Clarendon, 1994, pp. 345-76.
345-6, 374-5
Keene, Anne. “Mothers of the House”. Oxford Today, Vol.
15
, No. 2, 2003, pp. 29-31.
29, 30

1886: The working-class, popular, evangelical writer...

Women writers item

1886

The working-class, popular, evangelical writer Marianne Farningham (born Mary Ann Hearne or Hearn ) published as Eva Hope a book called Queens of Literature of the Victorian Era which reveals unexpected feminist sympathies.
Wilson, Linda. “Women’s History Month: Marianne Farningham”. Women’s History Network Blog, 16 Mar. 2010.

1886: Eva Hope's Queens of Literature of the Victorian...

Women writers item

1886

Eva Hope 's Queens of Literature of the Victorian Era singled out Mary Somerville , Harriet Martineau , Elizabeth Barrett Browning , Charlotte Brontë , George Eliot , and Felicia Hemans .
Hope, Eva. Queens of Literature of the Victorian Era. Walter Scott, 1886.
passim

By 18 August 1888: Lucy Walford published Four Biographies from...

Women writers item

By 18 August 1888

Lucy Walford published Four Biographies from Blackwood's.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
3173 (1888): 223
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

Texts

Somerville, Mary. A Preliminary Dissertation to the Mechanism of the Heavens by Mary Somerville. W. Clowes, 1832.
Somerville, Mary. “Art. VII. -1. Ueber den Halleyschen Cometen. Von Littrow. Wien, 1835. 2. Ueber den Halleyschen Cometen. Von Professor von Encke. Berliner Jarbuch, 1835”. Quarterly Review, Vol.
55
, 1835, pp. 195-33.
Somerville, Mary et al. “Experiments on the Transmission of Chemical Rays of the Solar Spectrum across Different Areas. Excerpt from a letter of Mrs Somerville’s to Mr. Arago”. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l’Académie des Sciences, Vol.
3
, 1836, pp. 473-6.
Laplace, Pierre Simon, Marquis de. Mechanism of the Heavens. Translator Somerville, Mary, John Murray, 1831.
Somerville, Mary. On Molecular and Microscopic Science. John Murray, 1869.
Somerville, Mary. “On the Action of the Rays of the Spectrum on Vegetable Juices. ”. Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London from 1843 to 1850, Vol.
5
, 1845, p. 569.
Somerville, Mary. On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences. Reprint Edition, Arno Press, 1975.
Somerville, Mary. “On the Magnetizing Power of the more Refrangible Solar Rays”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol.
116
, 1826, pp. I: 132 - 9.
Somerville, Mary. Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville. Editor Somerville, Martha, 1815 - 1879, John Murray, 1873.
Somerville, Mary. Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville. Editor Somerville, Martha, 1815 - 1879, Roberts Brothers, 1874.
Somerville, Mary. Physical Geography. John Murray, 1848.
Somerville, Mary. Physical Geography. Second American, Lea and Blanchard, 1850, 2 vols.