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Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872)
Biography - Astronomy Series, Feminist Series, Math Series, Geology Series
Blog Mary Somerville
Mathematician, born in Jedburgh and raised in Burntisland, Scotland. She was the daughter of Margaret Charters and vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax. Somerville first married naval officer Samuel Greig in 1804. In Somerville's words her first husband, "had a very low opinion of the capacity of my sex, and had neither knowledge of, nor interest in, science of any kind" (Martha Somerville, Personal Recollections from Early life to Old Age of Mary Somerville, London, 1873). She married William Somerville in 1812 after the death of her first husband in 1807. William, an inspector of hospitals, was supportive of her interest in science and played a leading role as her assistant. William and Mary lived in Edinburgh where she studied mathematics, botany, geology, French and Greek. Mary's circle of friends in Edinburgh included William Wallace (1768-1843), John Playfair (1748-1819), John Leslie (1766-1832), and Sir David Brewster (1781-1868). During this period Somerville read
Newton's Principia and Laplace's Mecanique celeste. After moving to London in 1816 Somerville became acquainted with a range of leading figures in science including William Herschel (1738-1822), John Herschel (1792-1871), George Biddell Airy (1801-1892), George Peacock (1791-1858), and Charles Babbage (1791-1871). Through these acquaintances and in visits to Paris she met Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862), Dominique Arago (1786-1853), Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), Simeon Poisson (1781-1840), Louis Poinsot (1777-1859) and Emile Mathieu (1835-1890). The many honours Somerville received included memberships in the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Irish Academy and the American and Italian Geographical Societies. She was also elected honorary Member of the Societe de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Geneve. For her achievements she was awarded an annual pension of 200 pounds in 1834 (increased later to 300 pounds). In 1838 Mary and William moved to Italy, where they remained for the rest of their lives.
During her lifetime Somerville wrote four significant scientific texts. The critical success of the first edition of her Mechanism of the Heavens (1831) established Somerville's reputation as a brilliant scientific author. Her next book, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, published in 1834, ran into ten editions, and sold over 15,000 copies. It was also translated into French, German and Italian, and a pirated copy was published in the United States. Her third major work, Physical Geography, first published in 1848, sold 16,000 copies in seven editions. Somerville began her last scientific work, On Molecular and Microscopic Science, when she was 89, and completed the book shortly before her death at the age of 92. Somerville influenced many of the leading scientists of her day, including James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879). In her writings Somerville predicted the existence of an unseen planet beyond the orbit of Uranus. John Adams (1819-1892) later calculated the exact position of the planet (Neptune) on the basis of Somerville's prediction. Somerville later predicted a ninth planet (Pluto), which remained undiscovered until 1930. Somerville died in Naples in her ninety-second year on 29 November 1872. She is buried in the English Cemetery at Naples beneath a monument erected by her daughter Martha. Although informal consent from the Dean of Westminster Abbey was obtained for Somerville's burial there, the formal request was denied by the then Astronomer Royal, who was not familiar with her works. Somerville Hall (now Somerville College) at Oxford University and the Mary Somerville scholarship in mathematics were established in 1879. [Based on materials drawn from the School of Mathematics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland and Mechanism of the Heavens, 2nd Ed., 2001]
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