Mary Fairfax Somerville was one of Britain's most remarkable women scientists. She began her life as a typical girl in Scottish high society, yet she had mathematical interests and talents that distinguished her. Despite her lack of formal training she managed to produce some great mathematical and physical works right until her death at age 98.
She was born to Lt. George Fairfax and Margaret Fairfax in 1780 in Scotland. Her childhood was spent exploring the seaside of her hometown of Burntisland. Her early education consisted of domestic chores and reading of the Bible. By adolescence, this extended to an unpleasant stay at a girls' boarding school where she learned basic reading and writing. This was enough to pique her intellectual interests and so at the age of thirteen she taught herself enough Latin to read Caesar's Commentaries. An algebra problem in a women's fashion magazine introduced her to mathematics. She was curious what the symbols meant. Since it was improper for a lady to ask for a mathematical book in a bookshop, she had to secretly ask her brother's tutor to buy her a copy of Euclid's Elements.
In 1804 she married one of her cousins, Captain Samuel Greig. He frowned upon intellectual women, but did not stop her studies. She had two sons with him before he died in 1807.
The inheritance she gained allowed her to seriously pursue mathematical endeavors. She began to investigate physical astronomy and Newton's Principia. This was much to the dismay of her family, particularly the female members. They were very concerned that she might end up crazy if she continued to engage in mathematical study.
In 1811 she earned a silver medal from a popular mathematical journal, The Mathematical Repository, for her solution to a prize problem. She consulted the editor for a proper course of mathematical study.
The next year she married another cousin, Dr. William Somerville, who was far more encouraging of her studies. He was in the army medical department and in 1815 was stationed in London. Mary accompanied him and was then able to attend lectures at the Royal Institution.
Her scientific reputation grew and she soon found herself in a circle with John F. W. Herschel, Charles Babbage, William Whewell, and George Peacock. She became known for her exceptional expository talent.
One of her early papers was ``The Magnetic Properties of The Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum''. It was based on experiments on magnetism she had conducted in her garden from 1825.
In 1927 Lord Brouham, on behalf of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge asked her to write two volumes: one on Laplace's Celeste Mechanique, and another on Newton's Principia. this project led to The Mechanism of the Heavens, which she finished in 1831. At Cambridge the book became a required text for higher mathematics students.
In 1848 she published her most successful treatise, Physical Geography. Her final scientific work was completed when she was eighty-eight years old. Molecular and Microscopic Science was an exposition on molecular constitution of matter and the microscopic structure of plants.
These projects helped firmly establish her in intellectual circles. She was elected (1835) to the Royal Astronomical Society, and was granted honorary memberships to the Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle de Genève (1834), The Royal Irish Academy (1834), and the Bristol Philosophical and Literary Society(1835). She became the instructor and life long friend to Ada Byron. After her husband's health weakened they moved to Italy, where she continued to be offered various honorary memberships. In 1870 the Royal Geographic society presented her with its Victoria Gold Medal. Sir Edward Barry named a small island in the arctic after her, a women's college in Oxford was so named as well.
Mary Somerville was a great supporter of women's education, women's emancipation and the anti-vivisection movement. John Stuart Mill requested that she be the first to sign his petition for women's suffrage.
Mary Somerville worked hard to bring mathematics to not only to her life but to make it accessible for the general public. She said once that her aim was to make her country woman more aware of the laws by which the physical world is governed. She also helped bring some of the French mathematics which was considered more advanced, to Britain.
Her spirit was lively and resilient. Despite many odds and the influence of her upbringing, she became a widely respected scientist. She remained active until her life came to an end. We are lucky that she did not take the advice of her sister-in-law and ``give up her foolish manner of life and make a respectable and useful wife.''
Marni Mishna
mjmishna@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca
Copyright © mathNEWS 1997.