Queen Of Science
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Born in Redburgh in 1780, Mary Fairfax was the daughter of one of Nelson's captains and in common with most girls of her time and station, she was given the kind of education which prized gentility over ability. Nevertheless, she taught herself algebra in secret, and made her reputation in celestial mechanics by predicting the presence of the planet Neptune, before it was discovered. As she was equally interested in art, literature and nature, the author's memoirs give a picture of her life and times from childhood in Burntisland to international recognition and retirement in Sorrento. She tells of her friendship with Maria Edgeworth and her encounters with Scott and Fenimore Cooper. She remebers high society in London and Paris, Charles Babbage and his calculating engine, the Risorgimento in Italy and the eruption of Vesuvius. Selected by her daughter and first published in 1873, these are the memoirs of a remarkable woman who gave her name to Oxford's Somerville College and became one of the most gifted mathematicians and scientists of the 19th century.
From the Back Cover
'(Somerville was) certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe, a mathematician of the very first rank with all the gentleness of a woman ... She is also a great natural philosopher and mineralogist.' Sir David Brewster, inventor of the kaleidoscope (1829)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a book that quietly grows on you.
Mary Somerville's life could be a case history for encouraging the education of Women. She achieved in spite of the restrictions and attitudes of her time. That she was outstandingly clever there is no doubt, but her account of the events that were keys or turning points in her search for knowledge is fascinating as well as illuminating. The three sets of papers that this book is extracted from were written in old age yet it is a lively and alert mind that springs forth. Her great gift to Science was to make it intelligible to the general reader and her papers reflect this, she speaks of meeting great scientists as friends and mentors. She records events succinctly but completely so as not to leave questions hanging in the air.
To me this is a wonderful insight on a great life, but, as a previous reviewer points out, the narrator changes to the daughter for periods without warning which causes confusion at times. This is not a technical book in any way, but if you haven't heard of Laplace, the Herschels or Newton and you have no idea of 19th Century European history, or indeed our own, over her lifetime, you will lose much of the enjoyment.
Mary Somerville's life could be a case history for encouraging the education of Women. She achieved in spite of the restrictions and attitudes of her time. That she was outstandingly clever there is no doubt, but her account of the events that were keys or turning points in her search for knowledge is fascinating as well as illuminating. The three sets of papers that this book is extracted from were written in old age yet it is a lively and alert mind that springs forth. Her great gift to Science was to make it intelligible to the general reader and her papers reflect this, she speaks of meeting great scientists as friends and mentors. She records events succinctly but completely so as not to leave questions hanging in the air.
To me this is a wonderful insight on a great life, but, as a previous reviewer points out, the narrator changes to the daughter for periods without warning which causes confusion at times. This is not a technical book in any way, but if you haven't heard of Laplace, the Herschels or Newton and you have no idea of 19th Century European history, or indeed our own, over her lifetime, you will lose much of the enjoyment.
Format:Paperback
This is not a biography, nor an autobiography in the usual sense but what its subtitle says - personal recollections of the subject, Mary Somerville. It has a self-evident value as such, unique as a view into her own personality, but if one wants a perspective on this very remarkable woman in her own time and context one will have to look elsewhere.
The text has also given the editor trouble, for it combines Mary Somerville's own words with later posthumous glosses by her daughter, and it isn't always easy (particularly in the opening pages) to sort out who is writing at any particular point. This almost caused me to abandon the book, but the going does get easier later on.
The text has also given the editor trouble, for it combines Mary Somerville's own words with later posthumous glosses by her daughter, and it isn't always easy (particularly in the opening pages) to sort out who is writing at any particular point. This almost caused me to abandon the book, but the going does get easier later on.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biography > Historical > 1701-1900
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Georgian to Victorian: 1701-1900
- Books > Biography > Historical > Britain > Military
- Books > Biography > Political > Britain
- Books > Biography > Women
- Books > History > Other Historical Subjects > History of Science
- Books > Science & Nature > Astronomy & Cosmology > Astronomy > Theoretical & Mathematical Astronomy
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Maths
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Astronomy & Cosmology
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
