Brief Description
A biography of the leading woman of science in Great Britain during the nineteenth century.
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In an era when science was perceived as a male domain, Mary Somerville (1780-1872) became both the leading woman scientist of her day and an integral part of the British scientific community. Her scientific writings contributed to one of the most important cultural projects of Victorian Britain: establishing science as a distinct, integral, and unifying element of culture. By the time of her death, Somerville had achieved near-mythic status in Britain. Her works reflect both the power of science to capture imagination and the influence of cultural factors in the development of science. They provide a window into a particularly lucid and illuminated mind and into one of the most formative periods in the evolution of modern scientific culture. This retelling of Somerville's story focuses on the factors that allowed her to become an eminent scientist and argues for rethinking the story of women's participation in science.
Review Quotes
1. "Neeley...contributes to the recent wealth of work on science writing, an integration of gender studies and science-in-culture. ...Neeley's historiographical analysis of the changing strategies and roles for women in science over the course of Somerville's long life (1780-1872) deserves to be read by any serious scholar of nineteenth-century science or women's history." Isis
2. 'Underneath the now statutory feminist gloss this is a work of great scholarship.' Contemporary Review
3. 'Neeley's study repays careful reading and is a valuable contribution to studies of discourse, writing and gender in nineteenth-century science.' BJHS
4. 'Kathryn Neeley explores Somerville's unique position: she was accepted as an eminent scientist, but also celebrated for the way she conformed to Victorian norms of womanly behaviour.' The Lancet
5. ..."Neeley poses compelling questions about the character of scientific discourse and women's participation in science." Lancet
6. .,."Neeley poses compelling questions about the character of scientific discourse and women's participation in science." Lancet
7. ."..Neeley poses compelling questions about the character of scientific discourse and women's participation in science." Lancet
8. ..".Neeley poses compelling questions about the character of scientific discourse and women's participation in science." Lancet
