Let's get to know the story of Mary Somerville, who struggled to make both the essence of science and the voice of women heard throughout her life and succeeded in making her name known to everyone as a result of her efforts.
Her real name is Mary Fairfax, she was born on December 26, 1780, in Jedburgh, Scotland. She was born to her father, Vice Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, and her mother, Margaret Charters. Born in Burntisland, Fife, her mother's hometown, Somerville has four siblings. Somerville's family lived a modest life, especially close to her eldest brother, Sam. Her mother supported the household by working jobs such as growing vegetables, tending an orchard, and raising cows for milk.
Ten-year-old Mary was sent to an expensive boarding school in Musselburgh, where she learned the first principles of writing, primitive French and English grammar. After returning home, Mary read the books in her father's library. Mary, who attaches great importance to reading, was considered strange by her surroundings and was sent to the village school to learn straight needlework.
At the age of 13, Mary was sent to writing school in Edinburgh, where she honed her writing skills and studied arithmetic. Learning and improving Latin on her own, Mary was later sent to a dance school where she learned etiquette and dancing. Staying in Burntisland with her uncle and aunt over the summers, Mary studied basic books on algebra and geometry. She also learned to play the piano and Greek. After returning to her family, she joined the painter Alexander Nasmyth academy, which was opened for women. Here she learned that Euclid's Elements must be studied in order to gain a foundation in the sciences of perspective, astronomy, and mechanics.
In 1804, Mary met Lieutenant Samuel Greig. The couple later married and had two children. Despite her husband's prejudice against knowledgeable women, she continued her studies. With the death of her husband in 1807, she returned to Scotland. By this time Mary had been working on plane and spherical trigonometry, conic sections, and James Ferguson's Astronomy. At the encouragement of a professor, Mary began correspondence with William Wallace, where she discussed mathematical problems.
Starting to solve math problems posed in the journal Mathematics, Mary received a silver medal in 1811 for solving a diophantine problem and made a name for herself. Mary posted five solutions under the pseudonym 'A Lady'. Expanding her studies into astronomy, chemistry, geography, microscopy, electricity and magnetism, Mary bought herself a library of scientific books at the age of 33.
In 1812, Mary married Dr. William Somerville, inspector of the Army Medical Board, and the couple had four children. She had a husband who supported and assisted Mary in her physical science work. With her husband's election to the Royal Society in 1817, the family had a prominent social circle. In 1819, her husband was appointed physician to Chelsea Hospital, and the family moved to a mansion in Hanover Square, Chelsea. Mary met and chatted with people in many professions such as lawyers, politicians, writers, scientists.
Mary, who conducted experiments to explore the relationship between light and magnetism, published her first article, "Magnetic properties of the violet rays of the solar spectrum", in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society" in 1826 and helped her to be noticed by the scientific community. Mary then began experimenting with the darkening effect of sunlight, the reaction used in photography, using a sample of silver nitrate provided by Faraday. She then furthered this technique using an optical prism and vegetable dyes and produced an older version of the optical spectrometer she.
Mary, who translated Pierre-Simon Laplace's treatise "Mécanique Céleste", was published in a larger version of the treatises in 1831, entitled "The Mechanism of the Heavens", and achieved great fame. She has been praised by many famous and well-known people. Passionate about astronomy, Mary placed particular emphasis on profitability in her later books. Her second book, "On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences", was published and became one of the best-selling science books as well as gaining a reputation in distinguished science. This success led to her being elected, along with Caroline Herschel, to the first female Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835.
Mary, who was among those who discussed a hypothetical planet disturbing Uranus, fell short in this regard. Publishing her book "Physical Geography" in 1848, Mary profited financially from her book. She also won the Royal Geographical Society's Victorian Gold Medal she. The book began by describing the general structure of planet Earth and describing Earth's position in the Solar System. Later she focused on terrestrial issues, such as the most fundamental properties of land and water, and formations such as mountains, volcanoes, oceans, rivers and lakes. She then provided a wealth of information on the subjects of light, electricity, storms, aurora and magnetism, as well as vegetation, birds and mammals and their geographic distribution in the Arctic, Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Antarctica.
Elected to the American Geographical and Statistical Association in 1857, Mary took many years to write her next book, "Molecular and Microscopic Science." In 1868, she also made a name for herself as the first person to sign John Stuart Mill's unsuccessful petition for women's suffrage. Published in 1869, the book was a huge success and provided an up-to-date description of the latest discoveries made with the microscope. The following year, Mary was elected to the Italian Geographical Society and became a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Mary, who wanted to raise awareness for women's access to higher education throughout her life, died on November 29, 1872 in Naples. She was buried in the British Cemetery, she. The following year, her autobiographical book "Personal Memoirs", which consists of memories written by Mary in her old age, was published.
Named after many schools, homes, towns, ships, rooms, Mary was among the famous names that appeared on the new £10 notes released in 2017. On February 2, 2020, Google honored Mary with a "Google Doodle". Also in 2022, a satellite named after Somerville was launched into space as part of Satellogic's Aleph-1 satellite constellation.