Mary Somerville and the Empire of Science in the Nineteenth Century

View Mary Somerville and the Empire of Science in the Nineteenth Century

Presenter: Jim Secord

Published: December 2012

Age: 14-19 and upwards

Views: 1484 views

Tags: Mary Somerville

Type: Lectures

Source/institution: Royal Society


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Prof. Jim Secord, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge. Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was a leading mathematician and author of important books on the sciences: it was in connection with a review of one of these that the term “scientist” first appeared in print. This talk examines her career in relation to debates about the role of women in the making of knowledge and her vision of science in furthering the progress of civilisation and empire.