Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (d. 1872)
Mary Somerville (; née Fairfax, formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she was elected together with Caroline Herschel as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
When John Stuart Mill, the philosopher and economist, organised a massive petition to Parliament to give women the right to vote, he had Somerville put her signature first on the petition.
In 1834 she became the first person to be described in print as a 'scientist'. When she died in 1872, The Morning Post declared in her obituary that "Whatever difficulty we might experience in the middle of the nineteenth century in choosing a king of science, there could be no question whatever as to the queen of science".Somerville College, a college of the University of Oxford, is named after her, reflecting the virtues of liberalism and academic success which the college wished to embody. She is featured on the front of the Royal Bank of Scotland polymer £10 note launched in 2017, alongside a quotation from her work On the Connection of the Physical Sciences.
1780Dec, 26
Mary Somerville
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Events on 1780
- 16Jan
Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent. - 17Mar
Saint Patrick's Day
American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday "as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence". - 21Sep
Benedict Arnold
American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point. - 23Sep
Benedict Arnold
American Revolution: British Major John André is arrested as a spy by American soldiers exposing Benedict Arnold's change of sides. - 24Sep
West Point
Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point.