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Mary Somerville
Sign in to saveAlso known as Mrs. Mary Somerville, Mary Fairfax, Mary Greig, Mary Fairfax Greig Somerville, Mary Fairfax Somerville, Mary Sommerville
Scottish scientist, writer and polymath (1780–1872)
Mary Somerville was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath who lived from 1780 to 1872 and made significant contributions across multiple scientific fields during a time when few women had access to formal scientific education. Her work and example demonstrated that women could excel in rigorous scientific study, making her an important figure in the history of science and women's intellectual achievement.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1780
- Died
- 1872
- Works
- 31
Top works
- Sulla connessione delle scienze fisiche
- Ueberblick der physikalischen Wissenschaften in ihrem Zusammenhange
- On the connection of the physical sciences
- De la connexion des sciences physiques ou exposé et rapide de tous les principaux phénomènes astronomiques, physiques, chimiques, géologiques et metéorologiques
- Personal recollections
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- Mary Fairfax , ( 1780-12-26 ) 26 December 1780, Jedburgh , Scotland
- Died
- 29 November 1872 (1872-11-29) (aged 91), Naples , Kingdom of Italy
- Resting place
- English Cemetery, Naples
- Awards
- Patron's Medal (1869)
- Fields
- Science writing Mathematics
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Mary
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- Jedburgh
- Place of death
- Naples
- Occupation
- geologist
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- mathematics
- Image
- Mary Somerville young woman.jpg
Show 12 more facts
- date of birth
- 1780-12-26
- date of death
- 1872-11-28
- Commons category
- Mary Somerville
- member of
- Royal Irish Academy
- name in native language
- Mary Somerville
- student
- Ada Lovelace
- married name
- Mary Greig
- Commons Creator page
- Mary Somerville
- birth name
- Mary Fairfax
- place of burial
- English Cemetery, Naples
- writing language
- English language
- maintained by WikiProject
- WikiProject Mathematics
Sources (5)
via Wikidata · CC0
~30 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Mary Somerville (née Fairfax, formerly Greig; 1780–1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
In John Stuart Mill's 1866 mass petition to the UK Parliament to grant women the right to vote, the first signature on the petition was Somerville's, which she signed before the age of 86.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Mary Somerville” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.