Woman in Science Part 13

Her bust, by Chantry, was placed in the great hall of the Royal Society, and she was made a member of many other scientific societies in Europe and America. In recognition of her services to science she was granted by the government a pension of 200 a year--a sum which was shortly afterward increased to 300. In addition to all this, Mrs. Somerville had the satisfaction of learning that her work was so highly esteemed by Dr. Whewell, the great master of Trinity, that it was, chiefly on his recommendation, introduced as a textbook in the University of Cambridge and prescribed as "an essential work to those students who aspire to the highest places in the examinations." What Mme. du Chatelet had done for Newton, Mrs. Somerville did for Laplace.

Among other books from the pen of this highly gifted woman is her _Connection of the Physical Sciences_ and a work ent.i.tled _Physical Geography_, which, together with the _Mechanism of the Heavens_, was the object of the "profound admiration" of Humboldt. Then there is a number of very abstruse monographs on mathematical subjects, one of which is a treatise of two hundred and forty-six pages _On Curves and Surfaces of Higher Orders_, which, she tells us, she "wrote _con amore_ to fill up her morning hours while spending the winter in Southern Italy."

Her last work was a treatise _On Molecular and Microscopic Science_ embodying the most recondite investigations on the subject. This book, begun after she had pa.s.sed her eightieth birthday, occupied her for many years and was not ready for publication until she was close upon her ninetieth year. Her last occupations, continued until the day of her death at the advanced age of ninety-two, were the reading of a book on _Quaternions_ and the review and completion of a volume _On the Theory of Differences_.

Like her ill.u.s.trious friend, the great Humboldt, Mary Somerville was possessed of extraordinary physical vigor, and, like him, she retained her mental powers unimpaired until the last. And like her great rival in mathematics, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, she was always "beautifully womanly."

Her scientific and literary occupations did not cause her to neglect the duties of her household or to disregard "the graceful and artistic accomplishments of an elegant woman of the world." Her daughter Martha writes of her: "It would be almost incredible were I to describe how much my mother contrived to do in the course of the day. When my sister and I were small children, although busily engaged in writing for the press, she used to teach us for three hours in the morning, besides managing her house carefully, reading the newspapers--for she was always a keen and, I must add, a liberal politician--and the most important new books on all subjects, grave and gay. In addition to this, she freely visited and received her friends.... Gay and cheerful company was a pleasant relaxation after a hard day's work."[129]

The life of Mary Somerville, like that of Gaetana Agnesi, proves that the pursuit of science is not, as so often a.s.serted, incompatible with domestic and social duties. It also disposes of the fallacy, so generally entertained, that intellectual labor is detrimental to the health of women and antagonistic to longevity. The truth is that it is yet to be demonstrated that intellectual work, even of the severest kind, is, _per se_, more deleterious to women than to those of the stronger s.e.x.

Scarcely less remarkable as a mathematician was Mrs. Somerville's distinguished contemporary, Janet Taylor, who was known as the "Mrs.

Somerville of the Marine World." She was the author of numerous works on navigation and nautical astronomy which in their day were highly prized by seafaring men. In recognition of her valuable services to the marine world she was placed on the civil list of the British government.

As an eminent mathematician as well as a "representative of the highest intellectual accomplishments to which women have attained," Sonya Kovalevsky will ever occupy an honored place among the votaries of science. In many respects this richly endowed daughter of Holy Russia was _par excellence_ the woman of genius of the latter half of the nineteenth century.

She was born in Moscow in 1850, but although her career was brief it was one of meteoric splendor. At an early age she exhibited an unusual talent for mathematics and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Not being able to obtain in her own country the educational advantages she desired, she resolved at the age of eighteen to go to Germany with a view of pursuing her studies there under more favorable auspices.

She first matriculated in the University of Heidelberg, where she spent two years in studying mathematics under the most eminent professors of that famous old inst.i.tution. Thence she went to Berlin. She could not enter the University there, as its doors were closed to female students; but she was fortunate enough to prevail on the ill.u.s.trious Professor Weierstra.s.s, regarded by many as the father of mathematical a.n.a.lysis, to give her private lessons. He soon discovered to his astonishment that this child-woman had "the gift of intuitive genius to a degree he had seldom found among even his older and more developed students." Under this eminent mathematician Sonya spent about three years, at the end of which period she was able to present to the University of Gottingen three theses which she had written under the direction of her professor.

The merit of her work and the testimonials which she was able to present from Weierstra.s.s, Kirchhoff and others were of such supreme excellence that she was exempted from an oral examination and was enabled, by a very special privilege, to receive her doctorate without appearing in person.

Not long after receiving her doctor's degree--one of the first to be granted to a woman by a German university--she was offered the chair of higher mathematics in the University of Stockholm. She was the first woman in Europe, outside of Italy, to be thus honored. But her appointment had to be made in the face of great opposition. No other university, it was urged by the conservatives, had yet offered a professor's chair to a woman. Strindberg, one of the leaders of modern Swedish literature, wrote an article in which he proved, "as decidedly as that two and two make four, what a monstrosity is a woman who is a professor of mathematics, and how unnecessary, injurious and out of place she is."[130]

The fame that came to Sonya through her achievements in the German and Swedish universities was immensely enhanced when, on Christmas eve, 1888, "at a solemn session of the French Academy of Sciences, she received in person the _Prix Bordin_--the greatest scientific honor which any woman had ever gained; one of the greatest honors, indeed, to which any one can aspire."

She became at once the heroine of the hour and was thenceforth "a European celebrity with a place in history." She was feted by men of science whithersoever she went and hailed by the women of the world as the glory of her s.e.x and as the most brilliant type of intellectual womanhood.

Mme. Kovalevsky's printed mathematical works embrace only a few memoirs including those which she presented for her doctorate and for the _Prix Bordin_. But brief as they are, all of these memoirs are regarded by mathematicians as being of special value. This is particularly true of the memoirs, which secured for her the _Prix Bordin_; for it contains the solution of a problem that long had baffled the genius of the greatest mathematicians.

The prize had been opened to the compet.i.tion of the mathematicians of the world, and the astonishment of the committee of the French Academy was beyond expression when it was found that the successful contestant was a woman.[131]

Everyone admired her varied and profound knowledge, but, above all, her amazing powers of a.n.a.lysis. A German mathematician, Kronecker, did not hesitate to declare that "the history of mathematics will speak of her as one of the rarest investigators."[132]

Shortly before her premature death, she had planned a great work on mathematics. All who are interested in the intellectual capacities and achievements of woman must regret that she was unable to complete what would undoubtedly have been the n.o.blest monument of woman's scientific genius. She was then in the prime of life and perfectly equipped for the work she had in mind. Considering the extraordinary receptive and productive power of this richly dowered woman, there can be little doubt, had she lived a few years longer, that she would have produced a work that would have caused her to be ranked among the greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century.

It is pleasant to record that this woman of masculine mind, masculine energy and masculine genius, far from being mannish or unwomanly, was, on the contrary, a woman of a truly feminine heart; and that, although a giantess in intellectual attainments, she was in grace and charm and delicacy of sentiment one of the n.o.blest types of beautiful womanhood.

She could with the greatest ease turn from a lecture on _Abel's Functions_ or a research on Saturn's rings to the writing of verse in French or of a novel in Russian or to collaborating with her friend, the d.u.c.h.ess of Cajanello, on a drama in Swedish, or to making a lace collar for her little daughter, Fouzi, to whom she was most tenderly attached.[133]

Little more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since Strindberg, expressing the sentiment of the great majority of the men of his time, declared that a woman professor of mathematics is a monstrosity. But during this short period what a change has been effected in the att.i.tude of the world toward women who devote themselves to the study and the teaching of science! Women mathematicians are found to-day in all civilized countries, and no sane person now considers it any more "unwomanly" or more "monstrous" for them to study or teach mathematics than for them to teach music or needlework. Yet more. They are now frequent contributors to mathematical magazines and to the official bulletins of learned societies, and not infrequently they are on the editorial staffs of publications devoted exclusively to mathematics.

They are also found as computers in some of the largest astronomical observatories, where the speed and accuracy of their work have evoked the most favorable comment.

Of women in America, who have distinguished themselves by their work in the higher mathematics, it suffices to mention the name of Miss Charlotte Angas Scott, recently deceased, who was for years professor of mathematics in the College of Bryn Mawr. Her writings on various problems of the higher mathematics show that she faithfully followed in the footsteps of her ill.u.s.trious predecessors,--Hypatia, Agnesi, du Chatelet, Germain, Somerville and Kovalevsky.

FOOTNOTES:

[108] "Ipse mulieres Philosophas in libris Veterum s.e.xaginta quinque reperi," _Historia Mulierum Philosopharum_, p. 3, Amstelodami, 1692.

[109] Plato had inscribed above the entrance of his school, [Greek: Oudeis ageometretos eisito]. Let no one enter here who is not a geometer.

[110] Menagius in referring to this matter, op. cit., p. 37, writes as follows: "Meritrices Graecas plerasque humanioribus literis et mathematicis disciplinis operam dedisse notat Athenaeus."

[111] The sentiment of the Greek epigram is well expressed in the following Latin verses:

"Quando intueor te, adoro, et sermones, Virginis domum sideream intuens.

E coelis enim tua sunt opera, Hypatia casta, sermonum venustas, Impollutum astrum sapientis doctrinae."

[112] Among modern works on Hypatia may be mentioned _Hypatia, die Philosophin von Alexandria_, by St. Wolt, Vienna, 1879; _Hypatia von Alexandria_, by W. A. Meyer, Heidelberg, 1886; _Ipazia Alessandrina_, by D. Guido Bigoni, Venize, 1887, and _De Hypatia_, by B. Ligier, Dijon, 1879.

[113] Ambrosius in his preface to the works of Abelard and Heloise refers to the latter as "Clarum sui s.e.xus sidus et ornamentum," and declares "necnon mathesin, philosophiam et theologiam a viro suo edocta, illo solo minor fuit."

[114] Mazzuch.e.l.li says of her in his _Museo_, "Sembra non avervi nella Natura cosa la piu intralciata ed oscura nelle storie, ne finalemente la piu astrusa nelle matematiche e nelle mecchaniche, che a lei conta non sia e palese, e che sfugga la capacita del suo spirito." _Dizionario Biografico_, Vol. I, p. 122, by Ambrogio Levati, Milano, 1821.

[115] _Delle Donne Ill.u.s.tri Italiane del XIII al XIX Secolo_, p. 268, Roma.

[116] The full t.i.tle of this celebrated discourse is _Oratio qua ostenditur Artium liberalium studia a Faemineo s.e.xu neutiquam abh.o.r.ere, habita a Maria de Agnesis Rhetoricae Operam Dante, Anno aetatis suae nono nondum exacto, die 18, Augusti, 1727_. It is found at the end of a work ent.i.tled _Discorsi Academici di varj autori Viventi intorno agli Stuj delle Donne in Padova_, 1729. This subject, it may be remarked, frequently engaged the attention of Maria Gaetana as she advanced in years, for we find it among the questions discussed in her _Propositiones Philosophicae_, pp. 2 and 3, Mediolani, 1738.

[117] M. Charles de Brosses, in his _Lettres Familieres ecrites de l'Italie en 1739 et 1740_, speaks of Agnesi in terms that recall the marvelous stories which are related of Admirable Crichton and Pico della Mirandola. "She appeared to me," he tells us, "something more stupendous--_una cosa piu stupenda_--than the Duomo of Milan." Having been invited to a _conversazione_ for the purpose of meeting this wonderful woman, the learned Frenchman found her to be a "young lady of about eighteen or twenty." She was surrounded by "about thirty people ... many of them from different parts of Europe." The discussion turned on various questions of mathematics and natural philosophy.

"She spoke," writes de Brosses, "wonderfully well on these subjects, though she could not have been prepared beforehand any more than we were. She is much attached to the philosophy of Newton; and, it is marvelous to see a person of her age so conversant with such abstruse subjects. Yet, however much I was surprised at the extent and depth of her knowledge, I was still more amazed to hear her speak Latin ... with such purity, ease and accuracy, that I do not recollect any book in modern Latin written in so cla.s.sical a style as that in which she p.r.o.nounced these discourses.... The conversation afterwards became general, everyone speaking in the language of his own country, and she answering in the same language; for, her knowledge of languages is prodigious."

[118] At the conclusion of an elaborate review of Colton's translation of Agnesi's _Inst.i.tuzioni a.n.a.litiche_ in the _Edinburgh Review_ for January, 1804, the writer expresses himself as follows: "We cannot take leave of a work that does so much honor to female genius, without earnestly recommending the perusal of it to those who believe that great talents are bestowed by nature exclusively on man, and who allege that women, even in their highest attainments, are to be compared only to _grown children_, and have, in no instance, given proofs of original and inventive powers, of a capacity for patient research, or for profound investigation. Let those who hold these opinions endeavor to follow the author of the _a.n.a.lytical Inst.i.tutions_ through the long series of demonstrations, which she has contrived with so much skill and explained with such elegance and perspicuity. If they are able to do so, and to compare her work with others of the same kind, they will probably retract their former opinions, and acknowledge that, in one instance at least, intellectual powers of the highest order have been lodged in the brain of a woman.

"At si gelidus obst.i.terit circ.u.m praecordia sanguis; and if they are unable to attend this ill.u.s.trious female in her scientific excursions, of course, they will not see the reasons for admiring her genius that others do; but they may at least learn to think modestly of their own."

[119] It is surprising how many legends have obtained respecting the life of Agnesi after the publication of her _Inst.i.tuzioni a.n.a.litiche_.

Thus, the writer of the article in the _Edinburgh Review_, above quoted, declares that "she retired to a convent of _blue nuns_,"--a statement that has frequently been repeated in many of our most noted encyclopedias.

In a _Prospetto Biografico delle Donne Italiane_, written by G. C.

Facchini and published in Venice in 1824, it is stated that Maria Gaetana was selected by the Pope to occupy "the chair of mathematics which had been left vacant by the death of her father," while Cavazza in his work _"Le Scuole dell," Antico Studio Bolognese_, pp. 289-290, published in Milan in 1896, a.s.sures us that Gaetana Agnesi taught a.n.a.lytical geometry in the University of Bologna for full forty-eight years. The facts are that neither the father nor the daughter ever taught even a single hour either in this or in any other university. Cf.

_Maria Gaetana Agnesi_, p. 273 et seq., by Luisa Anzoletti, Milano, 1900. This is far the best life of Milan's ill.u.s.trious daughter that has yet appeared. The reader may also consult with profit the _Elogio Storico_ di Maria Gaetana Agnesi, by Antonio Frisi, Milano, 1799, and _Gli Scrittori d'Italia_, of G. Mazzuch.e.l.li, Tom. I, Par. I, p. 198 et seq., Brescia, 1795.

[120] M. Rebiere, in _his Les Femmes dans la Science_, p. 13, Paris, 1897, writes, "Ne pourrait-on aller plus loin et canonizer notre Agnesi?

J'estime, moi profane, que ce serait une sainte qui en vaudrait bien d'autres."

[121] _An Eighteenth Century Marquise, a Study of emilie du Chatelet_, p. 5, by F. Hamel, New York, 1911.

[122] Preface to Mme. du Chatelet's translation of the _Principia_ of Newton, Paris, 1740.

[123] Voltaire's last tribute, "The Divine emilie," or, as Frederick II was wont to call her, "Venus-Newton," concluded with the following verses:

"L'Univers a perdu la sublime emilie; Elle aimait les plaisirs, les arts, la verite; Les dieux, en lui donnant leur ame et genie, N'avaient garde pour eux que l'immortalite."

The universe has lost the sublime emilie; she loved pleasure, the arts, truth; the G.o.ds, in giving her their soul and genius, retained for themselves only immortality.

For further information of this extraordinary woman, see _Lettres de la Mme. du Chatelet, Reunies pour la premiere fois_, par Eugene a.s.se, Paris, 1882.

[124] At the beginning of her correspondence with Gauss, Legendre and Lagrange Mlle. Germain concealed her s.e.x under a pseudonym, "in order,"

as she declared, "to escape the ridicule attached to a woman devoted to science"--_craignant le ridicule attache au t.i.tre de femme savante_.

She, too, suffered from the widespread effects of Moliere's _Les Femmes Savantes_, as had many a gifted woman before her time and as have many others of a much later date.