During a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard there was one woman who rose above her implied standard and changed the way we forever view and interpret science and mathematics, her name was Mary Fairfax Somerville. Mary Fairfax
Somerville was born in the year 1780 in Jedburgh, Scotland. Her father was a vice admiral in the
British Navy and therefore, rarely home, and it is said her mother encouraged her only to read the bible and say her prayers. Intellectual studies were discouraged for the girls in her household, therefore, she was not formally educated. Despite this, as a teenager she studied simple arithmetic, algebra, Latin, and astronomy in her free time and eventually became infatuated with the scientific world.
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Growing up, Somerville was extremely independent, yet eager to please her elders.
Therefore, she typically physically conformed to the ideals of society, which believed a woman’s place was at home and in the kitchen. However, mentally she had control and free range, which allowed her a much needed escape into the intellectual world that fascinated her. In 1804,
When Mary Fairfax Somerville was twenty four years old, she was forced to marry a distant cousin of hers, who was in the Russian Navy. Like her family, he also discouraged her studies.
However, in 1807, after only three short years of marriage, which produced two children, he sadly passed away. However, after his death she was left with a wealthy inheritance. Now a widow and financially secure, Somerville had the freedom to focus solely on her education and she quickly surrounded herself with other intellects who for once recognized her abilities and encouraged her ideas and talents.
One of Mary Fairfax Somerville’s first recognized achievements was completing a mathematical problem from the London published, math journal, “Mathematical
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However, Mary Fairfax Somerville’s contributions to mathematics and science were undeniable and that same year she was awarded Victoria Gold Medal at the Royal Geographic
Society of London, the Geographical Society of Florence's Victor Emmanuel Gold Medal, and elected to the American Philosophical Society. Reserving her spot as one of the most influential women of the time.
At the wise age of ninety one, Mary Fairfax Somerville was still doing what she loved.
Studying, interpreting, learning, and informing. She had the gift of intelligence and a love for numbers and all things science. She understood that math and science go hand in hand and most things can be explained logically. She was actually still working on a piece when she sadly passed in 1872, in Naples, Italy. Though Somerville has long passed, her legacy and influence live on. Mary Fairfax Somerville is widely recognized as one of the most influential women of her time. In my opinion, Somerville changed the way women were viewed as well as the way women viewed themselves. For her research and achievements Somerville has been greatly recognized and commemorated including, Oxford University’s establishment of
... an excellent teacher who inspired all of her students, even if they were undergraduates, with her huge love for mathematics. Aware of the difficulties of women being mathematicians, seven women under her direction received doctorates at Bryn Mawr. Anna took her students to mathematical meetings oftenly. She also urged the women to participate on an equal professional level with men. She had great enthusiasm to teach all she knew about mathematics. She loved learning all she could about mathematics. Anna was a big contributor to mathematics. Anna was gifted in this department. She spent most of her life trying to achieve her accomplishments. She truly is a hero to women. She achieved all of these accomplishments when women mathematicians were very uncommon. She deserved all the awards and achievements she won. Judy Green and Jeanne Laduke, science historians, stated,
Mary Eugenia Surratt, née Jenkins, was born to Samuel Isaac Jenkins and his wife near Waterloo, Maryland. After her father died when she was young, her mother and older siblings kept the family and the farm together. After attending a Catholic girls’ school for a few years, she met and married John Surratt at age fifteen. They had three children: Isaac, John, and Anna. After a fire at their first farm, John Surratt Sr. began jumping from occupation to occupation.
Mary MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on January the 15th 1842. She was the first child to Alexander MacKillop and Flora MacDonald. Mary was one child out of 8 and spent most of her childhood years looking after and acting like a second mother to her siblings. The MacKillop family were quite poor so at the young age of 14, Mary got herself a job as a governess and as teacher at a Portland school. All the money Mary earned went towards her families everyday living. While working as a governess, Mary met Father Julian Tension Woods. By the time Mary had reached the age of 15 she had decided that she wanted to be a nun. She also wanted to devote her life to the poor and less fortunate. So upon meeting Father Julian Tension Woods she told him her hopes and dreams, and together they decided to set up a school. In 1861, they worked together and opened Australia's first free Catholic school. At the time only the rich could afford schooling. But at the school Mary opened anyone was welcome. Mary was a great teacher and became very popular within the community. Although Mary was very pleased with her work she still felt a religious calling. So Mary and Father Woods started their own order, 'The Sisters of St. Joseph.' In 1867 Mary then moved to Adelaide where she opened another school. Before long there were 17 schools open across Australia. Mary's followers grew and by 1909 she had followers all over Australia. Mary later died on the 8th of August 1909.
One of the leading black female activists of the 20th century, during her life, Mary Church Terrell worked as a writer, lecturer and educator. She is remembered best for her contribution to the struggle for the rights of women of African descent. Mary Terrell was born in Memphis, Tennessee at the close of the Civil War. Her parents, former slaves who later became millionaires, tried to shelter her from the harsh reality of racism. However, as her awareness of the problem developed, she became an ardent supporter of civil rights. Her life was one of privilege but the wealth of her family did not prevent her from experiencing segregation and the humiliation of Jim Crow laws. While traveling on a train her family was sent to the Jim Crow car. This experience, along with others led her to realize that racial injustice was evil. She saw that racial injustice and all other forms of injustice must be fought.
paved the way for religious freedom. She was a great leader in the cause for
Jane Addams is recognized as a social and political pioneer for women in America. In her biography, which later revealed her experiences in Hull House, she demonstrates her altruistic personality, which nurtured the poor and pushed for social reforms. Although many of Addams ideas were considered radical for her time, she provided women with a socially acceptable way to participate in both political and social change. She defied the prototypical middle class women by integrating the line that separated private and political life. Within these walls of the settlement house, Addams redefined the idea of ?separate spheres,? and with relentless determination, she separated herself from the domestic chores that woman were confined to during the later half of the nineteenth century which led to the twentieth one.
Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.” Nineteenth Century Literature March 1966: 102-106. Jstor. On-line. 10 Nov. 2002.
...er contributions to society to a 5 page paper. She did amazing things to improve society as a whole. During her lifetime she was an, author, philosopher, women and children’s rights activist, humanitarian, scholar, sociologist, social worker, social leader, and founder of many programs still in place today. Her ideas continue to influence social, political and economic reform all over the world. I think it would be fair to say it is a blessing she was born in a time that made her type of work more difficult. She worked tirelessly to produce much needed changes that we benefit from today. Often times as Americans we take for granted the freedoms and protections are given to us, not taking into consideration the backbone that was necessary to make them happen. I am thankful for the opportunity to study and become more familiar with such an amazing woman of history.
He was a summer intern at the law business she worked for, and she was assigned as a mentor to him. They eventually fell in love and married in October 1992. She is a very committed mother and considers her family her first priority.
...eves that all people can benefit from equality of the sexes. By her own commitment to bettering the education of women and by reevaluating past women's history, Murray helped to usher in a "new era in female history."
Mary Wollstonecraft lived with a violet and abusive father which led her to taking care of her mom and sister at an early age. Fanny Blood played an important role in her life to opening her to new ideas of how she actually sees things. Mary opened a school with her sister Eliza and their friend Fanny Blood. Back then for them being a teacher made them earn a living during that time, this made her determined to not rely on men again. Mary felt as if having a job where she gets paid for doing something that back then was considered respected than she wouldn’t need a man to be giving her money. She wasn’t only a women’s right activist but she was a scholar, educator and journalist which led her to writing books about women’s rights.
She learns geography, history, art and French fluently. She is taught how to be a teacher, and how to be employed, which was not typical for a woman of her time.
...acknowledged as the greatest women mathematician of the 1900’s, even though she had to go through many obstacles and chauvinism. She was the first women to be accepted into a major college. She proved many of the stereotypes that women were considered to be erroneous, which in the long run also made her a famous person. She was the one who discovered the associative law, commutative law, and the distributive law. These are the Laws that make the basics for Algebra, Geometry, and Basic math. All together she has unquestionably earned the title as the most famous woman mathematician of the 1900’s.
Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London on April 27th of 1759 to a poor family of 7 children where she was the second. She did not receive any formal education; only her brother, Edward, was to have that advantage. Her father was a tyrannical man who abused and bullied her mother. When Mary reached the age of 19, she decided to leave home and find her own way in life. She could not tolerate seeing a woman mistreated by her man, and so she helped her sister, Eliza, by hiding her from her husband until she got separated.