Melinda: Hello, today I will be interviewing Mrs. Mary Fairfax
Somerville a women in history that deserves recognition as a great scientist.
Mary
Somerville: Thank you child, I'm happy to answer any questions you have.
Melinda: On with the interview then. First of all I'd like to ask you what events in your life do you think started your
interest in science?
Mary
Somerville: I suppose my interest formed from my interest in
algebra. I hadn't had any formal education until I was sent to a Edinburgh boarding school in
adolescence, and my first
experience seeing
algebraic formulas was in a fashion magazine when I was only 15. I began to study and make sense of the equations by myself.
Melinda: Wow I don't think I'd be able to handle educating myself, anyway onto the next question, what role did your mentors have in developing your talents or interests?
Mary
Somerville: Actually I had no mentors, I taught myself. I read the Bible myself, I studied the area around myself by myself and I made sense of
algebra by myself.
Melinda: Thirdly, what were your major accomplishments, the methodologies you used and the principals if science that you upheld?
Mary
Somerville: I actually have written
several scientific books and papers. I wrote a paper entitled "The Magnetic Properties of the Violet Rays of the Solar Spectrum" based on experiments I had done on magnetism in my summer garden, it was the first paper presented to the Royal Society by a woman. Also Caroline Herschel and I were elected to the Royal Astronomical Society, we were the first women in this society.
Melinda: Amazing! What were your limitations as a scientist or a person?
Mary
Somerville: Because I am a woman, not many people at that time were as accepting of my studying of mathematics, not even my family had approved. I did overcome this however, my second husband supported me and because he was in the medical department of the army stationed in London 1815 I accompanied him to lectures at the Royal Institution. Also because of the traditional gender roles members of my family had disapproved of my studies.
Melinda: What were the "accepted" philosophical and/or religious beliefs at the time?
Mary
Somerville: I suppose that Christianity was the most prevalent religion at my time, but the religions had become more accepting of science because of the Enlightenment.
Melinda: How did your ideas fit or differ from the beliefs in the last question?
Mary
Somerville: I did read the Bible and pray as a child, I did not differ much from religious beliefs at the time, I had never contradicted religious beliefs with my work.
Melinda: I see, what major cultural, economic, and political situations were taking place at the time of your work?
Mary
Somerville: Enlightenment had spread,
Industrialization was also taking place, depending on your class you could have been either very rich or very poor, my second husband was a doctor so we were very well off.
Melinda: What artists, musicians, and writers were working at the same time and in the same country as you?
Mary
Somerville: David Cox, Thomas
Creswick, are a few artists I can think of, Chopin and
Schuman were a few musicians and Walter Savage
Landor and Frances Trollope are a few
writers who come to mind.
Melinda:What were the basic demographics of the country during the time you were working?
Mary
Somerville: According to the census there was a population of about 12 million people in England when I first started working and a population of about 20 million or more people when I died, but I died in Italy, not England.
Melinda: How were gender and class roles defined during this time frame?
Mary
Somerville: To be quite blunt, women did not have as many rights as men and were not thought of as high as men were, men worked and women stayed home and cooked, cleaned and raised the children, this was the case in most classes as well. The highest classes rarely worked and socialized often, the middle class worked often and socialized little, and the lower classes worked the most.
Melinda: That's to be expected. Thank you Mrs.
Somerville for letting me interview you.
Mary
Somerville: The pleasure was all mine.
