Mary Somerville, née Fairfax (born 1780, died 1872), well-known for her scientific researches, and for her popular and educational scientific works, was the daughter of Vice-Admiral Sir William George Fairfax, a Scottish naval officer. Mary was a great reader, learned Euclid surreptitiously while quite a girl, and at the same period got up a knowledge of Latin in order to be able to read Newton’s “Principia,” and was educated at a school at Musselburgh, a small town in Midlothian. Her first important contribution to science was made in 1826, when she presented to the Royal Society a paper on the magnetising powers of the more refrangible solar rays, the object of which was to prove that these rays of the solar spectrum have a strong magnetic influence. This paper led to much discussion, which only terminated many years later by the investigations of the German electricians, Riess and Moser, who showed that the action upon the magnetic needle was not caused by the violet rays. In 1831 Mrs. Somerville brought out her original treatise on the “Mechanism of the Heavens,” and in 1834 published a work “On the Connection of the Physical Sciences,” which has been referred to by Humboldt as “the generally exact and admirable treatise.” In 1848 appeared the work by which, perhaps, she is most generally known, her “Physical Geography,” and in 1869, at the age of eighty-nine, she published a volume “On Molecular and Microscopic Science,” which contains a complete conspectus of some of the most recent and most abstruse researches of modern science. Mrs. Somerville was twice married, her first husband being Captain Greig, a naval officer, and her second being her cousin, Dr. William Somerville. In 1835 she received a literary pension of £300. Shortly after her death in December, 1872, a movement was started to commemorate her name, which culminated in the establishment of the Somerville Hall at Oxford, and the Mary Somerville scholarship in mathematics for women.

Personal

  Dined at Murray’s: company, Dr. and Mrs. Somerville, Croker, and Sir David Wilkie and his sister; the first time of my meeting with Croker for many years. Mrs. Somerville, whom I had never before seen so much of, gained upon me exceedingly. So much unpretending womanliness of manner joined with such rare talent and knowledge is, indeed, a combination that cannot be too much admired.

  Made a truly delightful visit to Mrs. Somerville at Chelsea, who is certainly among the most extraordinary women that have ever lived, both by the simplicity of her character and the singular variety, power, and brilliancy of her talents.

  It was delightful to see her always well-dressed and thoroughly womanly in her conversation and manners, while unconscious of any peculiarity in her pursuits. It was delightful to go to tea at her house at Chelsea, and find everything in order and beauty;—the walls hung with her fine drawings; her music in the corner, and her tea table spread with good things. In the midst of these household elegances, Dr. Somerville one evening pulled open a series of drawers, to find something he wanted to show me. As he shut one after another, I ventured to ask what those strange things were which filled every drawer. “O! they are only Mrs. Somerville’s diplomas,” said he, with a droll look of pride and amusement.

  She was seventy-seven years old, but appeared twenty years younger. She was not handsome, but her face was pleasing; the forehead low and broad; the eyes blue; the features so regular, that in the marble bust by Chantrey, which I had seen, I had considered her handsome…. She spoke with a strong Scotch accent, and was slightly affected with deafness…. Mrs. Somerville’s conversation was marked by great simplicity; it was rather of the familiar and chatty order, with no tendency to the essay style…. I could but admire Mrs. Somerville as a woman. The ascent of the steep and rugged path of science had not unfitted her for the drawing-room circle; the hours of devotion to close study have not been incompatible with the duties of wife and mother; the mind that has turned to rigid demonstration has not thereby lost its faith in those truths which figures will not prove.

  So you have remembered me again, and I have the delight of receiving from you a new copy of that work which has so often instructed me; and I may well say, cheered me in my simple homely course through life in this house. It was most kind to think of me; but ah! how sweet it is to believe that I have your approval in matters where kindness would be nothing, where judgment alone must rule. I almost doubt myself when I think I have your approbation, to some degree at least, in what I may have thought or said about gravitation, the forces of nature, their conservation, &c.

  I am now in my 92nd year, still able to drive out for several hours; I am extremely deaf, and my memory of ordinary events, and especially of the names of people, is failing, but not for mathematical and scientific subjects. I am still able to read books on the higher algebra for four or five hours in the morning, and even to solve the problems. Sometimes I find them difficult, but my old obstinacy remains, for if I do not succeed to-day, I attack them again on the morrow. I also enjoy reading about all the new discoveries and theories in the scientific world, and on all branches of science.

  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 every morning, besides managing her house carefully, reading the newspapers (for she always was a keen, and, I must add, a liberal politician) and the most important new books on all subjects, grave and gay. In addition to all this, she freely visited and received her friends. She was, indeed, very fond of society, and did not look for transcendent talent in those with whom she associated, although no one appreciated it more when she found it. Gay and cheerful company was a pleasant relaxation after a hard day’s work. My mother never introduced scientific or learned subjects into general conversation. When they were brought forward by others, she talked simply and naturally about them, without the slightest pretension to superior knowledge. Finally, to complete the list of her accomplishments, I must add that she was a remarkably neat and skilful needlewoman. We still possess some elaborate specimens of her embroidery and lace-work.

  No one can read her autobiography,… without feeling that the woman was far greater than her works.

  This brief outline of Mrs. Somerville’s career cannot fail to convey some idea, however inadequate, of her high mental and moral qualities. The strength and activity of her intellect were early developed in her persevering efforts for the acquisition of knowledge; her firmness of purpose withstood the opposition of her friends and the cold indifference of her first husband; she would neither forsake nor suspend the studies which were as essential to her as her daily bread. Her firm grasp of all which she undertook is worthy of notice. She never seems to have known mistrust of her own powers; the only fear which ever arose in her mind was from the inherent impossibility of the task. The high place to which she attained in the most difficult branches of science shows that she did not misjudge her capabilities.

  One of the most striking things about her was the many-sided character of her mind. Some people—men as well as women—who are scientific or mathematical seem to care for nothing but science or mathematics; but it may be truly said of her that “Everything was grist that came to her mill.” There was hardly any branch of art or knowledge which she did not delight in. She studied painting under Mr. Nasmyth in Edinburgh, and he declared her to be the best pupil he had ever had. Almost to the day of her death she delighted in painting and drawing. She was also an excellent musician and botanist. The special study with which her name will always be associated was mathematics as applied to the study of the heavens, but she also wrote on physical geography and on microscopic science.

  By far the best and dearest of my friends in Florence, however, was one who never came up our hill, and who was already then an aged woman—Mrs. Somerville. I had brought a letter of introduction to her, being anxious to see one who had been such an honor to womanhood; but I expected to find her an incarnation of science, having very little affinity with such a person as I. Instead of this, I found in her the dearest old lady in all the world, who took me to her heart as if I had been a newly-found daughter, and for whom I soon felt such tender affection that sitting beside her on her sofa, (as I mostly did on account of her deafness) I could hardly keep myself from caressing her. In a letter to Harriet St. Leger I wrote of her: “She is the very ideal of an old lady, so gentle, cordial and dignified, like my mother; and as fresh, eager, and intelligent now, as she can ever have been.” Her religious ideas proved to be exactly like my own; and being no doubt somewhat athirst for sympathy on a subject on which she felt profoundly (her daughters differing from her), she opened her heart to me entirely.

  Her grasp of scientific truth in all branches of knowledge, combined with an exceptional power of exposition, made her the most remarkable woman of her generation. Nor did her abstruse studies exclude the cultivation of lighter gifts, and she excelled in music, in painting, and in the use of the needle. Her endowments were enhanced by rare charm and geniality of manner, while the fair hair, delicate complexion, and small proportions which had obtained for her in her girlhood the sobriquet of “the rose of Jedburgh,” formed a piquant contrast to her masculine breadth of intellect. Her contributions to science were recognised by various learned bodies. The Royal Astronomical Society elected her an honorary member, and the Victoria gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society was conferred on her in 1869. A similar distinction was awarded her by the Italian Royal Geographical Society, and her name was commemorated after her death in the foundation of Somerville Hall and in the Mary Somerville scholarship for women in mathematics at Oxford.

General

  Less ambitious in title [“Physical Geography”] and form than the “Cosmos” of Humboldt, the works of Mrs. Somerville embrace really the whole scope of his design, and, as I think, with a more lucid definition and arrangement of the subjects it includes.

  It is a work [“Connexion of the Physical Sciences”] full of interest, not only to the student of advanced science, but to the general reader. In saying this we indicate its chief merit and its most marked defect. It is impossible to conceive that any reader, no matter how advanced or how limited his knowledge, could fail to find many most instructive pages in this work; but it is equally impossible to conceive that any one reader could find the whole work, or even any considerable portion, instructive or useful.

  This [“Physical Geography”] was the fruit of much study and research; but, just as she was preparing to print, Humboldt began the publication of his “Cosmos.” Her first impulse was to throw her own manuscript into the fire; and it was doubtless only the good sense of her husband which prevented her from doing so foolish a thing. “Don’t be rash,” said he: “consult some of our friends,—Herschel for instance.” So the manuscript was sent to Sir John Herschel, who unhesitatingly advised its publication; and it was shortly afterward given to the world, and was everywhere welcomed as an important contribution to a very attractive department of knowledge.

  This work at once achieved for its authoress a high place among the cultivators of physical science. The “Mechanism of the Heavens” commanded the hearty and kindly expressed approbation of Sir John Herschel, and Professor Whewell wrote a sonnet in its praise. It became a classbook at Cambridge. That Mrs. Somerville should have found time, in the midst of ordinary duties, to write a work requiring such depth of thought, is remarkable. One thing that helped her was a power of laying down and taking up a subject at pleasure; she was also indebted to a singular capacity for abstracting the mind from what was going on before her eyes. She could hear a great deal of silly talk, or some ridiculous harangue, and be thinking all the time about mathematical problems.

  Mary Somerville has probably no rival among women as a scientific scholar…. It is not exaggeration to say that Mrs. Somerville distinctly raised the world’s estimate of woman’s capacity for the severest and the loftiest scientific pursuits. She possessed the most extraordinary power of concentration, amounting to an entire absorption in the subject which she happened to be studying, to the exclusion of all disturbing sights and sounds. She had in a supreme degree that which Carlyle calls the first quality of genius, an immense capacity for taking trouble. She had also, happily for herself, an immense capacity for finding enjoyment in almost everything: in new places, people, and thoughts; in the old familiar scenes and friends and associations. Hers was a noble, calm, fully-rounded life.

  It is possible that Mrs. Somerville profited somewhat in reputation by her coincidence with the period of “diffusion of useful knowledge.” But she had real scientific knowledge and real literary gifts; and she made good use of both.