Women and Science: Byron's Daughter and Harvard Astrologers

Fields Math Prize for Mariam Mirzakhani in 2014 became a sensation of the scientific world. Women in big science are still rare; Mariam was the first to receive the award in 78 years of existence. The arrival of women in the intellectual sphere has postponed the standard social set - for example, the late introduction of contraception and the indecently long ban on a number of civilized countries for women to receive higher education.

What is the story of the legendary Princeton: girls got the right to enter the university only in the 1970s. The hacker of the Second World War, Joan Clark (along with Alan Turing, broke into the German encryption system Enigma) was listed in the group of fellow mathematicians as secretary. Though she studied in Cambridge, she could not get a diploma of mathematics - until 1948, British universities simply did not give them out to women. Russian women were allowed to science by Soviet decree of 1918, allowing them to study on a par with men. They even introduced temporary quotas for female students, however, things moved slowly, so the most ambitious could only dream of the path of the famous Sofia Kovalevskaya - in order to make a scientific career, she had to emigrate to Europe.

What to say about those of women who were engaged in science before the emancipated XX century. Although women's names in science have been found since ancient times (take at least Alexandria Alexandra Hypatia), we know almost nothing about governess scientists or those who received official salaries for working in laboratories. We are trying to fill the gap - at least in order to understand why Mary Somerville will appear on the £ 10 bill this year.

Astrologer from harvard

In December 2016, American writer Dave Soubel published a book about a group of brilliant astronomers who worked at the Harvard Observatory in the 19th century - science owes it unique information about the starry sky. This team of specialists was called "Harvard computers" ("Harvard computers") - and they were all women. With the help of photographic plates, the team of scientists studied the motion, the temperature of stars and the distance between them; their classification, in particular, became famous for one of the members of the group Annie Jump Cannon (her system is still used). Her colleague, Henrietta Leavitt, developed a method for measuring space distances based on cyclical changes in variable stars. The Harvard Calculators worked six days a week, they were paid 25 cents per hour.

The team was formed in 1877: then Edward Pickering, the head of the Harvard Observatory, needed extra hands, and he decided to fill the personnel shortage with the help of the wives, sisters and daughters of the astronomers who worked for him. It turned out that women had acquired the necessary skills for a long time, helping their relatives. Subsequently, the working group was replenished with already graduates.

Among female astronomers of the 19th century there were literal stars - those who managed to leave their own name in history: in honor of Maria Mitchell, they consider her the first professional astronomer among American women, called the comet, which she discovered in 1847 - Miss Mitchell's comet. For this, she received a medal from the Danish king Frederick VI, and her life changed dramatically. In 1848, Mitchell accepted the American Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in her diary she wrote, not without triumph, that "the doors of luxurious mansions," which were previously inaccessible to her, now suddenly opened.

The first among British scientists who were paid for their scientific work was Carolina Herschel. At first she studied singing, but eventually she got into science - under the influence of her brother William, who left music in astronomy. Like the Harvard Evaluators, she began her scientific career with assisting him. In 1781, Caroline's brother discovered the planet Uranus and was appointed personal astronomer of the British crown. Herschel herself became the first woman whose scientific article was published by the Royal Society of London. She opened a total of eight comets, and she was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Girl with banknote

Let's go back to the tartan Mary Somerville. As a teenager she was absorbed in mathematics. After marrying a Russian military, Somerville left her passion for science, but after his sudden death, she returned to Scotland, and at the same time to science, and to the local circle of intellectuals. Her surroundings were, for example, Sir Walter Scott and inventor Charles Babbage - the latter even attended the Sommerville science circle. It is believed that her work influenced the physicist James Maxwell, moreover, it was precisely as if Mary’s reflections on the existence of another planet after Uranus prompted John Adams to predict Neptune.

There is even a historical anecdote about how Somerville's fame has gone beyond the UK. The French mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace, whose work she translated into English, once confessed to her: "Only three women have ever truly understood me. It is you, Mrs. Somerville, Carolina Herschel and Mrs. Grieg, whom I know nothing about" . In fact, Somerville was the very unknown Mrs. Grieg - by the surname of her first husband (this Laplace really did not know).

One of the colleges in Oxford is named after Somerville. Among its graduates are, by the way, former British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and India Indira Gandhi. In 2017, Somerville will become the first woman whose image will be placed on the £ 10 banknote — her candidacy was chosen by popular vote out of nearly 130 applicants.

First programmer

Babbage's other ally, Ada Lovelace, is considered the world's first programmer. As a child she began to get involved in mathematics and at the age of 13 she wrote a small book about the technique of flight ("Flyology"), in which she was actively engaged in research. At the age of 17, at one of the secular evenings, Ada met Charles Babbage, he became not only her friend, but also a mentor in science. Subsequently, Lovelace became the author of the interpretation of the work of the Babbage computer. Few people know that Lovelace was the daughter of an English poet, Lord Byron. Ada's mother, Lady Byron, took her daughter away from her father when she was only a month old. Byron died when Lovelace was not even ten.

Fan inventor

In the XIX century there were not only astronomers, mathematicians and physicists, but also inventors and even electricians among women scientists. Another British woman - engineer and mathematician Hertha Ayrton - patented 26 inventions, among which, for example, a fan. Moreover, a batch of such fans was purchased by the British army in order to protect themselves from toxic fumes in the fields of the First World War. Ayrton came up with another tool for dividing the line into equal parts, which came into use by artists and architects.

In addition, Ayrton dealt with the issue of the flickering and hissing of arc lamps, which in her time were widely used in street lighting. For experimental study of the electric arc in 1906, Ayrton received the Hughes Medal from the Royal Society of London (she was the first woman to win this award).

The list is far from complete, but merely an introductory one. As ironically one of the Harvard companions remarked, "women have always been in the past, although they were not part of the story."

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3)