Seduced by Logic: Émilie Du Châtelet, Mary Somerville and the Newtonian Revolution

This is the fascinating story of two women who lives were guided by a passion for mathematics and an insatiable curiosity to know and understand the world around them -- the beautiful, outrageous Émilie du Châtelet and the charmingly subversive Mary Somerville. Against great odds, Émilie and Mary taught themselves mathematics, and did it so well that they each became a world authority on Newtonian mathematical physics. Seduced by Logic begins with Émilie du Châtelet, an 18th-century French aristocrat, intellectual, and Voltaire's lover, whose true ambition was to be a mathematician. She strove not only to further Newton's ideas in France, but to prove that they had French connections, including to the work of Descartes, whom Newton had read. She translated the great Principia Mathematica into French, in what became the accepted French version of Newton's work, and was instrumental in bringing Newton's revolutionary opus to a Continental audience. A century later, in Scotland, Mary Somerville taught herself mathematics and rose from genteel poverty to become a figure of authority on Newtonian physics. Living in France, she became acquainted with the work of one of Newton's protégés, Pierre Simon Laplace, and translated his six-volume Celestial Mechanics into English. It remained the standard astronomy text for the next century, and was considered the most influential work since Principia. Connected by their love for mathematics, Émilie and Mary bring to life a period of remarkable political and scientific change. Combining biography and history of science, Robyn Arianrhod's book explores the roles both women played in bringing Newton's Principia to a wider audience, and reveals the intimate links between the unfolding Newtonian revolution and the origins of intellectual and political liberty.

Table of Contents:
Introduction ; 1 Madame Newton du Chatelet ; 2 Creating the theory of gravity: the Newtonian controversy ; 3 Learning mathematics and fighting for freedom ; 4 Emilie and Voltaire's Academy of Free Thought ; 5 Testing Newton: the'New Argonauts' ; 6 The danger in Newton: life, love and politics ; 7 The nature of light: Emilie takes on Newton ; 8 Searching for 'energy': Emilie discovers Leibniz ; 9 Mathematics and free will ; 10 The re-emergence of Madame Newton du Chatelet ; 11 Love letters to Saint-Lambert ; 12 Mourning Emilie ; 13 Mary Fairfax Somerville ; 14 The long road to fame ; 15 Mechanism of the Heavens ; 16 Mary's second book: popular science in the nineteenth century ; 17 Finding light waves: the 'Newtonian Revolution' comes of age ; 18 Mary Somerville: a fortunate life ; Epilogue: Declaring a point of view

About the Author :
Robyn Arianrhod is an Honorary Research Associate in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University. She is the author of Einstein's Heroes.

Review :
...timely reminder of how little things have changed since the 19th century and how much women of science can accomplish.