Woman in Science Part 16

After Miss Klumpke had brilliantly defended her thesis in the Sorbonne, M. Darboux, the president of the jury, complimented the young American doctor on her splendid work and concluded a notable address in her honor in the following laudatory words:

"The great names of Galileo, of Huyghens, of Ca.s.sini, of Laplace, without speaking of those of my ill.u.s.trious colleagues and friends, are attached to the history of every serious step forward made in this attractive and difficult theory of Saturn's rings. Your work const.i.tutes another valuable contribution to the same subject and places you in an honorable rank beside those women who have consecrated themselves to the study of mathematics. In the last century Maria Agnesi gave us a treatise on the differential and integral calculus. Since then Sophie Germain, as remarkable for her literary and philosophical talent as for her faculty for mathematics, won the esteem of the great geometricians who honored our country at the commencement of this century. It is but a few years since the Academy awarded one of its most beautiful prizes which will place the name of Mme. Kovalevsky beside those of Euler and Lagrange in the history of discoveries relative to the theory of the movement of a solid body about a fixed point.... And you, mademoiselle, your thesis is the first which a woman has presented and successfully defended before our faculty for the degree of doctor in mathematics. You worthily open the way, and the faculty unanimously makes haste to declare you worthy of obtaining the degree of doctor."

Besides her thesis just referred to, Miss Klumpke is the author of numerous communications to scientific journals and learned societies regarding her researches on the spectra of stars and meteorites and other allied subjects. For many years she was at the head of the bureau in the Paris Observatory for measuring the photographic plates that are to be used in the large catalogue of stars and map of the heavens which are to const.i.tute the crowning achievements of the International Astronomical Congress. She was the first woman to be elected a member of the Astronomical Society of France, and the character of her work as an observer as well as a computer has given her an enviable position among the astronomers of the world.[150]

In America another woman has won renown among astronomers by successfully executing the same kind of work as was entrusted to Miss Dorothea Klumpke in Paris. For many years Mrs. W. Fleming, with her large corps of women a.s.sistants, had charge of the immense collection of astronomical photographs in the Observatory of Harvard University. To her and her staff were a.s.signed the reductions and measurements of the photographic and photometric work done in Cambridge and Arequipa, Peru.

She was singularly successful in her studies of photographic plates and made many discoveries which astronomers regard of the greatest importance. By such studies she and her a.s.sistants detected many new nebulae, double and variable stars, besides spectra of different types and of rare interest. In addition to this they examined and cla.s.sified tens of thousands of photographs of stellar spectra, a labor which involved countless details of reduction and measurements of exceeding delicacy and skill.

A complete list of the women who, during the past half century, have devoted themselves to the study of astronomy and who have contributed to its advancement by their observations and writings would be a very long one. Among those, however, whose labors have attracted special notice, mention must be made of the Misses Antonia C. Maury, Florence Cushman, Louisa D. Wells, Mabel C. Stephens, Eva F. Leland, Anna Winlock, Annie J. Cannon and Henrietta S. Leavitt, all of whom are on the staff of the Harvard Observatory.

Then, too, there are many women who occupy important positions as professors or a.s.sistant professors in our colleges and universities.

Chief among these in the United States are Sarah F. Whiting, of Wellesley; Mary W. Whitney, of Va.s.sar; Mary E. Boyd, of Smith; Susan Cunningham, of Swarthmore, and Annie S. Young, of Mt. Holyoke. Nor must we forget such able computers as Mrs. Margaretta Palmer, of Yale, and Miss Hanna Mace, the clever a.s.sistant of the late Simon Newcomb in the Naval Observatory in Was.h.i.+ngton.

In the Old World among the women who, during the last few decades, have materially contributed to the progress of astronomy, either as observers and computers or as writers, are Miss Alice Everett, who has done splendid work in the observatories of Greenwich and Potsdam, Misses M.

A. Orr, Mary Ashley, Alice Brown, Mary Proctor--daughter of the late astronomer, R. A. Proctor--Agnes M. and Ellen M. Clerke, and Lady Huggins, of England; Mmes. Jansen, Faye, and Flammarion, in France; the Countess Bobinski, in Russia; and Miss Pogson, in the Observatory of Madras, India.

In conclusion, it is but just to observe that women's work in astronomy has by no means been confined to their contributions as observers, writers and computers. Reference must also be made to the financial aid which they have given to various observatories and learned societies for the furtherance of astronomical research both in the New and the Old World. It must suffice here to recall the endowment at Harvard University of the Henry Draper Memorial, by Mrs. Henry Draper, in order that the work of photographing stellar spectra, which occupied her husband's later years, might be continued under the most favorable auspices, and the munificent sum of fifty thousand dollars given by Miss C. Bruce, of New York, for the construction of a large telescope especially designed for photographing faint stars and nebulae. The photographs taken with this instrument will be used in the preparation of the great chart of the heavens which is to be the joint production of the chief observatories of the world.

FOOTNOTES:

[134] Cf. the preceding chapter, p. 140. See also _Histoire de l'Astronomie Ancienne_, Tom. I, p. 317, par. M. Delambre, Paris, 1817.

[135] "Calor etiam solis in hieme maior est sub terra quam super terram, quod si tunc frigus tantum esset sub terra quam super terram, vel si in aestate calor tantus esset sub terra quantus est super terram, de immoderatione ista terra tota scinderetur." _Hildegardis Causae et Curae_, p. 7, Lipsiae, 1903.

[136] _Commentaire de Theon d'Alexandrie_, p. X, translated by the Abbe Halma, Paris, 1882.

[137] "Enfin de leur faire connoistre qu'elles ne sont pas incapable de l'estude, si elles s'en vouloient donner la peine puisqu'entre le cerveau d'une femme et celui d'un homme il n'y a aucune difference." Cf.

_Journal de Savans_, Tom. III, p. 304, a Amsterdam, 1687.

[138]

D'ou vient qu'elle a l'oeil trouble et le teint si terni?

C'est que sur le calcul, dit-on, de Ca.s.sini, Un astrolabe a la main, elle a, dans la gouttiere, A suivre Jupiter pa.s.se la nuit entiere.

[139] "Celebre inter observatores hujus aevi nomen adeptus est G.o.dfredus Kirchius, astronomus nuper regius in Societate Scienciarum Berlinensi; mense Julio A, 1710 mortuus. Ejus vidua, Maria Magdalena Winckelmannia, non minore in observando et calculo astronomico dexteritate pollet, ac in utroque labore maritum, c.u.m viveret, fideliter juvit ... quod laudi ducitur foeminae ea animo comprehendisse, quae sine ingenii vi studiique a.s.siduitate non comprehenduntur," _Acta Eruditorum_, pp. 78, 79, Lipsiae, 1712.

[140] _Preface Historique_ to _Principes Mathematiques de la Philosophie Naturelle_ par feue Madame la Marquise du Chastellet, Tom. I, p. V, Paris, 1759.

[141] _The Unpublished Correspondence of Madame du Deffand_, Vol. I, pp.

202-203, London, 1810.

[142] Mme. du Deffand's venomous letter, somewhat abridged, reads as follows: "Imagine a tall, hard and withered woman, narrow-chested, with large limbs, enormous feet, a very small head, a thin face, a pointed nose, two small sea-green eyes, her color dark, her complexion florid, her mouth flat, her teeth set far apart and very much decayed; there is the figure of the beautiful emilie, a figure with which she is so well pleased that she spares nothing for the sake of setting it off. Her manner of dressing her hair, her adornments, her top-knots, her jewelry, all are in profusion; but, as she wishes to be lovely in spite of nature, and as she wishes to appear magnificent in spite of fortune, she is obliged, in order to obtain superfluities, to go without necessaries such as under-garments and other trifles.

"She was born with sufficient intellect, and the desire to appear as though she had a great deal made her prefer to study the most abstract sciences rather than more general and pleasant branches of knowledge.

She thought she would gain a greater reputation by this peculiarity and a more decided superiority over other women.

"She did not limit herself to this ambition. She wished to be a princess as well, and she became so, not by the grace of G.o.d nor by that of the King, but by her own act. This absurdity went on like the others. One became accustomed to regard her as a princess of the theatre, and one almost forgot that she was a woman of rank.

"Madame worked so hard to appear what she was not that no one knew what she really was. Even her faults were perhaps not natural. They may have had something to do with her pretensions, her want of respect with regard to the state of princess, her dullness in that of _savante_, and her stupidity in that of a _jolie femme_.

"However much of a celebrity Mme. du Chatelet may be, she would not be satisfied if she were not celebrated, and that is what she desired in becoming the friend of M. de Voltaire. To him she owes the _eclat_ of her life, and it is to him that she will owe immortality." See _Lettres de la Marquise du Deffand a Horace Walpole_, Tom. I, pp. 200-201, Paris, 1824.

As a contrast to this atrocious caricature, it is but due to the memory of Mme. du Chatelet to give her portrait by Voltaire, to whom she was ever the beautiful, the charming Urania, the

"Vaste et puissante genie, Minerve de la France, immortelle emilie."

It is contained in the following verses:

"L'esprit sublime et la delicatesse, L'oubli charmante de sa propre beaute L'amitie tendre et l'amour emporte Sont les attraits de ma belle maitresse."

If the whole truth were known, it would, doubtless, be found somewhere between the above extreme and contradictory views, and the cause of the caustic statements of Mesdames de Stael and du Deffand would probably be found to be quite accurately expressed in the first part of Voltaire's _Epistle on Calumny_, which was written about the beginning of his particular relations.h.i.+p with "the divine emilie." The first lines of this epistle, as translated by Smollett, are:

"Since beautiful, 'twill be your fate, Emelia, to incur much hate; Almost one-half of human race Will even curse you to your face; Possesst of genius, n.o.blest fire, With fear you will each breast inspire; As you too easily confide, You'll often be betrayed, belied; You ne'er of virtue made parade, To hypocrites no court you've paid, Therefore, of Calumny beware, Foe to the virtuous and the fair."

[143] In his work on _Comets_, Clairaut at first gave Mme. Lepaute full credit for her work which had been of such inestimable service to himself; but, in order to gratify a woman who, having pretensions without knowledge, was very jealous of the superior attainments of Mme.

Lepaute, he had the weakness subsequently to suppress his generous tribute to merit. Commenting on this strange conduct of his a.s.sistant, Lalande expresses himself as follows: "We know that it is not rare to see ordinary women depreciate those who have knowledge, tax them with pedantry and contest their merit in order to avenge themselves upon them for their superiority. The latter are so few in number that the others have almost succeeded in making them conceal their acquirements."

[144] _Bibliographie Astronomique_, pp. 676-687, par Jerome de la Lande, Paris, 1803.

[145] _Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel_, p. 144, by Mrs.

John Herschel, London, 1879.

[146] So sensitive was Miss Herschel in her old age regarding the reputation of her brother, William, who had always been her idol and the one in whom she had concentrated all her affection, that she came to look askance at every person and thing that seemed calculated to dull the glory of his achievements. Thus her niece, in writing to Sir John Herschel, after her death, declares: "She looked upon progress in science as so much detraction from her brother's fame; and, even your investigations would have become a source of estrangement had she been with you." In a letter to Sir John Herschel, written four years before her death, she exhibits, in an amusing fas.h.i.+on, her jealous spirit anent the great telescope of Lord Rosse. "They talk of nothing here at the clubs," she writes, "but of the great mirror and the great man who made it. I have but one answer for all--_Der Kerl ist ein Narr_--the fellow is a fool."

Even "Every word said in her own praise seemed to be so much taken away from the honour due to her brother. She had lived so many years in companions.h.i.+p with a truly great man, and in the presence of the unfathomable depths of the starry heavens, that praise of herself seemed childish exaggeration." And notwithstanding the honor and recognition which she received from learned men and learned societies for her truly remarkable astronomical labors, her dominant idea was always the same--"I am nothing. I have done nothing. All I am, all I know, I owe to my brother. I am only a tool which he shaped to his use--a well-trained puppy-dog would have done as much." Op. cit., pp. IX, 335 and 346.

[147] Op. cit., p. 224.

[148] _Memoirs and Correspondence of Caroline Herschel_, ut. sup., pp.

226-227.

[149] _Maria Mitch.e.l.l, Life, Letters and Journals_, compiled by Phebe Mitch.e.l.l Kendall, p. 267 et seq., Boston, 1896.

[150] Miss Klumpke, the reader may be interested in knowing, belongs to a singularly gifted family. Her sister, Augusta, is a distinguished physician and an authority on nervous diseases. Hers is the glory to be the first woman permitted, after an exceptionally severe examination, to serve as _interne_ in the Paris hospitals. Julia, her youngest sister, who achieved distinction as a violinist with Ysaye, was one of the first to pa.s.s the examination required of women entering the Paris _Lycees_, while Anna, the eldest, has won fame as an artist, and as the friend, heiress and executrix of France's famous daughter, Rosa Bonheur.

CHAPTER V

WOMEN IN PHYSICS

Physics, being one of the inductive sciences, received little attention until modern times. True, the Greeks were familiar with some of the fundamental facts of the mechanics of solids and fluids, and had some notions respecting the various physical forces; but their knowledge of what until recently was known as natural philosophy was extremely limited. Aristotle, Pythagoras and Archimedes were among the most successful investigators of their time respecting the laws and properties of matter, and contributed materially to the advancement of knowledge regarding the phenomena of the material universe; but the sum total of their information of what we now know as physics could be embodied in a few pages.

In view of the foregoing facts, we should not expect to find women engaged in the study, much less in the teaching, of physical science during ancient times. And yet, if we are to credit Boccaccio, who bases his statements on those of early Greek writers, there was at least one woman that won distinction by her knowledge of natural philosophy as early as the days of Socrates. In his work, _De Laudibus Mulierum_, which treats of the achievements of some of the ill.u.s.trious representatives of the gentler s.e.x, the genial author of the _Decameron_ gives special praise to one Arete of Cyrene for the breadth and variety of her attainments. She was the daughter of Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, and is represented as being a veritable prodigy of learning. For among her many claims to distinction she is said to have publicly taught natural and moral philosophy in the schools and academies of Attica for thirty-five years, to have written forty books, and to have counted among her pupils one hundred and ten philosophers. She was so highly esteemed by her countrymen that they inscribed on her tomb an epitaph which declared that she was the splendor of Greece and possessed the beauty of Helen, the virtue of Thirma, the pen of Aristippus, the soul of Socrates, and the tongue of Homer.[151]

This is high praise, indeed, but, when we recollect that Arete lived during the golden age of Greek learning and culture, that she had exceptional opportunities of acquiring knowledge in every department of intellectual effort; when we recall the large number of women who, in their time, distinguished themselves by their learning and accomplishment, and reflect on the advantages they enjoyed as pupils of the ablest teachers of the Lyceum, the Portico, and the Academy; when we remember further that they lived in an atmosphere of intelligence such as has since been unknown; when we call to mind the signal success that rewarded the pursuit of knowledge by the scores of women mentioned by Athenaeus and other Greek writers; when we peruse the fragmentary notices of their achievements as recorded in the pages of more recent investigators regarding the educational facilities of a certain cla.s.s of women living in Athens and the eminence which they attained in science, philosophy and literature, we can realize that the character and amount of Arete's work as an author and as a teacher have not been overestimated.