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.
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