{"id":3698,"date":"2012-12-09T22:25:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T11:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stumblingpast.wordpress.com\/?p=3698"},"modified":"2022-08-04T00:25:27","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T00:25:27","slug":"seduced-by-logic-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/2012\/12\/09\/seduced-by-logic-a-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Seduced by Logic: a review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Book<\/a>
Seduced by Logic by Robyn Arianrhod, University of Queensland Press, 2011.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robyn Arianrhod has written a fascinating history of science about two female mathematicians who played an important role in disseminating Newtonian physics in Europe.\u00a0 Seduced by Logic<\/i><\/a> is the tale of eighteenth century French aristocratic, Emilie du Ch\u00e2telet, and Scottish<\/em> woman, Mary Somerville, who rose to fame during the nineteenth century.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a history for the lay person about what these women did and how they thought mathematically.\u00a0 It is about how women challenged stereotypes and confronted the kind of prejudice that still exists today.<\/p>\n

For much of history women have been regarded as incapable of tackling science or maths. Consequently neither Emilie du Ch\u00e2telet nor Mary Somerville received maths or science education while growing up.\u00a0 Emilie and Mary had to learn by reading books and corresponding with mathematicians. Emilie was fortunate enough to be able to pay for personal tutors to teach her.<\/p>\n

Emilie du Ch\u00e2telet wrote a French translation of Newton\u2019s treatise, Principa,<\/i> complete with extensive commentary explaining the scientific developments arising from Newton\u2019s ground-breaking work.\u00a0 This was in the face of scepticism about Newton\u2019s theories by many of the leading scientists of the day.\u00a0 Her translation is still well-regarded today.\u00a0 Mary Somerville\u2019s translation and explanation of Celestial Mechanics<\/i> written by the prominent French scientist, Pierre-Simon Laplace, was adopted as a textbook for students studying advanced astronomy at Cambridge University.\u00a0 They did this despite being told from a very young age that women were not capable of thinking mathematically, despite the disapproval of some who regarded such work unladylike, despite not being able to join the scientific societies and universities which were the hub of much of the ground-breaking scientific debate.\u00a0 The ambition, perseverance and the talent of these women was extraordinary.<\/p>\n

Emile du Ch\u00e2telet was a dramatic person whose lover was none other than Voltaire. In contrast Mary Somerville had a more sedate personality.\u00a0 This poses difficulties for an author who wants to give each person roughly equal coverage in a book, particularly when the more vivid personality needs to be covered first.\u00a0 Every death is tinged with sadness but Emilie\u2019s death was sudden and tragic.\u00a0 In contrast the chapters covering Mary\u2019s younger years following the account of the passing of Emilie brings the reader back to terra firma. There is a risk that the life of Emilie may overshadow the life of Mary in the reader\u2019s mind as broadcaster, Ramona Koval, demonstrated in this interview<\/a> of the author.<\/p>\n

Could Robyn Arianrhod have handled the transition better?\u00a0 Possibly, but this shows the author\u2019s priorities.\u00a0 She is committed to relating the history of these significant female Newtonian mathematicians.\u00a0 Sometimes history does not bend easily to the dictates of dramatic structure.<\/p>\n

Robyn Arianrhod is also a mathematician. She truly appreciates the feats of the women she is writing about and displays the kind of empathy and insights that only a fellow mathematician could share:<\/p>\n

It is utterly exhilarating to follow through a complex chain of reasoning and come to an absolutely certain conclusion that can be summed up in a single sentence, or to prove a complex statement in a few elegant, unassailable lines.\u00a0 But the path to such an achievement is often excruciatingly delicate\u2026 Solving new mathematical problems often involves pages and pages of calculations, each line of which must be absolutely correct.\u00a0 Something as simple as a missed minus sign thirty pages back can render the whole lot useless\u2026 Worse, the thrill of apparent success can be ruthlessly ripped away when one cautiously, meticulously, with beating heart, checks and rechecks an exciting conclusion, only to discover a tiny mistake buried deep within those arcane hieroglyphics.\u00a0 Emilie\u2019s statement about needing a head and a constitution of iron is exactly right!<\/p>\n

(p. 151)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This book is not a literary biography. \u00a0Robyn Arianrhod is more interested in understanding the mathematical minds of these women and the obstacles they had to overcome to produce their work, than exploring their whole lives or the periods in which they lived.\u00a0 She tells an entertaining story about their social world and domestic life where it impacted their mathematical endeavours but it is the maths and science that Mary and Emilie engaged with that is the focus of the book.\u00a0 Various scientific theories are discussed in the body of the book and a more thorough exposition of these theories can be found in the appendix.\u00a0 This works well.\u00a0 It allows the reader to choose how to read the book.\u00a0 There is enough other material of interest in the book for the reader who does not wish to explore the science in any depth, while those interested in understanding some of the scientific concepts discussed are also satisfied.<\/p>\n

I agree with book reviewer, Lisa Hill<\/a>, that the author\u2019s overuse of the word \u2018recall\u2019 can grate.\u00a0 When she wants to draw the reader\u2019s attention to something covered earlier in the book Robyn Arianrhod invariably says \u2018recall that [name of person]\u2026\u2019\u00a0 I was also irritated by the missing \u2018to\u2019 in phrases such as \u2018write him\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

However, I disagree with Laura J Snyder <\/a>who wrote in her review of this book, \u201cMs. Arianrhod insists on the all-too-common affectation of calling her female protagonists by their first names and the scientific men around them by their last. This has the unintended effect of infantilizing her heroines.\u201d\u00a0 It is difficult researching women in history because they were generally referred to by their husband\u2019s names with a female honorific.\u00a0 Which \u2018Mrs John Smith\u2019 in a historical account is the particular one that the researcher is interested in?\u00a0 Is \u2018Mrs John Smith\u2019 the wife or her mother in law? For most women in history their first name(s) are effaced in the archival records adding to the difficulty of researching women yet it this is the name that stays with them from birth to death.\u00a0 Mary Somerville started life as Mary Fairfax, then became Mary Greig before becoming Mary Somerville. Strictly speaking if Robyn Arianrhod was to refer to Mary Somerville correctly by her surname she would have to change the surname throughout the book as Mary married and remarried potentially confusing the reader. \u00a0Historically gender is obscured by referring to a person by their surname only, which can lead to assumptions that the person being discussed must be male.<\/p>\n

This book was very personal to me.\u00a0 The last birthday present that I gave to my father before he died was a biography of Newton complete with extracts from his Principa<\/i> \u2013 an ideal present for my engineer father.\u00a0 This book made me think about him and his interest in the history of science.\u00a0 But I was astonished when I came to an explanation of the field of spectroscopy in the latter pages.\u00a0 My mother worked in spectroscopy laboratories after she left school so the word was already familiar with me (though unfortunately the science behind it was not).\u00a0 This prompted me to phone my mother and interview her about her work.\u00a0 Look out for a blog post about this next year.<\/p>\n

This book has also reminded me how much I enjoy reading about the history of science.\u00a0 Scientists who I have read about before popped up in this book, such as some of the people covered by Jenny Uglow in The Lunar Men<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/i>I must review that book next year.\u00a0 I am also looking forward to reading a biography about Mary Somerville by Dorothy McMillan<\/a> when it is published.\u00a0 It will be interesting to contrast how a scholar of English literature approaches Mary Somerville\u2019s life with the perspective given here by the mathematician, Robyn Arianrhod.\"Logo<\/a><\/p>\n

I recommend\u00a0Seduced by Logic<\/em> if you enjoy reading popular science books or if you are interested to know more about the contribution women have made to science.<\/p>\n

This is my final review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge<\/a> in 2012.\u00a0 I am looking forward to the 2013 Challenge and have signed up already.\u00a0 If you would like to participate in this Challenge next year click here <\/a>to sign up.<\/em><\/p>\n

Postscript<\/em><\/h2>\n

For all those reading this post on the 10th December, check out the Ada Lovelace google doodle.\u00a0 This is in recognition of the 197th anniversary of her birth.\u00a0\u00a0Ada Lovelace<\/a> was born in 1815 and worked with Charles Babbage<\/a>, the inventor of a precursor to the modern computer.\u00a0 She wrote a program for Babbage’s machine which is now recognised as the world’s first computer program.\u00a0 Mary Somerville mentored Ada Lovelace – a fact only mentioned in passing by Arianrhod.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have just finished reading Robyn Arianrhod’s book, Seduced by Logic. It is a fascinating history of science about two female mathematicians who played an important role in disseminating Newtonian physics in Europe. In this book review I give you a little taste of the story of these women, one of whom lived in eighteenth century France and the other was a Scottish woman who rose to fame during the nineteenth century. It is a book that I recommend to anyone who enjoys reading popular science or who want to know more about the important contribution these women made to science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,5],"tags":[106,110,194],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Yvonne Perkins","author_link":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/author\/yvonne\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7154,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3698\/revisions\/7154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stumblingpast.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}