Mary Fairfax Somerville was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer who supported the emancipation and education of women. She became one of the pioneers of the nineteenth century in scientific studies.

Mary F. Somerville was born in Jedburgh , Scotland , the daughter of a naval officer, Admiral Sir William Fairfax and his second wife Margaret Charters. Her father was away at sea when Mary was born. Her mother was visiting in London , where she saw her husband off on a long sea journey. She broke her journey home in Jedburgh , Scotland and Mary was born there in the church manse, the house of her mother’s sister Martha and her husband Tom Somerville. The family home was in Burntisland in the county of Fife , Scotland .

Inspired by the works of Euclid , she studied algebra and the classics, even though she was strongly discouraged by most of her family. Her Uncle Thomas, however was supportive of her learning. When visiting her uncle in Jedburgh Mary told him that she had been teaching herself Latin. Her uncle was thrilled and encouraged her to further her studies.

When she was about twenty-five years old she married Samuel Greig, a very wealthy many. Three years later she was left a widow with two sons, but also with a considerable fortune.

After the death of her husband, Mary applied herself to a thorough course of mathematics, which was the foundation of her careful scientific writing years later. In 1816 she moved her family to London where she moved in intellectual and scientific circles and corresponded with foreign scientists. After completing her studies she married her cousin Dr. William Somerville, who was of much assistance in her further studies. Dr. Somerville was inspector of the army medical board and, aside from his professional duties, was able to give some time to special scientific pursuits.

While there was no financial necessity for her becoming a writer, she felt compelled to write scientifically. While she possessed ample means and might have been a woman of fashionable leisure, she chose to be a student and add to the world’s treasure of knowledge. She wrote such titles as “The Magnetic Properties of Violet Rays in the Solar Spectrum”, a paper she presented to the Royal Society and “The Celestial Mechanism of the Heavens” a rewrite of Laplace ’s “Mecanique Celeste”, which she was invited to rewrite in a more popular form by Lord Brougham. This was received with great enthusiasm and gave Mrs. Somerville, at once, a reputation as a scientific writer. She later wrote “Connection of the Physical Sciences”, “Physical Geography”, and “Microscopical and Molecular Sciences”. She was honored with membership in the Royal Astronomical Society and several other British and foreign scientific societies. much of the popularity of her writings is due to her clear and crisp style and the author’s underlying enthusiasm which pervaded them.

She gave the years of her early widowhood to studies which most men found anything but attractive. But by the discipline she gained by persistent work, Mary made a place and a name for herself in a department of literature which, in her day and age, was occupied mainly by men, and only a very few women.