Scottish-born English Mathematics Writer 1780–1872

Mary Fairfax Somerville was called the "Queen of Nineteenth-Century Science" by the London Morning Post.

Mary Fairfax Somerville was born December 26, 1780, the fifth of seven children, to Margaret Charters and Lieutenant William George Fairfax. The family lived in Scotland during an era in which it was customary to provide daughters with an education emphasizing domestic skills and social graces. When Somerville was nine years old, her father expressed disappointment with her reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and the following year, Somerville was sent to an expensive and exclusive boarding school. She was very unhappy and left there, her only full-time formal schooling, at the end of the year.

When she was 13, Somerville encountered algebra by chance when looking at a ladies' fashion magazine. At this time, such things as riddles, puzzles, and simple mathematical problems were common features in such...