Mary Somerville: The groundbreaking Scottish polymath who paved the way for women in science

Scottish scientist Mary Somerville has been celebrated with a Google Doodle on the anniversary of one of her most groundbreaking achievements.

On 2 February 1826, an experimental physics paper by Somerville was read by the Royal Society of London – the UK’s prestigious national academy of sciences.

It would become the first paper by a female author to be published in the world’s oldest science publication, Philosophical Transactions, which remains active to this day.

Her work revolutionised the understanding of the solar system at the time and helped astronomer John Couch Adams to discover the planet Neptune.

Somerville, a vocal advocate for equal rights, was also the first person to sign a petition for female suffrage by John Stuart Mill in 1868.

The scientist was born in Jedburgh, Scotland, on 26 December 1790 and spent her early years helping her mother with chores at home, before she was sent to boarding school for a proper education at the age of 10.

It was there that Somerville taught herself astronomy and mathematics, paving the way for her to publish her own scientific papers and books.

Her 1834 book The Connection of the Physical Sciences became one of the best-selling science books of the 19th century and revealed the links between different disciplines of physical science.

Somerville’s work inspired one reviewer to first coin the word “scientist” to describe her multidisciplinary approach.

In 1829, Sir David Brewster, the inventor of the kaleidoscope, wrote that Somerville was “certainly the most extraordinary woman in Europe”.

“Whatever difficulty we might experience in the middle of the nineteenth century in choosing a king of science, there could be no question whatever as to the queen of science,” The Morning Post newspaper said after her death in 1872.

In 2016, the UK’s Institute of Physics introduced the Mary Somerville Medal and Prize for scientists who engage the public through their work.

She was also featured on the Royal Bank of Scotland’s polymer £10 note in 2017, alongside a quote from her best-selling book.

“It is fitting that our most advanced note yet will carry her portrait,” Ross McEwan, then-RBS chief executive, said, in reference to security features on the note which made them difficult to counterfeit.