January 09, 2018 Tuesday
Bedtime Story
Mary Somerville and Her Love for Mathematics
Besides her outdoor activities, during the
spells of bad weather Mary Somerville would spend time reading books.
Her changed behavior was greatly
disapproved of at home as her aunt complained of it being very unwomanly and
this is what she commented after seeing this odd reaction from her household
members:
“I was annoyed that my turn for reading was
so much disapproved of, and thought it unjust that women should have been given
a desire for knowledge if it were wrong to acquire it.”
Very early in her life we see signs of her
inclination for women’s suffrage which was not even at its infancy then.
When a tutor was posted in their home to
educate her younger brother, she asked him to purchase for her elementary books
on algebra and geometry.
This should indeed surprise you as how many
children do you know of, either boys or girls, who actually desire to learn
mathematics for its own sake?
I am sure not even a handful.
In general, most children abhor mathematics
and proudly claim so.
This tutor by the name of Mr. Craw obliged
her request and bought for her two books written by an English teacher of
mathematics John Bonnycastle:
1. Euclid’s ‘Elements’ with notes (1789)
2. Introduction to Algebra (1782)
Mary Somerville would rise early morning to
play piano as that was considered apt for a young lady belonging to an educated
family, paint during the day and stay up awake late at night studying geometry
and algebra.
A fascinating and a rare lady indeed!
She did not just stop here like most of us.
She continued studying mathematics learning
plane and spherical trigonometry, conic sections, astronomy and then finally of
course, Newton’s Principia.
Just look at the list of books she
purchased for her own library at the age of 33 when most women are more
occupied with rearing their infants (and she did have children):
Elements of Mathematics by French
mathematician Louis-Benjamin Francoeur
Algebra and Calculus Treatise by French
mathematician Sylvestre Francois Lacroix
Analytical Geometry and Astronomy by French
physicist, astronomer and mathematician Jean-Baptiste Biot
Treatise on Mechanics by French
mathematician and physicist Simeon Poisson (there is a long list of things in
both mathematics and physics that have been named after him)
Theory of Analytical Functions by Italian
mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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