January 16, 2018 Tuesday
Bedtime Story
True Love of Somerville was always Mathematics
I astray too far from my lady Mary
Somerville and also Lady Ada and so let me get back to these two amazing women.
Somerville’s Connexion was such a huge
success that it went on for ten editions and eventually sold 9000 copies making
it the biggest success for the publisher.
It remained a best seller until Charles
Darwin rocked the world with the launch of his “The Origin of Species” in 1859.
It is incredible that it took a man of Darwin’s
stature to bring down Connexion from its numero uno spot.
Connexion was followed by yet another
financial success by the title of Physical Geography in 1858, released just a
year before Darwin’s pièce de résistance.
This was followed by yet another successful
book: Molecular and Microscopic Science.
By now Somerville had become an established
and successful popular science writer with great financial rewards and acclaim
in the science community.
Yet she was haunted by guilt and shame.
You may wonder what shame or guilt this
excellent woman could be haunted with.
The answer would surprise you: Mathematics.
Mathematics was always her first and last
love and she felt that by devoting herself to writing popular science books which
though had bought to her both fame and decent income, came at the altar of
mathematics.
During her time she was devoting in writing
her fourth book (it took her a decade to finish this one replete as it was with
180 illustrations) she wrote:
“In writing this book I made a great
mistake, and repent it – Mathematics are the natural bent of my mind.
If I had devoted myself exclusively to that
study, I might probably have written something useful, as a new era had begun
in that science.”
In a way perhaps she felt her writing on
popular science was a waste as she could construct nothing new; all it did was
weaving true stories like mine.
Like most mathematicians Somerville lived
really long and died at the age of 91 in Naples, Italy as from 1833 onwards she
and her husband began to spend most of their time over there.
To cap it all Mary Somerville was a very
good friend of Anne Isabelle, mother of Ada Byron and was also well acquainted
with Charles Babbage.
Now you may feel that I have spent an
awfully long time on the tutor of Ada Byron but I would disagree with you as I
had to emphasize the kind of education and the people from whom Lady Ada was
getting education from and that too on a one-to-one basis.
Mary Somerville is most crucial in the
story of analytical engine for another second crucial reason: In 1833 when Ada
was just 18 Mary introduced Ada to Babbage.
That was also the time when Ada Byron was
first presented to the court.
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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