Two of my favourite female scientists of the past are Dorothea Bate and Mary Somerville. Sadly Dorothea Bate doesn't seem to have left many quotes, unless you can count this one: "I do hate old men who try to make love to one and ought not to in their official positions."
Not inspirational really, but still horribly relevant given how many stories have been surfacing recently about sexual harassment in the sciences. A house fire around the time of her death seems to have destroyed many of her papers, which might explain the lack.
Mary Somerville, on the other hand, did leave a few quotes. A bit long-winded though:
"Who shall declare the time allotted to the human race, when the generations of the most insignificant insect also existed for unnumbered ages? Yet man is also to vanish in the ever-changing course of events. The earth is to be burnt up, and the elements are to melt with fervent heat - to be again reduced to chaos - possibly to be renovated and adorned for other races of beings."
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zvi and
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Date: 2014-05-01 11:44 pm (UTC)Not inspirational really, but still horribly relevant given how many stories have been surfacing recently about sexual harassment in the sciences. A house fire around the time of her death seems to have destroyed many of her papers, which might explain the lack.
Mary Somerville, on the other hand, did leave a few quotes. A bit long-winded though:
"Who shall declare the time allotted to the human race, when the generations of the most insignificant insect also existed for unnumbered ages? Yet man is also to vanish in the ever-changing course of events. The earth is to be burnt up, and the elements are to melt with fervent heat - to be again reduced to chaos - possibly to be renovated and adorned for other races of beings."