You posted this Monday morning and I was busy all week and so I didn't get to this until now.
But wow, this is one of the best write-ups! The comparative approach is great, and Arianrhod wasn't on my radar. (I'm sure that cahn, like me, is having Mabinogi flashbacks. ;))
However, in her laudable zeal of presenting Émilie as her own woman, not Voltaire's love interest, and arguing against all those years of one sided Voltaire idolisation by biographers...I find she ends up going to the other extreme and simply asssuming the worst with just about everything Voltaire ever said about Émilie.
:/ Yeah, this is why it's so important in this fandom that we keep reading different takes on the same individuals and events. No one person can be trusted on every aspect.
And when he argued with Émilie about Leipniz and Newton, the whole world knew it because he published an essay about it. So you really don't have to look for hidden messages.
Haha.
*drumroll*
Laura Bassi.
Grundy and Zinsser: Who?
Dissertation author: First European woman to be offered a university position. Holder of the chair of experimental physics at the Istituto delle scienze. Shared a (female) patron with Algarotti. Recipient of praise poems for her achievements, 2 by Algarotti. Subject of an article that the Royal Librarian has just tracked down and put in the library:
Many of the tactics that Algarotti would make use of were also employed by several other scholars, both men and women, in trying to advance their careers. However, given that women faced greater restrictions than men did in trying to establish scholarly careers for themselves, they had to adapt these strategies in order to suit the conditions they faced. For an account of the tactics used by an Italian woman contemporary of Algarotti‘s in trying to establish her scholarly career, see Paula Findlen, "Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi," Isis 84, no. 3 (1993).
In other words, I totally recognized her name from the dissertation when I read this, and I just get didn't get to say so because I've been SO BEHIND on comments this week. What I mostly remembered was that she had a university position, but she still wasn't treated as an equal:
Although they managed to make use of the universities and academies in order to pursue serious scientific interests, the women in these institutions were treated very differently from the men. In spite of all her scientific achievements, many of Bassi‘s contemporaries still felt that her membership in the Istituto, as well as her degree and lectureship, should be regarded as purely symbolic. She was only permitted to give three lectures per year at her initial teaching post, the duties of which also included participating in various public ceremonies. In fact, Bassi‘s frustration at the limitations imposed on her teaching by the university led her to begin giving lectures in experimental physics from her home beginning in 1738.
See what I mean?
Yep, Arianrhod definitely seems worth checking out. Like cahn, my reading list is getting unmanageably long! (Made slower by the fact that most of it is in German and the page/time ratio is still pretty low (but getting higher!).)
Thank you so much for the write-up.
Mary Sommerville
!! I researched her at one point, and thought she was super interesting, but that was years ago and I've now forgotten most of what I learned (i.e., my active knowledge has become passive). I wouldn't mind a refresher.
Re: Émilie Tripled
But wow, this is one of the best write-ups! The comparative approach is great, and Arianrhod wasn't on my radar. (I'm sure that
However, in her laudable zeal of presenting Émilie as her own woman, not Voltaire's love interest, and arguing against all those years of one sided Voltaire idolisation by biographers...I find she ends up going to the other extreme and simply asssuming the worst with just about everything Voltaire ever said about Émilie.
:/ Yeah, this is why it's so important in this fandom that we keep reading different takes on the same individuals and events. No one person can be trusted on every aspect.
And when he argued with Émilie about Leipniz and Newton, the whole world knew it because he published an essay about it. So you really don't have to look for hidden messages.
Haha.
*drumroll*
Laura Bassi.
Grundy and Zinsser: Who?
Dissertation author: First European woman to be offered a university position. Holder of the chair of experimental physics at the Istituto delle scienze. Shared a (female) patron with Algarotti. Recipient of praise poems for her achievements, 2 by Algarotti. Subject of an article that the Royal Librarian has just tracked down and put in the library:
Many of the tactics that Algarotti would make use of were also employed by several other scholars, both men and women, in trying to advance their careers. However, given that women faced greater restrictions than men did in trying to establish scholarly careers for themselves, they had to adapt these strategies in order to suit the conditions they faced. For an account of the tactics used by an Italian woman contemporary of Algarotti‘s in trying to establish her scholarly career, see Paula Findlen, "Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi," Isis 84, no. 3 (1993).
In other words, I totally recognized her name from the dissertation when I read this, and I just get didn't get to say so because I've been SO BEHIND on comments this week. What I mostly remembered was that she had a university position, but she still wasn't treated as an equal:
Although they managed to make use of the universities and academies in order to pursue serious scientific interests, the women in these institutions were treated very differently from the men. In spite of all her scientific achievements, many of Bassi‘s contemporaries still felt that her membership in the Istituto, as well as her degree and lectureship, should be regarded as purely symbolic. She was only permitted to give three lectures per year at her initial teaching post, the duties of which also included participating in various public ceremonies. In fact, Bassi‘s frustration at the limitations imposed on her teaching by the university led her to begin giving lectures in experimental physics from her home beginning in 1738.
See what I mean?
Yep, Arianrhod definitely seems worth checking out. Like
Thank you so much for the write-up.
Mary Sommerville
!! I researched her at one point, and thought she was super interesting, but that was years ago and I've now forgotten most of what I learned (i.e., my active knowledge has become passive). I wouldn't mind a refresher.