Mary Ward (scientist)
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Mary Ward (b. Mary King, April 1827 in Ballylin, County Offaly, Ireland; d. 31 August 1869) was a multi-skilled scientist in the microscopic and telescopic fields.
She had the misfortune to fall under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins. This happened on 31 August 1869, and may make her the earliest motor vehicle accident victim.
In the nineteenth century, when most women received little education or encouragement for interest in science, Mary Ward was unusual.
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[edit] Early life
Born in 1827, she and her sisters were educated at home, as were most girls at the time. However, her education was slightly different from the norm because she came from a renowned scientific family. She took an interest in nature from an early age, and by the time she was three she was collecting insects.
[edit] Interests
She became a keen stargazer, like her cousin William Parsons. He was building what would later become the world’s largest reflecting telescope, the Leviathan of Parsonstown, with a six-foot mirror. Mary often visited him at his home and, as she was an excellent artist, sketched each stage of the process. These sketches, along with photographs taken by William’s wife, were used when the telescope was restored recently.
Mary also drew insects, and the astronomer James South observed her doing so one day. She was using a magnifying glass to see the tiny details, and her drawing so impressed James that he immediately persuaded her father to buy her a microscope. For Mary, this was the beginning of a lifelong passion.
She began to read everything she could find about microscopy, and taught herself until she knew more than most experts. She made her own slides from slivers of ivory, as glass was hard to come by, and prepared her own specimens. The physicist David Brewster asked her to make his microscope specimens, and used her drawings in many of his books and articles.
[edit] Distinctions
Universities and societies would not accept women, but Mary got information any way she could. She frequently wrote to scientists, asking them about papers they had published. In 1848, Parsons was made President of the Royal Society, and visits to his London home meant she was surrounded by scientists.
She had the honour of being one of only three women on the mailing list for the Royal Astronomical Society. Of the others, one was Queen Victoria and the other was Mary Somerville, a trailblazing scientist after whom Somerville College at Oxford University was named.
[edit] Publications
When Mary wrote her first book, 'Sketches with the microscope', she believed that no one would print it because of her sex. She published 250 copies of it privately, and several hundred handbills were distributed to advertise it. The run sold out in weeks, and this was enough to make a London publisher take the risk and sign her up. The book was reprinted eight times between 1858 and 1880, and became a bestseller.
She wrote two further books, one of which was a beginner’s guide to astronomy, and several articles. She illustrated all her own work and many books and papers by other scientists.
[edit] Death
Unfortunately, just as Mary was well known in life, she was well known in death. She has the distinction of being the first fatality in a car accident. William Parsons’ sons, as keen on mechanics as their father, had built a steam-powered automobile. It had been thought that steam transport would be the next big thing in the mid-1800s, but although trains certainly caught on, cars didn’t fare so well. They were unreliable, and they did too much damage to the already uneven roads. In 1865 the Red Flag Act imposed a strict speed limit of four miles an hour in the country and two miles an hour in the town. This effectively put an end to the steam car, but some enthusiasts still had one, often home made, like the Parsons’ vehicle.
Mary and her husband were traveling in it with the Parsons boys and their tutor in 1869, when Mary was thrown from the car on a bend in the road. She fell under its steel wheel and died almost instantly. When a doctor, who lived opposite the scene of the accident, arrived within moments, he found her cut, bruised and bleeding from the ears. The fatal injury was a broken neck.
Mary’s microscope, accessories, slides and books are on display in Castle Ward, in County Down, her husband’s home. Castle Birr, William Parsons’ home in County Offaly, is also open to the public.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Irish Universities Promoting Science Group. Profile of Mary Ward. Retrieved on May 30, 2005.
