Jane Marcet
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Jane Marcet (née Haldimand) (January 1, 1769 – June 28, 1858) was a writer of introductory science books.
She was born in London, to a wealthy Swiss family, and was tutored at home with her brothers. After her marriage in 1799 to Alexander Marcet, a Swiss exile and physician, she settled in London where, through her husband, she had contact with many leading scientists.
After helping to proof-read one of her husband's books, she decided to write her own, and produced expository books on chemistry, botany, religion and economics under the general title "Conversations". The first of these was eventually published as Conversations on Natural Philosophy in 1819, and established a common format in her works: a dialogue between two pupils, Caroline and Emily, and their teacher, Mrs Bryant. Her Conversations on Chemistry was published anonymously in 1805, and became her most popular and famous work. Summarising and popularising the work of Humphrey Davy, whose lectures she attended, it was one of the first elementary science textbooks, going through sixteen editions in England and was an early inspiration to a young Michael Faraday. She also popularized the classical economics of Adam Smith and, particularly, David Ricardo.
Although Marcet's works contained few original ideas and presented content in an informal form, their importance should not be underestimated. Her simple introductions to highly complex subjects were appreciated by those — including adults and males — far outside her intended audience demographic, and provided intellectually rigorous and (in her scientific works) experimentally-oriented material at odds with contemporary feminine pedagogy. Marcet's association with some of the great thinkers and scientists of the era, such as Faraday, Malthus and Ricardo, allowed her works to embrace cutting edge ideas and research.
[edit] Further reading
- Armstrong, Eva (February 1938). "Jane Marcet and her "Conversations on Chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education: 53 – 57.
- Crellin, John K. (July 1979). "Mrs. Marcet's "Conversations on Chemistry". Journal of Chemical Education: 459 – 460.
- Lindee, M. S. (1991). "The American career of Jane Marcet’s Conversations on Chemistry, 1806 – 1853". Isis: 8 – 23.
- Marcet, Jane (1817). Conversations on Chemistry. London: Longman.
- Martineau, Harriet (1869). Biographical Sketches. New York: Leypoldt and Holt, 70 – 76.
- Rosenfield, Louis (2001). "The Chemical Work of Alexander and Jane Marcet". Clinical Chemistry: 784 – 792.
- Rossotti, Hazel (June 2007). "The Woman That Inspired Faraday". Chemistry World: 58 – 61.
- Brief Biography - From the Library of Economics and Liberty
- "Jane Marcet's Books". John H. Lienhard. The Engines of Our Ingenuity. NPR. KUHF-FM Houston. 1992. No. 744. Transcript.
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