Happy birthday to #mathematician & #polymath, Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872). As a young widow she made a name for herself when she won a silver medal in 1811 from the Military College at Marlow math journal. Wallace suggested she read Laplace & finding she understood it as well as her tutor her confidence increased, & she expanded her studies to #astronomy, chemistry, #geography, microscopy, electricity & magnetism.

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#printmaking #womeninstemm #linocut #sciart

#artAdventCalendar Happy birthday to #mathematician & #computerscientist US Navy rear admiral Grace Hopper (1906-1992) who popularized the revolutionary idea of developing machine-independent programming languages based on English.

She began teaching at Vassar in 31 & got PhD (Yale) in 34. She found marriage & teaching less fulfilling & tried to enlist in the Navy, but was rejected then got a special exemption to volunteer 🧵1/n

#MastoArt #printmaking #womenInSTEM #histstm