When writing Her Saving Grace, I was prepared for a backlash
from the historical puritans (which so far, hasn’t come) but it might surprise
many people to know that the science loving, polymath, Damaris Wellesley, is based on real people.
Now when we think women and science, especially the origins
of women in science, we perhaps think of Marie Curie, or she would at least be
high on our list, but while she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, she
was far from the first female scientist.
Science didn’t begin as we know it today with structure and
form, overseen by teachers, conducting experiments that thousands have done
before and if one wishes to pursue a career in science, getting a job working
for a profit company, or working for a university and applying for research
grants.
Granted, many scientists did teach at universities, but just
as many if not more, did not. Science was, to my modern understanding, more
what might be considered a hobby. Wealthy men with money, no profession, time
and curiosity, set up rooms or laboratories and thought about stuff, then set
about devising ways to prove the conclusions that had come to. They dabbled in
science, almost. The gifted could also be supported by scientific institutions
or wealthy patrons, although they were most certainly middle class, or raised
and educated by a charitable institution.
