Bøger af Mary Somerville

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER V. Secondary Mountain Systems of the Great Continent ? That of Scandinavia? Great Britain and Ireland ? The Ural Mountains?The Great Northern Plain. The Great Northern Plain is broken by two masses of high land, in every respect inferior to those described; they are the Scandinavian system and the Ural mountains, the arbitrary limit between Europe and Asia. The range of primary mountains which has given its form to the Scandinavian peninsula begins at Cape Lindesnaes, the most southerly point of Norway, and, after running along its western coast 1000 miles in a north-easterly direction, ends at Cape Nord Kyn, on the Polar Ocean, the extremity of Europe. The highest elevation of this chain is not more than 8412 feet. It has been compared to a great wave or billow, rising gradually from the east, which, after Laving formed a crest, falls perpendicularly into the sea in the west. There are 3696 square miles of this peninsula above the line of perpetual snow. The southern portion of the chain consists of ridges following the general direction of the range, 150 miles broad. At the distance of 300 miles from Cape Lindesnaes the mountains form a single elevated mass, terminated by a table-land which maintains an altitude of 4500 feet for 100 miles. It slopes towards the east, and plunges at once in high precipices into a deep sea on the west. The surface is barren, marshy, and bristled with peaks; besides an area of 600 square leagues is occupied by the Snae Braen, the greatest mass of perpetual snow and glaciers on the continent of Europe. A prominent cluster of mountains follows, from whence a single chain, 25 miles broad, maintains an uninterrupted line to the island of Megaree, where it terminates its visible career in North Cape, a huge barren rock perpetuall...

Mary Somerville (1780-1872) would have been a remarkable woman in any age, but as an acknowledged leading mathematician and astronomer at a time when the education of most women was extremely restricted, her achievement was extraordinary. Laplace famously told her that 'There have been only three women who have understood me. These are yourself, Mrs Somerville, Caroline Herschel and a Mrs Greig of whom I know nothing.' Mary Somerville was in fact Mrs Greig. After (as she herself said) translating Laplace's work 'from algebra into common language', she wrote On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834). Her intention was to demonstrate the remarkable tendency of modern scientific discoveries 'to simplify the laws of nature, and to unite detached branches by general principles.' This and her next book, the two-volume Physical Geography, also reissued in this series, were enormously influential both within the scientific community and beyond.

These Personal Recollections contain the memoirs and a selection of the correspondence of the nineteenth-century polymath Mary Somerville (1780-1872). The book was first published in 1873, a year after Mary's death, by her daughter Martha, who wrote brief introductions to the text. Mary Somerville is best known for her pioneering scientific publications which include her translation of Laplace's Mecanique Celeste (1831: also resissued in this series); On the Connection of the Physical Sciences (1834); Physical Geography (1848); and On Molecular and Microscopic Science (1869). Through these publications, Somerville made a lasting contribution to the dissemination of scientific knowledge. Somerville's correspondence deals primarily with her public life, while the memoirs offer insight into her private sphere: the discouragement she faced in pursuit of learning; her passion for women's education and suffrage; family life; and personal faith. Her story is compelling, and her experiences may resonate with many women today.

Mary Somerville (1780-1872) was a leading mathematician and astronomer at a time when the education of most women was restricted. Physical Geography (1848) was a synthesis of the natural sciences, drawing on the most recent discoveries to present an overview of current understanding of the natural world.