SHE WAS STILL PUBLISHING SCIENCE AT 89

MARY SOMERVILLE DIDN'T GET THE MEMO ABOUT SLOWING DOWN.

Born in Scotland in 1780, Mary Somerville grew up at a time when serious education for girls was considered largely unnecessary.

That didn't stop her.

She taught herself mathematics, became fascinated by astronomy and science, and eventually became one of the most respected scientific writers of the nineteenth century.

And she certainly didn't disappear quietly as she got older.

At 68, Somerville published Physical Geography. It became her most successful book and remained in use in schools and universities for decades.

Then, in 1869, at the age of 89, she published another major scientific work: Molecular and Microscopic Science.

Think about that for a moment.

At an age when society might have expected a Victorian woman to have withdrawn completely from public intellectual life, Mary Somerville was still writing about atoms, molecules, plant life, animal life and the microscopic world.

In 1835, she and astronomer Caroline Herschel had already made history as the first two women granted honorary membership of the Royal Astronomical Society.

She lived until 91.

And perhaps Mary Somerville's story leaves us with a question worth asking today:

Why are we so obsessed with asking women when they intend to slow down, rather than asking what they intend to do next?

This September, Steampunk Australia celebrates Women Who Built the Future — scientists, inventors, engineers, pioneers and women who refused to accept the limits placed upon them.

It leads to the launch of:

WRINKLES IN THE FABRIC
with Dr Kathryn Spurling

Conversations with remarkable women over 55.

A woman's story doesn't end at 55. Sometimes that's where it gets interesting.

Mary Somerville's Physical Geography was published when she was 68 and her final scientific book when she was 89; the Royal Society also records her and Caroline Herschel's 1835 RAS honour