Western Civilization II / Unit 5 WC2 0414 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Women in the Republic of Science: Merian, the Lavoisiers, du Châtelet
Captions available
The idea
Aristocratic women worked as collaborators and, sometimes, as scientists: Maria Sibylla Merian's entomology and South American expedition, the Lavoisiers' joint chemistry in the eighteenth century, and Émilie du Châtelet, whom the witness names among the era's intellectual leaders.
In practice
Barred from societies and universities by informal rule, not by law.
Where people slip
The anchor's quinine countess is a legend historians doubt; omitted.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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