Women of Science in the French Enlightenment--A Sextet with Nina Gelbart

The Athenaeum was established in 1814 as a subscription library, at a time when the free public library system did not exist and collections of books, available for reading or research, were still mostly limited to institutions, schools or colleges.The Athenaeum of Philadelphia nurtures curiosity in members and neighbors, strengthening community through learning and discourse.The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is one of 16 membership libraries that collaborate through the Membership Libraries Group. Some, like the Charleston (est. 1748), New York Society (est. 1754), and Newport (est. 1741) libraries, date from the 18th Century.

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Nina Gelbart is the author of "Minerva's French Sisters: Women of Science in Enlightenment France"

Nina Rattner Gelbart will discuss her new book, Minerva’s French Sisters: Women of Science in Enlightenment France (Yale UP), which brings back to life from the 1700s six intrepid female investigators of nature: a mathematician, an astronomer, a field naturalist, a botanist, an anatomist and a chemist. Although well-known in their day and admired by such contemporaries as Benjamin Franklin, they have been largely forgotten, obscured by the triumphalist histories of great scientific contributions by men. These women have deservedly begun to attract some scholarly attention in recent years, but here for the first time they are explored in depth and discussed together. Wide-ranging archival research illuminated their contributions and their fascinating life choices, allowing their inspiring work to shine again in the context of the Enlightenment. Their stories demonstrate how courage, curiosity, keen intelligence and perseverance helped them defy the gender conventions of their day to pursue independently the science that they loved. Told in an unorthodox fashion, this group biography highlights its relevance for today’s effort to enhance female presence in the STEM fields. 


Nina Rattner Gelbart is Professor of History and Anita Johnson Wand Professor of Women's Studies at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She has taught courses on the Enlightenment, the French and Haitian Revolutions, History and Film, Herstory, and the History of Science and Medicine, Her work has been supported by awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and by other generous grants. She is the author of two prize-winning books, Feminine and Opposition Journalism in Old Regime France: "Le Journal des Dames", and The King's Midwife: A History and Mystery of Madame Du Coudray, both published by the University of California Press. The women of 18th century France are her passion. In addition to her work on female journalists, midwives, and now scientists, she has an ongoing project about Charlotte Corday, the proud girl from Normandie whose assassination of the French revolutionary Marat in his bathtub was immortalized in David's iconic martyr painting and has been revisited by countless artists even since.

Zoom information will be sent to the email address used during registration the day of the event.Purchase a copy of the book on <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/12358/9780300252569" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bookshop.org</a>

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Women of Science in the French Enlightenment--A Sextet with Nina Gelbart

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Women of Science in the French Enlightenment--A Sextet with Nina Gelbart

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