Newton's explanations of natural laws shattered the way mankind perceived the universe, and hence were not immediately embraced. How can anyone warm to a force that could not be seen or touched? But for two women, separated by time and space but joined in their passion for Newtonian physics,
that force drove them to great achievements. Brilliant, determined, and almost entirely self-taught, they dedicated their lives to explaining and disseminating Newton's discoveries.
Robyn Arianrhod's Seduced by Logic tells the dual biography of Émilie du Châtelet and Mary Somerville,
who, despite living a century apart, were connected by their love for mathematics and their places at the heart of the most advanced scientific society of their age. When Newton published his revolutionary theory of gravity in 1687, most of his Continental peers rejected it for its reliance on
physical observation and mathematical insight and its lack of religious or metaphysical hypotheses. But the brilliant French aristocrat and intellectual Émilie du Châtelet and some of her early eighteenth-century Enlightenment colleagues - including her lover, Voltaire - realized the Principia
Mathematica had changed everything, marking the beginning of theoretical science as a predictive, quantitative, and secular discipline. Émilie devoted herself to furthering Newton's ideas in France, and her translation of the Principia became the accepted French version of his work. Almost a century
later, in Scotland, Mary Somerville taught herself mathematics and rose from genteel poverty to become a world authority on Newtonian physics. Living in France, she became acquainted with the work of one of Newton's protégés, Pierre Simon Laplace, and translated his six-volume Celestial Mechanics
into English. It remained the standard astronomy text for the next century, and was considered the most influential work since Principia.
Combining biography and history of science, Seduced by Logic not only reveals the fascinating story of two incredibly talented women, but also brings
to life a period of dramatic political and scientific change. With lucidity and skill, Arianrhod reveals the intimate links between the unfolding Newtonian revolution and the origins of intellectual and political liberty.
Introduction
1. Madame Newton du Chatelet
2. Creating the theory of gravity: the Newtonian controversy
3. Learning mathematics and fighting for freedom
4. Emilie and Voltaire's Academy of Free Thought
5. Testing Newton: the'New Argonauts'
6. The danger in Newton: life,
love and politics
7. The nature of light: Emilie takes on Newton
8. Searching for 'energy': Emilie discovers Leibniz
9. Mathematics and free will
10. The re-emergence of Madame Newton du Chatelet
11. Love letters to Saint-Lambert
12. Mourning Emilie
13. Mary Fairfax
Somerville
14. The long road to fame
15. Mechanism of the Heavens
16. Mary's second book: popular science in the nineteenth century
17. Finding light waves: the 'Newtonian Revolution' comes of age
18. Mary Somerville: a fortunate life
Epilogue: Declaring a point of view
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Robyn Arianrhod is an Honorary Research Associate in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University. She is the author of Einstein's Heroes.
