Nina Rattner Gelbart. Minerva’s French Sisters: Women of Science in Enlightenment France.

Abstract

Nina Rattner Gelbart’s important new book, Minerva’s French Sisters: Women of Science in Enlightenment France, is a collective biography of six female scientists whose contributions to mathematics, astronomy, botany, epistemology, anatomy, and medical education were pathbreaking. While these women were celebrated in their own time, much of their work and correspondence has since been lost. Later writers downplayed their accomplishments, obfuscating their importance to the history of science. The brilliance of Gelbart’s book lies in her reconstruction of their histories from what male contemporaries said about them—in letters, reviews, eulogies, and obituaries—and from snippets of information found in a wide range of other sources from wills to paintings to ship logs. She traces the development of each woman as a scientist, explains her scientific accomplishments and their meaning, and charts her engagement with male scientists and the public. In experimenting with the biographical format, Gelbart follows each chapter with a letter to its subject; she asks lingering questions, updates the subject on her neighborhood and legacy, and bears witness to her accomplishments and struggles.