My Science School

Empress Dowager Cixi ruled over China for about a half a century, and was one of the most powerful women in the world at that time. She was born on the 29th of November 1885, as the daughter of an ordinary official. When she was sixteen, she was chosen to be a concubine- or one of the many wives-of the Emperor. The birth of a son gave her the maximum status possible in China. Cixi was elevated from total obscurity to the central political stage of China as a figure of unique importance to the survival of the dynasty.

In 1861, Emperor Hsien Feng died, and with that, Cixi’s son became emperor. She then got the title of empress. Cixi became more and more powerful, until finally in 1865, she seized the throne. It was because; she masterfully maintained a balance between the conservatives and the different sects of the time that the empress was able to ensure her power. She was a strong ruler, and put down the rebellions which endlessly threatened her. During her years in power, the Western nations gained great influence in China. Many people thought that, the best way to stop the outsiders, from taking over completely was to strengthen China with modern inventions like trains and telegraphs. However, Empress Cixi and her advisors were conservative, and resisted these changes.

The empress usually put her sawn interests ahead of the nations. She seized whatever she wanted by any means. She surrounded herself with money and banquets, jewels, and other luxuries. She was served 150 different dishes at a single banquet. She drank from a jade cup, and ate with golden chopsticks. She used navy funds to build herself a lavish summer palace. At the end of her life, her jewellery vault held 3,000 ebony boxes of her ‘everyday jewels’. Her lavish lifestyle made the country poorer, and the military weaker, and was later responsible for the defeat of the war against Japan.

There is no doubt that Empress Dowager Cixi had a sharp political sense and decisive mind, but under her rule, the Qing Dynasty grew more and more corrupt, and lost its power.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1830. She was the finest women poet in America, in the 19th century. She wrote in short stanza form, and simple rhyme.

Regarded as one of America’s greatest poets, Emily is also well known for her unusual life of simplicity and seclusion. As a young child Emily proved to be a bright and conscientious student. She was able to create many original writings of rhyming stories, delighting her fellow classmates. Emily was both a keen artist, and accomplished musician. In her college years, she enjoyed singing, and also had a sharp eye for beautiful art and bright colours. Emily was also well read, choosing writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Dickens, John Ruskin, and nineteenth- century poets like the Browning and the Bronte sisters.

As well as writing over 1,700 poems, Emily was a prolific letter writer. Her letters gave her the opportunity for contact with others. These letters reflect her love of language, which is seen in her poetry as well. She remained unmarried, with no children her whole life, though many people think she had a secret love. Very few of her poems were published during her life, most having been found in a dresser after her death.

 

Elizabeth Blackwell (1821- 1910) became the first woman in America to earn the M.D. degree. She supported medical education for women, and helped many other women’s careers. She claimed that, she turned to medicine after a close friend who was dying suggested she would have been spared her worst suffering, if her physician had been a woman.

Elizabeth had no idea how to become a physician, so she consulted with several physicians known to her family. She convinced two physician friends to let her read medicine with them for a year, and applied to all the medical schools in New York and Philadelphia. They all rejected her, but finally, she was accepted by The Geneva Medical College in New York, in 1847. The faculty thought that the all-male student body would never agree to a woman joining their ranks, and allowed the students to vote on her admission. As a joke, they voted ‘yes’, and she gained admittance! On the morning of Tuesday, January 23rd, 1849, Elizabeth received from the hands of the President of The Geneva Medical College, a diploma conferring upon her the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thus, after many years of determined effort, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to complete a course of study at a medical college, and receive the M.D. degree. In 1875, she was appointed Professor of Gynaecology at the London School for Medicine for Children, and she remained there until she retired in 1907 after a serious fall.

 

Clara Barton is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross. She began a lifetime of helping others at the beginning of the Civil War, when she organized medical care for wounded soldiers.

Clara was a school teacher. But, when the Civil War began, she accompanied the U.S. Army as it marched and fought in Virginia, nursing the wounded soldiers at great risk to her own life. In one battle, a bullet passed through the sleeve of her dress, killing the wounded man she was helping.

Her efforts to bring better medical care, and to help locate missing servicemen, laid the groundwork for her future role as the founder and leader of the American Red Cross, which she began in 1881. On a trip to Europe, she learned of the International Red Cross, an organization to which the United States did not belong. Observing Red Cross volunteers at work with the wounded during the 1870 - 1871 Franco - Prussian War, she saw the need for the United States to form its own branch of the Red Cross. One feature of the U.S. Red Cross that she added was the idea of Red Cross assistance in times of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods. 

Susan B. Antony was America’s foremost champion of women’s rights. She was born into a Quaker family in Massachusetts. The family was opposed to slavery, and her father avoided purchasing cotton for his mill which had been raised by slave labour. Susan was involved in many causes. She joined the movement which sought to prohibit the production of alcohol and its consumption. She also became interested in the Women’s Rights movement. At that time, women could not own property, or vote.

Susan was instrumental in the passage of the Married Women’s Property Bill in New York which stated that a woman had the right to hold property, carry on a trade, and collect and use her own earnings.

Susan started petitions to outlaw slavery. Over time, she obtained 400,000 signatures. In April 1864, the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery passed the Senate. With some financial help, Susan started a newspaper ‘The Revolution’, to promote a woman’s right to vote. The publication not only sought to promote the vote for women, but to establish justice for all, who were oppressed.

Susan longed to see women voting throughout the world, but when she died in 1906, just one month after her 86th birthday; this dream had only been realized in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and Idaho, and far away in New Zealand and Australia. 

Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. She was the daughter of a well-to-do family in England. She was born in Florence, Italy on 12 May 1820. By the time she was 12, she was determined to ‘do something worthwhile’. She wanted to look after the sick, and used every spare minute to learn from nursing books she had secretly obtained. She also visited hospitals in London, and the surrounding area.

Her parents tried to get her to change her mind, but she was adamant about becoming a nurse. She was an excellent student, and after her graduation, she returned to London, and got a job running a hospital.

During the Crimean War, she was put in charge of nursing. She went to the battlefield with 38 nurses, cleaned up the huge, dirty old building that served as a hospital, and managed somehow or the other to get urgently needed supplies. Through her efforts, thousands of lives were saved. At night, she would visit the sick and the injured, carrying a lamp, and so she became known as ‘the lady with the lamp’. She will always be remembered for the fact that she changed the face of nursing from a mostly untrained profession to a highly skilled and well-respected medical profession, with very important responsibilities. 

          Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 in Maryland in the United States. Her parents were slaves, so she also was a slave when she was born. However, she escaped slavery in 1849, and travelled to the north of her country. She then became a conductor for the Underground Railroad, and helped slaves flee to freedom in the North. The Underground Railroad was a secret system of people of all races who helped slaves escape to the North-it was not an actual railroad at all.

          Harriet Tubman made 19 dangerous rescue trips over 10 years, rescuing over 300 slaves from Southern states. During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman served with the U.S. Army in South Carolina, as a nurse, scout, spy and soldier. She led the Combahee River expedition, under the command of James Montgomery, and helped to blow up Southern supply lines and free hundreds of slaves.

          After the war ended, Harriet spoke for the rights of women and African Americans. She helped to organize the AME or African Methodist Episcopal Church, and also set up a home for poor aged African Americans. An incredibly brave woman, she was known as the ‘Moses of her people’, because she devoted her life to fighting slavery, helping slaves and ex-slaves, and championing the rights of women. 

George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, one of the leading English novelists of the 19th century. She used a male pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously in an era when female authors were usually associated with romantic novels. As a child, Mary Ann studied Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and German. She also became a skilled pianist. Later, when she became an author, she used the name ‘George Eliot’. In 1850, Eliot began contributing to the ‘Westminster Review’, a leading journal for philosophical radicals, and later became its editor.

There is no doubt that George Eliot became one of the greatest authors of the 19th century. Her chief works are ‘Adam Bede’, ‘The Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’, ‘Romola’, ‘Felix Holt’, ‘Middlemarch’, ‘Daniel Deronda’, and ‘Theophrastus Such’. Her novels, most famously ‘Middlemarch’, are celebrated for their realism and psychological insights. 

The Bronte Sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, have charmed, inspired, and even shocked readers from the Victorian Age to the present. Raised in Haworth, Yorkshire, the three sisters produced such classics as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Tenant of Wild fell Hall. The characters in their books, such as the devoted governess, Jane Eyre, and the lovers, Heath cliff, Cathy, and Hareton, are unforgettable.

The Bronte sisters actually had a sad life. They were the children of a father who was both cold and violent, and of a gentle, sickly mother who died early. All three sisters attended different schools at various times as well as being taught at home. The Bronte children were often left alone together in their isolated home, and all began to write stories at an early age. In May 1846, the sisters published at their own expense a volume of poetry. Anne’s ‘Agnes Grey’ and Charlotte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ were published in 1847. ‘Jane Eyre’ was one of the year’s best sellers. Anne’s second novel, ‘The Tenant of Wild fell Hall’ and Emily’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ were both published in 1848.

The Bronte sisters were reared amid gloomy surroundings, and perhaps this is the reason that their stories deal with suffering and endurance, rebellion against fate, violence, and with crime and its punishment. 

Lucy Stone was an American reformer, who was a pioneer in the movement for women’s rights. In her lifetime, she achieved a number of important ‘firsts’ for which we can remember her. She was the first woman in Massachusetts to earn a college degree, and the first woman in the United States to keep her own name after marriage.

A year after she graduated, Lucy Stone was hired as an organizer of the American Anti-Slavery Society. In this paid position, she travelled giving speeches on abolition. She included speeches, as well, on women’s rights. Her speeches drew large crowds, and also provoked much hostility.

In 1855, Stone married Henry B. Blackwell, a man who was also active in the anti slavery movement. During the marriage service, they pledged that both partners would have absolutely equal rights in marriage. In protest against the laws that discriminated against women, Stone retained her own name. Over the next twenty years, Stone edited a feminist weekly magazine, and wrote a large number of leaflets on voting rights for women.

Lucy Stone died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on 18th October, 1893. She even achieved a ‘first’ at death, by being the first person in New England to be cremated! 

           Ada Lovelace was one of the most picturesque characters in computer history. She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and her mother, who did not want her to become a poet like her father, brought her up to be a mathematician and scientist.

           She wrote a scientific paper in 1843 that anticipated the development of computer software, artificial intelligence, and computer music. She wrote the world’s first computer programmes for the Analytical Engine, a general-purpose machine that Charles Babbage had invented. The calculations were never carried out, as the machine was never built. She also wrote the very first description of a computer, and of software.

             Understanding that computers could do a lot more than just crunch numbers, Ada suggested that the analytical engine ‘might compose elaborate and scientific pieces of music’. Sadly, she never had the chance to fully explore the possibilities of either Babbage’s inventions or her own understanding of computing, for she died, aged only 36, on 27th November 1852, of cancer.

 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton played a leadership role in the women’s rights movement. She was the daughter of a lawyer, and she showed early her desire to excel in intellectual and other ‘male’ spheres. In 1840, Elizabeth Cady Stanton married a reformer Henry Stanton, and they went at once to the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, where she joined other women in objecting to the fact that they were not allowed into the assembly.

Elizabeth was for many years the architect and author of the movement’s most important strategies and documents. Along with other women, she took the lead in proposing that women be granted the right to vote. She continued to write and lecture on women’s rights and other reforms of the day, including the right to divorce.

During the Civil War, Elizabeth Cady Stanton concentrated her efforts on abolishing slavery, but afterwards, she became even more outspoken in promoting the right to vote for women. She travelled widely to give lectures and speeches. Elizabeth Cady Stanton died on October 26th, 1902, and was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable individuals in American history. 

Margaret Fuller was America’s first true feminist. She was also a social reformer, critic, and teacher whose words enriched the lives of many people. Margaret received a good classical education, which was very unusual for a young girl at that time.

As an adult, Margaret Fuller worked as a teacher, and felt the need to give public lectures. As there were local laws against women giving public addresses, she billed her lectures as ‘conversations’, and in 1839, at the age of 29, began offering them at a bookshop in Boston. For two years, in the early 1840’s, Fuller was the editor of, the magazine ‘The Dial’. It was in the pages of The Dial that she published one of her significant early feminist works, ‘The Great Lawsuit: Man vs. Men, Woman vs. Women’.

Margaret later became a book reviewer and correspondent for the New York Tribune. She worked for the Tribune from 1844 to 1846, often writing about reformist ideas such as improving conditions in prisons. In 1846, she became the first female foreign correspondent in America. Fuller published several books, and edited a magazine before dying tragically at the age of 40. Her writings and the conduct of her life served as an inspiration to later advocates for women’s rights, for she was a feminist at a time when the role of women in society was severely limited. 

Harriet Martineau is an inspiration for women with multiple disabilities. She suffered from ill heath, a number of disabilities, and deep childhood unhappiness. Still she became a major intellectual force of her day. Not only was she a scholarly success, but she exerted a strong social force to improve the status of women and the poor.

From an early age, Harriet suffered from various weaknesses. She had no sense of smell or taste, and later, became deaf too. Her family became very poor after the death of her father, and a man of whom she was very fond of, died. In spite of all these setbacks, she wrote extensively on female education and women’s rights, and on economics and politics. She published devotional exercises anti addresses, prayers and hymns, and also stood up for the poor, and spoke up against slavery.

Harriet developed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Writers from abroad, such as Erasmus, praised her work. Amazingly, she underwent a course of treatment that completely cured her of all her ailments. Some of her books became best sellers, thus solving all her financial difficulties as well. Now don't you agree that her life is truly an inspiration to everyone?

Dorothea Dix did more than anyone else of her generation to improve the lives of mentally ill people in America. In 1841, she volunteered to hold a devotional hour for women in the East Cambridge jail, and was aghast to discover that some of the tattered inmates were chained in a filthy, cold cell simply because they were mentally ill. Dix then devoted her life to improving conditions for the mentally ill. She travelled more than 30,000 miles over a three-year period to spur legislators into doing the right thing for the mentally ill. She became Superintendent of Female Nurses during the Civil War, and after the war, resumed travel throughout the United States and Europe on behalf of the mentally ill. By 1880, Dix had a direct hand in founding 32 of 123 mental hospitals in the country.