Conclusion

            As you can see, the role of women During the Enlightenment was not to be taken lightly. Many of the women were so used to doing everything over and over that they had to do something different. I think that without these things that the women taught us, we would be in a very different place right now. I think that since we see some of the things that the women came up with and that the women knew, we can see that it wasn't just men who came up with everything. Women were a huge factor in the development of different sciences throughout history. Without all of these women, we would be stuck in a place where we couldn't move forward. It is always helpful to have a separate pair of "eyes" when working on something, and I think that by having a new pair of "eyes" (Women), it helps develop new theories faster and easier. Women were a huge part in history and I hope that throughout this blog I have helped you see that.

These are more pictures of the women that I talked about in the previous posts. Some of these pictures have to do with their work that they did.

This is a picture of Maria

Winkelmann Kirch's husband.

This is Maria Winkelmann Kirch

 This is Margret Lucas Cavendish.

 This is the famous Enlightenment philosopher, Montesquieu.

  This is Elizabeth Blackwell.

Maria Sibylla Merian

            Maria Sibylla Merian influenced many on her work about insect metamorphosis. She was very intrigued by the fact that the insects had very many life stages. The one area that she specialized in was the metamorphosis of caterpillars to butterflies. She was the daughter of her fathers second wife and then after he died, her half-brother inherited the printing business that their father had. In 1679 she published her first book on insect life and it was mainly about the insects that changed throughout their life time. She took a once in a lifetime opportunity, after she settled in Amsterdam, to go to Surinam, South America on a far off plantation to study bugs. She studied all the bugs that she could, but in order for her to do that, she had to keep the insect alive and, being in Surinam instead of her home town, she couldn't do that and the bugs usually died. Merian went home and died in Amsterdam in 1717 and we now know that even though her work was pretty accurate, most people discredited her because she was a woman. Even though she didn't get the adequate recognition that she wanted, she is regarded today as the woman who helped "invent" the field of entomology.


This is a picture of Maria Sibylla Merian.

Maria Winkelmann Kirch

            Maria Winkelmann Kirch was a well known astronomer and scientist. Growing up, Maria was taught by her father and her uncle because they both believed that they deserved an equal education. Her interest in astronomy was made the priority and she eventually went and learned from a self-taught astronomer, Christopher Arnold. While working for Christopher, she eventually developed a relationship with Gottfried Kirch and eventually worked with him and then they married. They had five children together and when they grew old enough, they started to train with their parents in the family business as well. When Gottfried died in 1710, Maria tried to take over his business and put it in her name, but the Royal Academy of Sciences thought that it was absurd that a women was going to try to do her husbands job so they turned her down. Eventually the business was handed over to a less experienced astronomer, Johann Heinrich Hoffmann, and then it was suggested that Maria became his assistant. After Johann died, the business was handed over to her oldest son and he continued their work with Maria and her three other daughters. She was eventually taking on too big of a role for just being an assistant, so they asked her to leave the business. After she left, she resided in Berlin until her death in 1716.

 

Below is a picture of Maria Winkelmann Kirch.

Margret Lucas Cavendish

            Another woman that I researched was Margret Lucas Cavendish. Despite just being a scientist, she was a philosopher, poet, fiction writer, an avid reader and a playwright. Margret was born in 1623 in Colchester, Essex. She had no way to get a formal education, but she had access to a scholarly library and that served as her schooling. She was very smart and she had a brother, John, that was a very established scholar. He was a student of law, a philosopher, and a scientist working on natural sciences. John served as her go between where she could talk to him about things that she had questions about and it never served her wrong and she was very welcoming in his views and his opinions. She married William Cavendish and he was a supporter of her views as well. He published some of her ideas in the books that he would create and She finally got her much needed recognition in 1667 when she got an extremely rare invitation to attend a meeting of the Royal Society, a group of male peers who got together and shared views and ideas. The thing that Margret Cavendish was most centered aroud was the philosophy that everything in the universe was completely material. She didn't believe in any one God or spiritual deity and she was also the "founder" of the growing belief that humans were masters of nature. She was a big figure in the world of science and human nature and thought and I'm sure that she inpired many women to do the same.



This is a picture of Margret Lucas Cavendish.

Elizabeth Blackwell

            I'm going to talk about some women who were among the few that stepped up and sort of paved the way for some of the other women to make something of themselves. The first woman that I want to talk about is Elizabeth Blackwell. Blackwell was born in Britain in 1821 and her family emigrated to the United States in 1832. In 1849 she became the first woman to have a medical degree. Then in 1857, she and her colleagues founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. She was a very influential figure in the medical world at this time



This is a picture of Elizabeth Blackwell

Montesquieu

           Montesquieu was a philosopher during the Enlightenment. He was very influential during this time. he was a highly respected figure in this time and his views were highly respected. He supported reason and radical views and he also supported the separation of powers. He supported equality for women in this society. He understood the day to day obstacles that a women had during this time. Even though he wasn't as involved in the science world, he understood what it took to be in a world run mostly by men.



This is a picture of the well known philosopher.

Intro into The Enlightenment

             The Enlightenment brought forth ideas of reason and wisdom within philosophers and scientists all over. Many enlightenment thinkers had a history or background within the science field. Most were men, but a few women influenced thinking during this era. During the Enlightenment, women were held back in education, science and math. Those who were more motivated than the rest had individual tutors or open minded fathers who were willing to do more for their daughters than the rest of the population. Women were thought to be the people who stay at home and care for the home and children. That was accepted during this time. Women taking on the roles of men was not. Men often "ridiculed scientifically minded women" and saying that they were "neglectful of their domestic role". Two women who made an impact during the Enlightenment were Laura Bassi and Yekaterina Dashkova. Bassi was an Italian physicist and Dashkova became the director of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. These two women were among the first to be able to defy expectations and rise to meet the challenges of facing a majority of professions for men.