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Lady Ranelagh : the incomparable life of Robert Boyle's sister / Michelle DiMeo.
Van Pelt Library Q143.R26 D337 2021
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- DiMeo, Michelle, author.
- Series:
- Synthesis (University of Chicago. Press)
- Synthesis
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Ranelagh, Lady.
- Ranelagh.
- Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691--Family.
- Boyle, Robert.
- Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
- Women scientists--Great Britain--Biography.
- Women scientists.
- Women physicians--Great Britain--Biography.
- Women physicians.
- Women intellectuals--Great Britain--Biography.
- Women intellectuals.
- Medicine.
- History.
- Families.
- Great Britain.
- Science--Great Britain--History--17th century.
- Science.
- Medicine--Great Britain--History--17th century.
- Great Britain--Intellectual life--17th century.
- Intellectual life.
- Great Britain--Religion--17th century.
- Religion.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- History.
- Physical Description:
- 288 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2021.
- Summary:
- "For centuries, historians have speculated about the life of Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh. The details of her relationship with Robert Boyle, her younger brother, have mostly remained a mystery, even though Boyle, "the father of chemistry," spent the last twenty-three years of his life residing in her home, with the two dying only one week apart in 1691. The dominant depiction of Lady Ranelagh shows her as a maternal figure to Boyle or as a patroness of European intellectuals of the Hartlib circle. Yet neither of these portraits captures the depth of her intellect or range of her knowledge and influence. Philosophers, mathematicians, and religious authorities sought her opinion on everything from decimalizing the currency to producing Hebrew grammars. Lady Ranelagh practiced medicine alongside distinguished male physicians, treating some of the most elite patients in London, and her medical recipes and testimony concerning the philosophers' stone both gained international circulation. She was an important influence on Boyle and a self-standing historical figure in her own right. Chemistry's Sister fills out Lady Ranelagh's legacy in the context of a historically sensitive and nuanced interpretation of gender, science, and religion. It reveals how one elite seventeenth-century woman, without suffering attacks on her "modesty," managed to gain the respect of diverse contemporaries, effect social change, and shape science for centuries to come"-- Provided by publisher.
- Contents:
- Introduction
- Birth, childhood, and marriage (1615-1642)
- Early days in the Hartlib Circle (1642-48)
- Formative years in natural philosophy and medicine (1649-1656)
- Return to Ireland (1656-1659)
- Death of the Hartlib Circle and Birth of the Royal Society (1658-67)
- Plague, providence, and medical practice (1665-67)
- Robert Boyle moves in (1668-1690)
- Conclusion : death and legacy.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780226731605
- 022673160X
- OCLC:
- 1192304007
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