Amy Beach (5 September 1867 – 27 December 1944) was the first American woman to compose a symphony. In 1896, the Boston Symphony Orchestra played her Symphony in E minor, Op. 32 known as “Gaelic Symphony”.
Beach was born in Henniker, but grew up in Boston. She displayed immense talent even as a one year old child. She could hum 40 tunes accurately and in the key that she first heard them (Block, 1998, 4).
When she was six years old, Beach began learning the piano with her mother. She began public recitals of famous works alongside her own compositions. As Block (1998, vii) points out, the “earliest evidence of public interest in Amy Marcy Cheney was an article written when she was seven, reporting a private recital that included two unnamed works, one by Chopin and one by her”. At the age of 16, Beach debuted in October 1883 in a concert at Boston’s Music Hall, which was a raging success.
Beach was 18 when she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach who was 43 years old at the time. Following the wishes of her husband, Beach shifted her focus from performing to composing. He believed that a husband should support his wife and demanded that she donate any money she received from performing to charity and requested that she limit her performances. Nevertheless, he believed she had a true gift for composing and felt that it was more respectable since it was “done in private, not on a public stage” (Block, 1998, 47). Beach would receive feedback from her mother and her husband before her compositions were played for the public.
At the age of 21, Beach astounded critics with the cadenza she composed as part of her performance of Beethoven’s third piano concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Block notes that even though Beach’s husband and parents resisted her studying composition with a teacher, she nevertheless taught herself about composition and orchestration.
Block (1998, 48) references Beach’s comments about the shift form performance to composition: “Though I had not deliberately chosen, the work had chosen me. I continued to play at concerts, but my home life kept me in the neighborhood of Boston. My compositions gave me a larger field. From Boston, I could reach out to the world.”
After the death of her husband in 1910, Beach travelled to Europe in order to rest and recuperate. In 1912, she began performing concerts again.
Unfortunately, heart issues led to the conclusion of Beach’s performing life. In June 1941 she stated, “I have taken no formal farewell from public performances, nor do I intend to do so. But I face the fact that I shall never again be strong enough for it.” (in Block, 1998, 291)
She died of heart disease on 27 December 1944.
Block, A. F. (1998). Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer. Oxford University Press.
Ángeles Alvariño has discovered twenty-two new ocean species and is primarily known for her contribution to knowledge about marine zooplankton and other marine organisms. She is the first woman to work on Spanish and English exploration ships. Ángeles Alvariño was born 3 October 1916 in El Ferrol, Spain to Dr Antonio Alvariño Grimaldos and Carmen Gonzalez Diaz-Saavedra de Alvariño.
References
Proffitt, Pamela (1999). Ángeles Alvariño in Notable women scientists. Gale Group.
Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space.
(PHOTOGRAPH FROM TASS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
It is I, Seagull! Everything is fine. I see the horizon; it’s a sky blue with a dark strip. How beautiful the Earth is … everything is going well.
Tereshkova in Shalyer and Moule (2005, p. xxviii)
Timeline
1937: born 6 March in Maslennikova, Russia 1960: graduated from Light Industry Technical School 1962: joined the Astronaut Program 1963: launch of Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 1969: graduated from the Air Force Training Academy in Zhukovsky 1977: graduated with a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering
Head in the Clouds
Tereshkova was introduced to the parachute club by her friend, Galina Shashkova (Tereshkova, 2015, p. 15). After initial trepidation, she became addicted. She discusses her parachuting journey and comments on the development from simple to more complicated jumps, and how she learned patience and willpower.
Which jump did I remember best of all? When people ask this question, they know the answer beforehand: of course, the first one. It will remain in my memory through all my life. It was May 21, 1959
Tereshkova (2015, p. 19)
The First Man in Space
On 12 April, 1961, the news of Gagarin’s successful space flight spread through the world. Tereshkova explains how the idea of “space exploration” entered their lives, and dreams of a Soviet woman going into space dominated their thoughts.
We girls tried to imagine the first woman cosmonaut. We imagined her our own way; the guys didn’t agree with us and drew different pictures of her. There were many arguments. We never reached agreement, though we all knew that this first woman cosmonaut would start from a Soviet airport. For me this arguing had a special, “hidden” sense. On April 12, 1961, I developed a disease called “space.” I don’t know how the doctors classify this disease and what they prescribe to cure it, but it seems to me that this disease does exist.
Tereshkova (2015, p. 32)
Tereshkova’s dreams crystallised into more realistic thoughts when she heard that Gagarin was also a student of an aerospace club, just like her. It was at that point she decided that she, too, would be a cosmonaut. (Tereshkova, 2015, p.32)
The First Woman in Space
As Shalyer and Moule (2005) note, this groundbreaking event was politically motivated. Nikolai Kamanin, the director of cosmonaut training, wrote in his diary that, “We cannot allow that the first woman in space will be American. This would be an insult to the patriotic feelings of Soviet women.” (in Burgess and Hall, 2009, p. 228). The aircraft they built could not land safely, and they required the cosmonaut to eject at around 7km and parachute down to earth.
The requirements for the role included the following: “that they be parachutists less than 30 years of age, under 170 cm (5 feet 7 inches) tall, and under 70 kg (154 lbs.) in weight.”
Tereshkova (2015, p. 6-7)
Training was varied and intense. It included pilot training, isolation tests, thermo-chamber tests, decompression chamber tests, and isolation tests. Tereshkova also studied at the Air Force Training Academy in Zhukovsky from where she graduated with honours with the qualification pilot-cosmonaut-engineer after her space flight in 1969 (POCKOKMOK, 24 September 2004)
In a pioneering flight on 16 June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to enter space onboard Vostok 6. It would be almost two decades before another woman would follow in her flight.
References
Burgess, C. and Hall, R. (2009). The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team: Their Lives, Legacy, and Historical Impact. Springer-Praxis Books.
Tereshkova, V. (2015). Valentina Tereshkova, The First Lady of Space: In Her Own Words. SpaceHistory101.com
Shayler, D. J. and Moule, I. (2005). Women in Space – Following Valentina. Springer-Praxis Books.
The chances of Anning (1799 – 1847), the child of a cabinet-maker, succeeding as a fossil finder and palaeontologist were slim. Anning was an uneducated woman from a lower-class background who was also a dissenter. However, she was so intelligent, curious, and passionate that she is well known today for her findings. Pierce (2013, p. 19) comments that Anning was generous with her knowledge and experience, and shared this with “the eminent gentlemen scholars who came to visit her. Inevitably, they were not always so generous in giving her the credit she deserved, and she became somewhat bitter as they took freely of her work, discoveries and ideas and presented them as their own, seemingly without a second thought, while she continued to live a hard life all her days.” Despite this, today Anning is well-known and celebrated for the significant role she played in the history of fossils of primarily the Jurassic period.
The French Revolution affected travel to Europe, resulting in Lyme Regis becoming a popular holiday destination. Many local people sold fossils to the visitors, and Anning sold her fossils to casual tourists as well as those who took a more scientific interest. Anning’s father took his children on trips to find fossils to supplement their income. After his death, Anning and her brother continued the search for fossils.
Anning found her first fossil in Lyme Regis at the age of 12 years old. It was the first complete skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus (renamed Temnodontosaurus platyodon). Mary’s brother Joseph found the head in 1810/11 and Mary unearthed the body one year later.
Anning found the first complete British Plesiosaurus giganteus which became the type specimen. She found the fossil under Black Venn cliff and shared a sketch and details of the find in a letter to William Buckland in 1824. Buckland was a geologist and scholar who became Professor of Geology at Oxford in 1818 and he and Anning developed a good relationship.
Another significant find was the first example of the winged pterosaur, Pteradactylus macronyx (renamed Dimorphodon macronyx). She shared the find with Buckland who identified it referencing Georges Cuvier’s work. Buckland bought Anning’s specimen, and the British Museum of Natural History in London later bought it in 1835 (Lyme Regis Museum, 2017).
Anning also found the first example of a new genus of fish, Squaloraja, which also became a type specimen. Pierce (2013) reveals that when Anning found the Squaloraja, experts claimed it was a ray. However, Anning dissected a modern ray to discover they were different: she had found another new species. Anning found the fossil but Louis Agassiz wrote about the fossil in Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles (1833-1843). He commissioned a watercolour of the fossil to include in his book. The original specimen was destroyed during World War Two, but the tail survives in the Philpot collection now at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Anning shared her finding of the Plesiosaurus macrocephalus in a letter to Buckland on 21 December 1830. It was named by Buckland, and bought by Lord Cole (Enniskillen) for 200 guineas. In 1883 the Enniskillen collection went to the Natural History Museum where it can be seen today.
Anning spent her life finding fossils, and sharing her knowledge and finds with scholars like Buckland, Henry De La Beche, William Conybeare, Roderick Impey Murchison, Adam Sedgwick, Gideon Mantell, Charles Lyell, Thomas Hawkins, and Richard Owen.
She died of cancer in 1847. In her lifetime, she was not fully recognised for the significant role she played. For example, many of the finds she made were named after someone else. However, Pierce highlights some key fossils that did honour Anning. “It was the Swiss Louis Agassiz who finally established some justice for Mary, but not until 1841, when he named a fish, the species Acrodus anningiae, after her. He named another species of fish Belenostomus [Belonorhychus] anningiae in 1844. However, there were no such acknowledgements by British colleagues in her lifetime.”
In 1878, R.F. Tomes named a new liassic coral genus and species Tricycloseris anningi. In 1936, L.R. Cox named the bivalve genus Anningia, although this had to be changed in 1958 to Anningella. In 1927, Robert Broom named the Karroo reptile genus Anningia and in 1932 this became the core for a new order, the Anningiamorpa. In 1969, Alan Lord named a new ostracod species Cytherelloidea anningi.
In 1846 in the Minute Books of the Geological Society, the entry for 2 July reads: ‘Resolved that Miss Mary Anning and [another] be requested to become Honorary Members of the Institution.’ In the year after her death, De La Beche addressed the Geological Society and honoured the lives of those Fellows who had died in the past year, as was the custom. His friend Anning was included, even though she was not a Fellow. This was the first time a woman had been acknowledged this way, since women were not accepted as Fellows of the Geological Society until 1904, almost sixty years after Mary Anning’s death.
Anning was an extraordinary woman who was a gifted palaeontologist, fossil finder, and fossil dealer. Her findings have contributed to scientific knowledge of both the Jurassic period as well as the history of the earth. It is only after her death, however, that she gained the recognition and acknowledgement that she deserved for her groundbreaking work.
Hildegard of Bingen is best known today as one of the first known composers of western music, however, she truly embodied the spirit of a Renaissance person. She wrote extensively about medicine, botany, theology, as well as composing music and poems. Her body of writing was gathered together in Rupertsberg, the monastery she founded.
“The Cosmic Egg” Scivias, Book I, Vision 3, St Hildegard Abbey, Eibingen, from Maddocks (2001) “Hildegard of Bingen”.
Hildegard was the child of a noble family, given to the church as an oblate at the age of 8. She was looked after by Jutta of Spanheim until Jutta found a suitable convent for Hildegard. The two joined the monastery of Disibodenberg, and Hildegard spoke her vows a nun. When Jutta died, Hildegard was chosen to be her successor, and she wrote about her visionary experiences, after encouragement by Volmar, a monk at the monastery who was her teacher. Hildegard became an author, preacher, and counsellor.
Polychrome bas-relief at the Rochus Chapel, Bingen, 1895 from Maddocks (2001) “Hildegard of Bingen”.
Hildegard wrote extensively about theology and has three volumes of the visions she experienced: Scivias (Know the Ways), Liber Vitae Meritorum(The Book of Life’s Merits), and Liber Divinorum Operum (The Book of Divine Works). Atherton (2001, p. 13 – 14) notes that the body of writing was based on “visions”, but covered “a wide area of teachings: from knowledge about the cosmos, explanations of the meaning of the Trinity and other religious ideas to interpretations of passages in the Bible, ethical and social problems, and pastoral care and medicine”.
Her collection of religious songs was published in SymphoniaHarmonie Celestium Revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations) and it is as a composer that she is most famous for today. Newman (1988) explains that Hildegard’s poetry was the foundation of Symphonia and involved metaphors and double meanings.
She also wrote a morality play called Ordo Virtutum (Order of the Virtues) about the struggle for a human soul between the Virtues and the devil.
Folio 0466r of the Wiesbaden Codex (Riesencodex) with the notation of the song ” O vis eternitatis ” from Symphonia Harmonie Celestium Revelationum
Hildegard’s writings on medicine and natural science can be found in Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum. The only sections that remain are Physica and Causae et Curae. Causea et Curea is preserved in a thirteenth- century manuscript first discovered by Carl Jensen in 1859 in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Physica, is preserved in five manuscripts and three fragments (Hozeski, 2001). Hildegard’s interest in language is demonstrated in Lingua Ignota (The Unknown Language) and The Unknown Alphabet (Litterae Ignotae). Hildegard was also a great letter writer and many of her letters have been translated into English (see Baird and Ehrman). Her correspondence include nearly 400 letters which reveal a side of Hildegard not seen in her books.
Hildegard would have been an extraordinary person at any age, but as a woman in her time she truly is outstanding. Her accomplishments are in many fields, and it is difficult to discuss all that she achieved. This just serves as a brief overview of a selection of the books she wrote, as an attempt to share the impact she had during her life.
References
Atherton, M. (2001). Hildegard of Bingen: Selected writings. Penguin Books. Baird, J. L. & Ehrman, R. K. (1994). The letters of Hildegard of Bingen. Volume I. Oxford University Press. Baird, J. L. & Ehrman, R. K. (1998). The letters of Hildegard of Bingen. Volume II. Oxford University Press. Fox, M. (1985). Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen. Bear & Company, Inc. Higley, S. L. (2007). Hildegard of Bingen’s Unknown Language. Palgrave Macmillan. Hozeski, B. W. (2001). Hildegard’s Healing Plants. Beacon Press. Maddocks, F. (2001). Hildegard of Bingen: The woman of her age. Faber and Faber Ltd. Newman, B. (1988). Saint Hildegard of Bingen: Symphonia. Cornell University. Throop, P. (1998). Hildegard von Bingen’s Physica: The complete English translation of her classic work on health and healing. Healing Arts Press.
Ada Lovelace is one of the earliest computer programmers. Born on 10 December 1815 to Lady Anne Isabella Milbanke Byron and Lord George Gordon Byron, Lovelace demonstrated her interest and aptitude for mathematics as a young girl.
Lovelace’s Education
Going against custom at the time, Lady Byron instructed Lovelace’s tutors to teach her mathematics and science. Apparently, Lady Byron was concerned with distancing her daughter from Lord Byron’s artistic and moody nature and decided to bring her up with a focus on science. One of Lovelace’s teachers was Mary Somerville who was a mathematician and astronomer and one of the first women to be admitted to the Royal astronomical Society. Lovelace also studied mathematics with Augustus de Morgan, the first professor of mathematics at the University of London.
Lovelace and Babbage
At the age of 17, Lovelace met Charles Babbage, and the two developed a close relationship. Babbage invited Lovelace and her mother to visit him and look at a small section of the Difference Engine he invented.
Sophia Frend, another guest at the demonstration, commented “While other visitors gazed at the working of this beautiful instrument . . . Miss Byron, young as she was, understood its working and saw the beauty of the invention.” (in McCully, 2019, p. 76).
Lovelace would later translate an article on another machine, Babbage’s Analytical Engine, which he created to perform complex mathematical calculations. In addition to translating the text from French to English, Lovelace added her own thoughts about the machine, and published the article in Taylor’s Scientific Memoirs.
Lovelace’s Legacy
Lovelace is cited as the first computer programmer due to a note in which she describes an algorithm that computes Bernoulli numbers.
In 1953, B.V. Bowden republished Lovelace’s notes on Babbage’s Analytical Engine which reinvigorated an interest in her life and brought awareness of her contributions into the popular media.
The Lovelace Medal is presented to people who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of Information Systems. It was established in 1998 by the British Computer Society.
a still point 