Light Your Own Candle

In 1780s Scotland, young Mary Fairfax was barely allowed to read. Her father believed education would destroy a girl's health. He allowed her just one hour of reading per day. At night, she would secretly study mathematics by candlelight. She taught herself algebra and geometry from books she borrowed. Her family mocked her interests, and her first husband forbade her studies.

But Mary's insatiable curiosity couldn't be contained. She burned to learn. After becoming a widow at 27, she intensified her self-education, absorbing scientific texts and corresponding with leading mathematicians. The numbers spoke to her. She taught herself French to read advanced mathematical works and conducted experiments in her kitchen. Nothing could stop her now.

Despite never attending university, she went on to become Mary Somerville. The woman whose mathematical works were used at Cambridge University, who was among the first women admitted to the Royal Astronomical Society, and whose brilliance prompted the word "scientist" to be coined.