photo #4788689

In December 1734, Martha Gerrish spotted several optical phenomena around the Sun over New England, US. She made a sketch of the light effects and sent it with an accompanying letter to the Royal Society in London. This may not seem remarkable, but her letter is the first in the archives of the society’s journal Philosophical Transactions known to have been sent by a woman in her own name. Since women were not considered in the eighteenth century to be the intellectual equals of men, it is no small thing that Martha sent her observation to the Royal Society, arguably the most prestigious group for scientific minds in Europe at the time.