Keeping it in the family: the extraordinary case of Cuvier's daughters
Keeping it in the family: the extraordinary case of Cuvier's daughters
In the history of French geology, Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) is largely figured as the antagonist to Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and as the arch-conservative who blocked the path of more ‘Darwinian’ ideas about the evolution of species. If historians mention him as a key player in Catholic French secondary education reform despite being a Protestant, it is his extraordinarily enlightened encouragement and employment of his daughter, and perhaps even more importantly his step-daughter, in his collaborative projects which this paper investigates. Trained up in the latest scientific ideas of the epoch (because Cuvier lived with his family at the Jardin des Plantes), and as his ‘research assistants’, theirs is a story within women’s history of science that has never been told. While to label them ‘women scientists’ or ‘geologists’ is a misnomer for the period in France, the direct contributions of these daughters to cross-channel, geological endeavour of the period can at last have a place in the history of geology.
clémentine cuvier, sophie duvaucel, stendhal, georges cuvier, histoire naturelle des poissons, aide naturaliste, jardin des plantes
1862392277
277-286
The Geological Society of London
Orr, Mary
3eec40eb-479c-4c9a-b2da-7388a27f9d5c
Geological Society of London
15 September 2007
Orr, Mary
3eec40eb-479c-4c9a-b2da-7388a27f9d5c
Orr, Mary
,
Geological Society of London
(2007)
Keeping it in the family: the extraordinary case of Cuvier's daughters.
In,
Burek, C.V. and Higgs, B.
(eds.)
The Role of Women in the History of Geology.
(GSL Special Publications, 281)
London, UK.
The Geological Society of London, .
(doi:10.1144/SP281.17).
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Book Section
Abstract
In the history of French geology, Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) is largely figured as the antagonist to Etienne Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and as the arch-conservative who blocked the path of more ‘Darwinian’ ideas about the evolution of species. If historians mention him as a key player in Catholic French secondary education reform despite being a Protestant, it is his extraordinarily enlightened encouragement and employment of his daughter, and perhaps even more importantly his step-daughter, in his collaborative projects which this paper investigates. Trained up in the latest scientific ideas of the epoch (because Cuvier lived with his family at the Jardin des Plantes), and as his ‘research assistants’, theirs is a story within women’s history of science that has never been told. While to label them ‘women scientists’ or ‘geologists’ is a misnomer for the period in France, the direct contributions of these daughters to cross-channel, geological endeavour of the period can at last have a place in the history of geology.
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Published date: 15 September 2007
Keywords:
clémentine cuvier, sophie duvaucel, stendhal, georges cuvier, histoire naturelle des poissons, aide naturaliste, jardin des plantes
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 63768
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/63768
ISBN: 1862392277
PURE UUID: 5a5404a0-5b20-4306-aa07-1c7d4d779501
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Date deposited: 30 Oct 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 11:42
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Contributors
Author:
Mary Orr
Editor:
C.V. Burek
Editor:
B. Higgs
Corporate Author: Geological Society of London
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