Jane Marcet (†June 28, 1858)

Jane Marcet was an English non-fiction writer on the content of natural science and economics. She was born in 1769 as the daughter of a banker in London. When she was 15 years old, her mother died. Then she took over the household management and supervision of her siblings’ education. In 1799 she married the Geneva physician Alexander Marcet.

Well-known works of her include the Conversations on Chemistry, which were the best-selling science textbooks between 1806 and 1858 and were plagiarized and edited several times in America. Her Conversations on Political Economy were the best-selling printed works in the 19th century. The Conversations are textbooks that provide an understandable approach to scientific content. Michael Faraday was inspired by Marcets Conversations to devote himself to electrochemistry. The main characters in her Conversations are three women, thus Marcet counteracts the masculine-dominated science. Through active exchange with other scientists, including Faraday and Davy, she regularly updated the Conversations to the newest state of science.

~ Text base inspired by Dorian Weiss