Women and Science in Print

Women were largely excluded from official institutions of science such as the universities or the Royal Society; nevertheless, women engaged in a wide range of scientific practices, particularly in the areas of medicine and domestic science. These practices made their way into print in various ways in the seventeenth century. Large collections of medicinal recipes attributed to the sisters Elizabeth Grey (née Talbot), Countess of Kent, and Alethea Howard (née Talbot), Countess of Arundel, created an iconography of women and science in print that highlighted women’s participation in a communal effort to use knowledge of nature for the benefit of others. Likewise, scientific and technical information in print increasingly gained a female readership throughout the seventeenth century, culminating in works by female authors such as Hannah Woolley and Jane Sharp. These works demonstrate the practical and professional value of science in print for women. Further, certain women writers, most notably Margaret Cavendish (née Lucas), Duchess of Newcastle, drew upon the conventions of women and science in print in original works of science and natural philosophy that explored the intellectual and speculative possibilities that science offered to women.