"Almost a Man of Genius": Clémence Royer, Feminism, and Nineteenth-Century Science (Lives of Women in Science)

Clemence Royer was a 19th-century Frenchwoman probably best known for producing the first French translation of Charles Darwin. However, her efforts went much further, encompassing anthropology, physics, philosophy, cosmology, and chemistry. In this full-scale biography, Harvey, a science historian and former associate editor of Cambridge University's Darwin Correspondence Project, traces Royer's remarkable life. A feminist who made lifelong enemies almost as readily as she made friends, Royer was never able to undertake formal, advanced education and was a product of her own self-study efforts. Only in her last few years was she formally recognized by several professional societies and awarded the French Legion of Honor. Harvey includes an overview of earlier biographical treatments, the text of an 1874 communication on "Women, Science, and the Birth Rate," and extensive notes. A controversial Frenchwoman, Clemence Royer confronted gender issues embedded in nineteenth-century science. This compelling full-scale biography examines Royer not only as Darwin's first French translator, but as social Darwinist, anthropologist, cosmologist, and feminist who challenged women's traditional roles and masculine social and scientific authority. (A Volume in the Lives of Women in Science Series, edited by Pnina Abir-Am)