| Somerville, Mary Fairfax Greig 1780-1872. British mathematician and astronomer whose Physical Geography (1848) won her international acclaim. The first women's college at Oxford University was funded by and named after her. |
| Somerville (sŭm'ər-vĭl') Pronunciation Key
Scottish astronomer and mathematician who wrote expository works on mathematics, physical geography, microscopic science, and astronomy. Her writings explained complex scientific ideas to the general public through simple illustrations and experiments that the average reader could easily understand. |
Somerville
city, Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Mystic River and is surrounded by Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, and the Boston neighbourhood of Charlestown. Settled in 1630, it was originally known as the Cow Commons and was entirely fenced in until 1685. In the city stands the Old Powder House (c. 1704), from which the British general Thomas Gage seized gunpowder in 1774. Somerville was the last of the Mystic valley towns to separate (1842) from the early Charlestown colony. Its name is said to honour Captain Richard Somers, hero of the Tripolitan-American War
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