Dr Robyn Arianrhod tells the fascinating story of beautiful and outrageous Emilie du Châtelet and the subversive Mary Somerville, two women with a passion for mathematics and an insatiable desire to understand the world about them. They both taught themselves mathematics and went on to become world authorities in Newtonian mathematical physics. Emilie du Châtelet was an 18th century aristocrat and Voltaire’s lover. She translated Newton into French and was instrumental in getting his ideas accepted on the Continent. Mary Somerville was born in Scotland but moved to France and translated the six-volume Celestial Mechanics of Newton’s protégé Pierre Simon Laplace into English.

Arianrhod is honorary research associate in the School of Mathematical Sciences, Monash University, and author of Einstein’s Heroes.