William Whewell was reviewing one of Somerville’s books, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834). He was contrasting her with other popularizers of science whom he dubbed “scientists” but he thought she was superior to his utilitarian designation, a "real person of science," a proper natural philosopher and a great writer unlike anyone else.
He literally invented the term to explain how she was more than that.
@absolutspacegrl I tend toward human spaceflight. I would think twice before hopping into a crude I mean crewed spacecraft, like maybe they were in a hurry to finish and forgot to bolt something down.
@absolutspacegrl Can't tell you how many times this still trips up historians even. I take it personally, as would most women, to not feel included without something gender-neutral. But I JUST got asked to write about Shuttle for a book and the descriptions of all other chapters have "manned." Grr.
@jklevasseur NASA officially stopped using it in the early 2000’s, but I can’t find an exact date. Maybe include a footnote about the change with verbiage from the Style Guide?
@absolutspacegrl Teaching my first sailing class of the year in a couple of weeks and the last day of class brings tacking and speed control and general boat handling together in the "crew overboard" lesson.
I will admit I still screw up and occasionally say, "man overboard!" when starting the drill, but I'm aware of it and try to get it right.
@absolutspacegrl Interesting, but I think Maria Popova (Marginalian) has misinterpreted what Whewell actually wrote or what others said he wrote. It seems Whewell was indeed full of praise for Somerville’s contributions, but the term #scientist was coined to help certain gentlemen of science better describe themselves and their pursuits... https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/172698
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