As it's International Day of Women & Girls in Science we'd like to tell you about Elizabeth Blackwell.

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Elizabeth was born in Aberdeen c. 1707. Her family were wealthy and she received a good education which almost certainly included art, music, and languages.

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Elizabeth married her second cousin, Alexander Blackwell who, at that time, was training to be a doctor. The couple moved to London, where Alexander abandoned his medical career and instead set up as a printer.

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This business venture was short-lived (and perhaps ill-advised). Alexander spent lavishly and was heavily fined for flouting trade rules. Now heavily in debt, he was sent to debtor's prison for two years.

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With her husband in prison, a household to run, a child to care for, and with no money coming in, Elizabeth’s situation was precarious. However, she learned that a herbal was needed to depict and describe exotic plants from the New World.

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(A herbal is a book containing names and descriptions of medicinal plants, with information about how they can be used to treat different ailments).

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Elizabeth decided that she could illustrate this herbal and her husband, with his medical background, could describe the plants. As she completed the drawings, Elizabeth would take them to her husband’s cell where he supplied the correct names.

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The creation of the herbal took several years, and was a heroic task. Elizabeth was responsible for sketching, engraving, and hand colouring all of the illustrations, as well as being personally involved in publishing and marketing the book.

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And what illustrations... 😍

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Here's some of the plants that Elizabeth illustrated in 'A Curious Herbal' (issued in weekly parts between 1737 and 1739). Starting with this tweeter's favourite plant EVER...

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Yes - that's the black gold. The magic bean. The marvellous, unbeatable, coffee plant.

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And here is the plant that makes your wee smelly. We speak of the delicious asparagus.

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Finally, a melon plant (which kind of looks like a plant-based monster opening its seeded, sweetly salivating jaws).

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The finished 'A Curious Herbal' contained 500 of Elizabeth's illustrations and was published in 125 weekly instalments. The book's profits helped save the family from ruin.

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If you enjoyed reading about Elizabeth Blackwell's life and amazing work, you might also enjoy our #WomeninScience feature > nls.uk/learning-zone/…

It features Elizabeth Blackwell, together with other Scottish women who made advances in science - women such as Williamina Fleming (1857-1911) - pictured.

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Don't know who Williamina Fleming is?

OK.

But you know what this is?

That's right

The Horsehead Nebula.

And

Williamina discovered it.

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Thanks for reading our #WomenInScience thread. We have lots and lots more information on all the people mentioned above (and other treasures, including this book by Scottish polymath Mary Somerville). Let us know how we can help you.

PS - If you're still interested in reading about Elizabeth Blackwell our friends @TCDResearchColl have a super wee blog post (with lots more of her stunning illustrations) > tcd.ie/library/epb/bl…

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