Pioneering astronomer Maria Mitchell stars in a children’s book using an ancient language she knew: Latin.
Born in Massachusetts Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) is best known for discovering a comet in 1847 and working to inspire female astronomers as a professor of astronomy at Vassar College, which she joined in 1865. Some 205 years after her birth, Mitchell continues to inspire as America’s first female astronomer.
Her legacy inspired Rachel Beth Cunning, a Latin and ESL teacher, to take on the challenge of creating a children’s science book – a journey that took Cunning back to her childhood, when she subscribed to astronomy magazines and read about the stars. His Latin book is called Astronomia: Fabula Planetarium (Astronomy: Stories of the Planets; Bombax Press, 2022), and you can buy it on Amazon (opens in a new tab).
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“One of the things that I’m generally very interested in – as someone who loves history and loves corny science and loves literature and languages – is all the voices that get lost over time” , Cunning told Space.com in an interview. earlier in March, which is Women’s History Month.
“There are a lot of voices that get lost,” Cunning continued, “and unfortunately, it’s usually female voices.”
Latin was the language of ancient Rome and, for a time, much of the world that the old imperialists conquered; Latin then continued for centuries as the primary language of the Christian church.
Much of the Latin literature in existence today is male, but a valuable minority of writing is female and receives more scholarly attention. Female voices are thought to have been lost over the ages due not only to a lack of literacy or time to write, but also because medieval curators who rewrote dwindling ancient manuscripts in what we call today Europe and the Middle East were not as prone to include female voices.
Mitchell was fluent enough to read science books in latin (opens in a new tab) in his childhood, which was not unusual in the 19th century; today, however, the academic role of Latin has changed considerably.
The descendants of Latin live today in languages like French, Spanish, and Portuguese (as well as English, given that the language began to borrow heavily from French after the Norman Conquest). But Latin is hardly taught anymore in schools or universities. That said, there is a growing movement of “living Latin” YouTubers, novel writers, and teachers who use Latin in lessons as a spoken language, rather than as a grammar puzzle. This is where the Mitchell book comes in.
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Cunning paid homage to the many educators who came before her and worked to make Latin more adaptable to modern times. She herself found nifty translations for “spaceship” and other modern technical Latin terms, through searches in the community.
The story is meant to inspire young Latin learners to keep fighting for their interests in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), Cunning said, through the example Mitchell herself set for a when women couldn’t even vote.
“You see this woman ballading, advocating for education and the importance of education, and her role in helping other women access education. She’s really cool, and then she’s also done so much for so much of different groups,” Cunning said, pointing particularly to Mitchell’s Vassar College days.
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Cunning added that she wanted to help expand the literature available in the Latin language and continue to write novels from a female point of view or, at least, include female voices. Some of his other Works in Latin language (opens in a new tab) include the myths of Cupid and Psyche, as well as a fictional tale of a young girl living in Pompeii.
These female voices are necessary for students, Cunning pointed out. “I want them to feel like they’re part of a long line of history, because they’re part of a long group of women who are wonderful, smart and funny, who have made incredible contributions to science, to the world, and to our understanding of It’s what I’ve often felt lacking in my own upbringing is to feel that sense of continuity.”
Elizabeth Howell is co-author of “Why am I taller (opens in a new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Or Facebook (opens in a new tab).