Talk:Jane Marcet

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Untitled[edit]

I'm trying to rephrase the last paragraph in clearer English, but here's the original in case anyone thinks I've mad it worse. Bmcln1 (talk) 20:12, 4 June 2010 (UTC) "Although Marcet's works contained few original ideas and presented content in an informal form, their importance should not be underestimated. Her simple introductions to highly complex subjects were appreciated by those — including adults and males — far outside her intended audience demographic, and provided intellectually rigorous and (in her scientific works) experimentally-oriented material at odds with contemporary feminine pedagogy. Marcet's association with some of the great thinkers and scientists of the era, such as Faraday, Malthus and Ricardo, allowed her works to embrace cutting edge ideas and research."[reply]

Association with Faraday[edit]

"Marcet's association with some of the great thinkers and scientists of the era, such as Faraday,"


When he was 21, Faraday wrote to Sir Humphry Davy, a leading chemist at the time who discovered several of the elements. Faraday was seeking work in a laboratory. He was a journeyman bookbinder and taught himself by reading the books he was binding. He noted in his letter to Davy that his most important readings were "Encyclopedia Britannica" and "Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry". Davy interview him and eventually got Faraday a job at the Royal Institution. He remained there his entire life, becoming the director of the lab.WithGLEE (talk) 17:55, 25 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Writers from the Republic of Geneva[edit]

This might apply to Marcet's husband or parents (if they wrote enough), but not to Marcet herself, who spent only three years there without making a mark on its literature. Robert Browning, for example, is not categorized as a "Writer from Florence", despite the years he spent there. Please remove. Bmcln1 (talk) 10:15, 7 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The category « Writers from the Republic of Geneva » is a subcategory of «  People from the Republic of Geneva ». The latter has been coined from the French equivalent page «  Personnalité liée à la République de Genève » and the English translation is not quite correct (It could be «  People (or Personalities) related to the Republic of Geneva », or possibly «  People of the Republic of Geneva »). In any case we shouldn’t be picky concerning the adverb « from », and deny the category to a person strongly related to the Republic. Jane Marcet’s husband Alexandre was a citizen of the Republic of Geneva when she married him, and she lived with him in Geneva. Sapphorain (talk) 10:25, 7 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Encyclopedias must be picky. If you think it worthwhile, make a category equivalent to the French one. ("Personnalité" and "personality" are not synonymous, but that's another story.) As far as I am concerned this conversation is now closed. Others may take it up, of course. Bmcln1 (talk) 10:36, 7 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]
She is in the category "Swiss women writers" because she had the Swiss citizenship. And she is in the category "Writers from the Republic of Geneva" because she also held the citizenship from the Republic of Geneva. I don't see any problem in either case. Sapphorain (talk) 11:29, 7 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]