For centuries, historians have speculated about the life of Katherine
Jones, Lady Ranelagh. Dominant depictions show her either as a maternal
figure to her younger brother Robert Boyle, one of the most significant
scientists of his day, or as a patroness of the European correspondence
network now known as the Hartlib circle--but neither portrait captures
the depth of her intellect or the range of her knowledge and influence.
Philosophers, mathematicians, politicians, and religious authorities
sought her opinion on everything from decimalizing the currency to
producing Hebrew grammars. She practiced medicine alongside
distinguished male physicians, treating some of the most elite patients
in London. Her medical recipes, political commentaries, and testimony
concerning the philosophers' stone gained international circulation. She
was an important influence on Boyle and a formidable thinker in her own
right.
Drawing from a wealth of new archival sources, Michelle DiMeo fills out
Lady Ranelagh's legacy in the context of a historically sensitive and
nuanced interpretation of gender, science, and religion. The book
re-creates the intellectual life of one of the most respected and
influential women in seventeenth-century Europe, revealing how she
managed to gain the admiration of diverse contemporaries, effect social
change, and shape contemporary science.
