Women's translations of scientific texts in the 18th century: a case study of Marie-Anne Lavoisier.

Abstract

In the 18th century, many outstanding translations of scientific texts were done by women. These women were important mediators of science. However, I would like to raise the issue that the 'selection,' which is the process by which intellectual women chose to conduct translation works, and those 'selections' made by male translators, would not be made at the same level. For example, Émilie du Châtelet (1706-1749), the only French translator of Newton's "Principia," admitted her role as participating in important work, but, still, she was not perfectly satisfied with the position. For du Châtelet, the role as a translator was only an option under the current conditions that a female was denied the right to be a creator by society. In the case of Marie-Anne Lavoisier (1743-1794), like du Châtelet, we find an acute feeling in her mind that translation was not the work of creators. Because of her respect toward creative geniuses and her knowledge about the practical situation and concrete results of scientific studies, the translation works done by Marie-Anne Lavoisier were excellent. At the same time, the source of this excellence appears paradoxical at a glance: this excellence of translation was related closely with her low self-estimation in the field of science. Hence, we should not forget the gender problem that is behind such translations of scientific works done by women in that era. Such a possibility was a ray of light that was grasped by females, the sign of a gender that was eliminated from the center of scientific study due to social systems and norms and one of the few valuable opportunities to let people know of her own existence in the field of science.