It was a time of explosive new ideas – political revolution, contemplation of the rights of individuals, the rise of scientific enquiry and a broader appreciation for the power of reason. Yet while the names most remembered from the Enlightenment era – Locke, Newton, Voltaire, Kant, Paine – belong to men, there were many women who participated in and influenced the intellectual upheaval of the time, sometimes in subtle ways, by using the only tools at their disposal.

Find out more about Emilie du Châtelet: The bold, brilliant woman who championed Newton’s physics

Emilie du Châtelet was one such pioneering woman. She made use of her aristocratic background and connections with the upper echelons of society to involve herself in the philosophical debates of her day – and she used her sharp wit and mathematical aptitude to test the newest ideas in physics and convince her compatriots that Newton’s theory of gravity was right.

Yet du Châtelet was not alone. Meet other daring women of the Enlightenment:

Marie Paulze Lavoisier (1758-1836)


Caroline Herschel (1750-1848)

Mary Somerville (1780-1872)

Anne Conway (1631-79)

Margaret Cavendish (1623-73)

Sophie Germain (1776-1831)

Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)