Queen Victoria's Science

Nineteenth-century women in science is my jam, but I am not above a Dame Judy Dench costume drama like Victoria and Abdul, "the truth about the queen's controversial relationship." I want to see it mostly to find out if Queen Victoria (as above with Abdul Karim in the Garden Cottage, Balmoral, 1890, Royal Collection) was always so drenched in fancy upholstery.

She was.
Fancy upholstery to the max embroidery!

[Bonus: Queen Victoria's dresses had lots of pockets. File under: Good For 19th-century Lady Naturalists To Know]

Victoria's reign was one during which the "wonderful discoveries of science must ever claim a foremost place. Thrilling indeed are the stories of this scientific age, breathless the rapidity with which one after another burst upon the public mind, changing old-world customs, transforming time-worn ideas, and revolutionizing the thought of centuries." Ooof. That sentence. I need a divan. For the breathless enthusiasm for science. Because it was sexist and racist, the history of science.

Still is.

To increase the number of women and people of color in science, show them more women and people of color who are scientists -- that was actually a recent study in scientific communication for elementary science education materials. "Children learn early on that scientists are white men."