The Lord and the Lady Astronomer by Alissa Baxter | Author Guest Post

Thanks so much for inviting me to share some details about my latest book on your blog, Christy!

I’ve noticed that this series features women who love science. In The Lord and the Lady Astronomer, your heroine is interested in astronomy. Is that something you’ve always been interested in, or did you have to do lots of research on the subject? I’d love to hear more about it!

Each Grantham sister in The Grantham Girls series has a scientific field of interest. In The Duke and the Lady Gardener, Alexandra is fascinated by horticultural science, while Thea in The Baron and The Lady Chemist loves chemistry. Abigail, in The Lord and the Lady Astronomer, developed an interest in astronomy after assisting her brother John to record his astronomical observations while growing up.

My understanding of astronomy was quite limited before I wrote this book. So, studying a subject I was largely unfamiliar with was challenging. I needed to do a lot of research to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. However, it might have been a good thing that I approached the subject as a novice, as it enabled me to study 19th–century astronomy without too many preconceived ideas. I needed to leave out anything that wasn’t known at the time of the Regency. So, when I stepped into the world of 19th-century astronomy as a researcher, it was useful that I was learning about it virtually from scratch as my heroine would have done.

What did your writing process look like for this series, especially The Lord and the Lady Astronomer? When you decided to write Regency romance, were you inspired by any “real” women astronomers or scientists?

I have written five Regency novels featuring fictional lady scientists from the Regency period. In order to create these heroines, I researched the real-life lady scientists of the era.

Astronomy was vital in navigation, and in 1784 Mary Edwards, a “computer” at the Royal Observatory, was the first woman to receive a salary from the British government for her work. She produced half of the Nautical Almanac.

Caroline Herschel, the sister of Sir William Herschel, who discovered the planet Uranus, moved to England from Germany and became a professional female astronomer after the king gave her an annual pension of £50 in 1787. She assisted her brother with his calculations and research and discovered eight comets. She also helped William grind and polish mirrors to create more powerful telescopes.

Mary Somerville was another inspiring figure who lived during the Regency period. She was a Scottish astronomer and mathematician who wrote five books, including The Mechanism of the Heavens and On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences. The latter had nine editions and sold over 15,000 copies. Somerville was a brilliant mathematician, and in 1811, she was awarded a silver medal for her solution to a diophantine problem.

In 1812, Mary moved to London with her husband, Dr. William Somerville. In 1819, she became the private tutor to Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron. The two women attended scientific meetings together where they encountered Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first digital computer.

In 1835, Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville became the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.

These two female scientists provided wonderful inspiration for The Lord and the Lady Astronomer. It was eye-opening to learn about their amazing accomplishments in an era when women could not easily pursue their interests in their chosen scientific fields.

This is fascinating! Thank you very much for sharing with my readers and me!