Agnes Mary Clerke and the Rise of Astrophysics by Mary Brück, Cambridge University Press, £35, ISBN 0521808448 Reviewed by Carole Stott
THEY don’t make astronomers like Agnes Clerke any more. At the tender age of 15, she decided to write a history of astronomy – the first indication of a rare sense of determination. Mary Brück’s biography is a detailed and insightful look at a fascinating life.
A bank manager’s daughter, Clerke was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, in 1842. In her early years she lived in Dublin and Florence, finally settling in London. At 35, she embarked on a literary career and subsequently became…
