As a society figure in Georgian England, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was more than a hostess, gossip and subject of scandal. A sharp wit, she wrote essays that were radical in their ideas, and way ahead of their time. She was also an early pioneer of inoculation, a technique she observed and experimented with on her own children  as a diplomat’s wife in Turkey. Friend to the good and the great, including Alexander Pope and Voltaire, she was also susceptible to financial scam artists, much like many older women today.

 

In this episode  TV  drama producer turned biographer Jo Willett, author of

The Pioneering Life of   Mary Wortley Montagu brings Lady Mary to life and explains why she deserves to be as well known as other leading figures of  scientific and feminist history.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.