Fortey

Fortey, R. 1998. Life An Unauthorised Biography. Flamingo, London. 

There was a final bout of correspondence in 1914 — one which would resonate even today. It was initiated by Isabel C. Fortey, sister of chemist Emily C. Fortey (see Chap. 5) ... 

Fortey then argued that a girl had to do the same science as her brother in order to compete with him at science studies in... 

Fortey, I. C. (1914). Correspondence Sexless science. Journal of Education 36 618, 620. Born in 1864, Isabel Fortey followed a career as a science teacher, first in Britain, then in India. She died on 16 October 1954. See White, A. B. (ed.) (1979). Newnham College Register, 1871-1971, Vol. I, 1871-1923, 2nd ed. Newnham College, Cambridge, p. 82. 

Fortey and Williams were at University College, Bristol, while Taylor undertook research at Bristol in her spare time. In fact, all three of them were there about the signing period of 1903-1904. But how did word reach the Bristol trio Williams had been a collaborator of Ramsay when Ramsay had been at Bristol (see Chap. 5). As Ramsay was a fervent supporter of women s rights, it is quite possible that he conveyed news of the petition to Williams, who then passed it to her colleagues. 

Following after Williams, Emily Comber Fortey,114 daughter of Henry Fortey, Inspector of Schools (India), was a student at Bristol from 1892, receiving a B.Sc. (London) in 1896. She was awarded a prestigious Science Research Scholarship of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, which she used for research at Owens College, Manchester, over the period 1896-1898. Her research, together with that of the Russian chemist Vladimir Markovnikov, showed that the cyclohexane fractions from American, Galician, and Caucasian crude oil deposits were identical. 

Upon her return to Bristol, Fortey commenced a five-year collaboration with Sydney Young,115 and between 1899 and 1903... 

Finally, in 1902, a careful study of mixtures of the lower alcohols with water was carried out by Miss E. C. Fortey and myself [Tilden], and our results, taken in conjunction with those of Konowalow, afford strong evidence that no hydrate of any alcohol is formed, at any rate at temperatures above 0°C.116... 

In her 8-year research career from 1896 to 1904, she authored 14 papers and several shorter communications. Fortey also signed the 1904 petition for admission of women to the Chemical Society. After 1904, she left science completely. She died in 1947. 

Fortey R. A. (1993) Charles Lapworth and the biostratigraphic paradigm. Geol. Soc. London J. 150, 209-218. 

Rarely in science does the scientists individual philosophy of life penetrate into their formal scientific reporting, but in this subject area such speculation is rife. For example, Richard Fortey writes in his Life An Unauthorized Biography... 

Fortey, R., 1998. Life A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth. Alfred A Knopf, New York, 368 pp. 

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