If you visit the Historiska Museet in Stockholm (Sweden), you will have the chance to see a fantastic collection of Medieval art and history of Sweden, impressive collection of gold and silver artifacts from Viking period.
One one of the museum's rooms, I found a short description about Eva Ekeblad (1724 - 1786). Later on, reading about her was fascinating. Eva, was a Swedish countess, agronomist and scientist. The Ekeblad's house (Stockholm) hosted a cultural salon and was described by the wife of the Spanish Ambassador de marquis de Puentefuerte as "one of few aristocratic ladies whose honor was considered untainted". The first concert performances of the mass music of Johan Helmich Roman were performed in her salon at the Ekeblad's house. A look at Johan's music can be listened here.
The potatoes are relevant in this discussion (and you might have an idea after seeing the picture above) because Eva Ekeblad is known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, which allowed using scarce grains for food production, and contributed to reduce Sweden's period of famine.
In 1748, Eva Ekeblad was the first woman elected as member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In November 5 of that year it was announced that "Countess Ekeblad had made several attempts to use potatoes for starch and powder". She sent sample and description of how to proceed. The sample could also be mixed with oats and bread or to burn potatoes brandy. Here, the relevant fact of burning brandy on potatoes was that you didn't have to use the small stock of oats and barley that you had for brandy production. Moreover, the residual product could be used for cattle feed. Funny fact: the residual powder she made was good for powdering the wigs!
Although she was now a member of the academy, she personally never attended its meetings. She nevertheless submitted new research, including a soap for cotton linen bleacher (December 1751) and a bleaching of cotton yarn (April 1752) and these contributions were also printed in the documents.
It would be 209 years before the next woman was included in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It happened in 1951, Lise Meitner (Austrian-Swedish physicist) who contributed in discovering the element protactinium and to the nuclear fission.
See you around,
Jesús
One one of the museum's rooms, I found a short description about Eva Ekeblad (1724 - 1786). Later on, reading about her was fascinating. Eva, was a Swedish countess, agronomist and scientist. The Ekeblad's house (Stockholm) hosted a cultural salon and was described by the wife of the Spanish Ambassador de marquis de Puentefuerte as "one of few aristocratic ladies whose honor was considered untainted". The first concert performances of the mass music of Johan Helmich Roman were performed in her salon at the Ekeblad's house. A look at Johan's music can be listened here.
The potatoes are relevant in this discussion (and you might have an idea after seeing the picture above) because Eva Ekeblad is known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, which allowed using scarce grains for food production, and contributed to reduce Sweden's period of famine.
In 1748, Eva Ekeblad was the first woman elected as member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In November 5 of that year it was announced that "Countess Ekeblad had made several attempts to use potatoes for starch and powder". She sent sample and description of how to proceed. The sample could also be mixed with oats and bread or to burn potatoes brandy. Here, the relevant fact of burning brandy on potatoes was that you didn't have to use the small stock of oats and barley that you had for brandy production. Moreover, the residual product could be used for cattle feed. Funny fact: the residual powder she made was good for powdering the wigs!
Although she was now a member of the academy, she personally never attended its meetings. She nevertheless submitted new research, including a soap for cotton linen bleacher (December 1751) and a bleaching of cotton yarn (April 1752) and these contributions were also printed in the documents.
It would be 209 years before the next woman was included in the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It happened in 1951, Lise Meitner (Austrian-Swedish physicist) who contributed in discovering the element protactinium and to the nuclear fission.
See you around,
Jesús