The Lady and the Octopus

The Lady and the Octopus — page 5 — But again this octopus is different At the time Jeanne begins her work scientists know only about female argonauts who use their shells to brood their eggs No one has ever seen a male argonaut Perhaps as a few people think males don't exist But Jeanne wonders Sometimes little wormlike creatures are found inside female argonauts and although other scientists call them parasites Jeanne thinks they may be the males of the species Jeanne is full of ideas as well as the patience dedication and resources to explore them That's why she's sitting wet armed in a boat in the port of Messina instead of staying home to manage her household as well off women of her time are expected to do Although European society in 1833 is depressingly sexist Jeanne is both white and wealthy a privileged position from which she will convince many of her male colleagues to recognize her accomplishments Despite laws that prohibit women from voting in an election or attending a university she'll become the first female member of the local scientific organization the Gioenia Academy and will join many other learned societies during her life When an aquarium craze sweeps across Europe and the United States a widely respected fellow scientist will support her efforts to be credited as the inventor of aquariums The city of Messina Sicily and its surroundings became Jeanne's home and laboratory This panorama by Italian painter Carlo Bossoli depicts Messina in 1858 later in Jeanne's life THE LADY AND THE OCTOPUS 8

The Lady and the Octopus — page 6 — But she'll be no stranger to disappointment A man whom she entrusts with her report on argonaut biology will steal her ideas and present them as his own A ship that she entrusts with sixteen cases of invaluable specimens drawings and notes will sink en route from Sicily to England Partly because of this tragedy which destroys so much of her scientific legacy in the years after her death Jeanne will be often forgotten Her story will also be revived from time to time although storytellers will sometimes alter the facts and add their own embellishments to make the story more romantic Today through the efforts of historians scientists artists and writers around the world Jeanne is finding her place in history as a trailblazing inventor and scientist At a time when studying marine biology usually meant looking at dead fish on a table Jeanne insisted on observing live animals as often as possible in their natural habitats While other biologists presented their conjectures and hypotheses as facts Jeanne was a determined designer of experiments as well as aquariums Experiments test hypotheses and experimentation is a cornerstone of modern science Jeanne's revolutionary approach yielded results which she shared widely by writing in multiple languages and doggedly responding to criticism It is through Jeanne's own work that we know her best and none of her research was dearer to her than her studies on that strange and beautiful octopus the argonaut THE MYSTERY OF THE ARGONAUTS 9

The Lady and the Octopus — page 7 — CHAPTER ONE THE SEAMSTRESS The mollusk when born is naked and incomplete it becomes progressively developed in the end of the spire of the parent argonaut and after a given time it goes on forming its shell -JEANNE VILLEPREUX POWER 1839 The girl who would grow up to reinvent marine biology never saw the sea as a child She was raised in Juillac France about 200 kilometers 124 miles from the closest ocean and more than 400 kilometers 250 miles south of Paris Today a car could make those trips in a matter of hours but in 1794 when Jeanne was born horses were the fastest method of transportation Riding to the sea or to the capital would have taken days Juillac was a remote country town and a good thing too for Jeanne's family 10

The Lady and the Octopus — page 8 — WELCOME TO REVOLUTIONARY FRANCE In the 1790s the French Revolution was in full swing with Paris as its violent epicenter The inspiring ideals of Liberty Equality Brotherhood were offset by mass beheadings drownings widespread vandalism and theft What began as an uprising of commoners against the monarchy and clergy turned into a dictatorship of the so called French First Republic A broad interpretation of equality led to dangerous laws such as one that let any person claim to be a doctor and treat patients The guillotine was invented to execute traitors efficiently and the new government interpreted traitor even more broadly than equality But that was all distant news in Juillac where townsfolk busy with their daily lives probably cared less about political executions in Paris than about local marriages births and deaths The year that the guillotine fell on King Louis XVI 1793 also saw the wedding of Jeanne's parents Pierre Villepreux a Juillac police officer and Jeanne Nicot from Limoges a town just a couple of days walk to the north The young couple was well educated both having learned to read and write at a time when most French women and about half of French men were illiterate The community of Juillac nestles in the hills of central France Its population was recorded as 2,126 in 1793 the year that Jeanne's parents were married THE SEAMSTRESS 11

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