Somerville was also a helpful influence in Ada's life, according to this passage in London Lights by James Hamilton, a fascinating book about scientists and artists on the London scene in those days:
Ada Byron began to make a habit of going to Babbage's with the Somervilles ...
Her natural brilliance in the abstract language of mathematics that few understood, her disturbed upbringing as Byron's daughter, and the elevated position in society it was her lot to display and maintain created a confused and uncertain young woman. ... It was the rare piece of real good fortune for Ada, however, that she had the sensible and structured example of Mary and William Somerville's family life to balance her self-absorption, the insistence of her many suitors, and Charles Babbage's frantic self-certainty. ...
The article is very slightly misleading on the nature of the coining. It was not a forging of a new term from some kind of rapturous regard, but a sarcastic remark on behalf of Mr. Whewell. It was only years later that he saw the real value in the word and began promoting it seriously.
(She also lived to be 91yo ... not so easy at the time!) Oxford named a college after her in 1879 - although women were not allowed to matriculate until 1920!
According to the Britannica encyclopedia, it is thought to have been named in honor of Captain Richard Somers, hero of the Tripolitan-American (Barbary) War.
What an amazing woman! Unbelievable. I consider myself educated, and I'd never heard of her.
I'm from a very poor country with a very large population. Makes me wonder how many unrealized geniuses there must be in that country. Ramanujan was one, of course.
I recognized the yellow theme right away. Apparently "Brain Pickings" was, according to the author, an "unbearable" name. But it was catchy and evocative.
"The Marginalian" is sterile and difficult to say. Oh well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Somerville
And there I was, wondering if they had ever met.