Albertine Adrienne de Saussure

Albertine Adrienne de Saussure (1766, Geneva - 1841, Vallée du Salève, near Geneva) was a Swiss writer and educationalist and an early advocate of education for women. She was the daughter of the distinguished Swiss scientist, Horace Bénédict de Saussure and his wife Albertine Amelie Boissier. Her parents ensured she received the best education available at that time. Her brother, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure, became a noted chemist and researcher into plant physiology.

Albertine Necker de Saussure was a Calvinist, a faith that stressed the equality of all souls, both men and women, before God. She suffered from deafness for much of her life. She married a noted botanist, Jacques Nekker who was the nephew and namesake of Louis XVI's finance minister, Jacques Necker. Jacques and Albertine had a son and a daughter.

Albertine's principal work, L'Education Progressive or Etude du Cours de la Vie (1828), was a long and influential study on educational theory and the education of women. The work is divided into two parts, originally in three volumes which were published successively. The first two volumes treat education in general. The author takes the child from birth and follows it up to fourteen years old. The third volume is especially devoted to the education of women. She also wrote a biography of her friend and cousin, by marriage, Germaine de Staël for the first collected edition of de Staël's works in 1821.

Children of Jacques Necker and Albertine Adrienned de Saussure:

• Albertine Sophie Necker (1787-1849), who married 20 June 1806 to Charles Turrettini (1782-1857)
• Alphonse Théodore Charles Necker (1791-1849)

Links to additional material:

• http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/al...
• http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.inrp...