Margaret Cavendish

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English aristocrat, philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction-writer, and playwright during the 17th century. Cavendish was a poet, philosopher, writer of prose romances, essayist, and playwright who published under her own name at a time when most women writers published anonymously. She was the first woman to attend a meeting at the Royal Society of London, in 1667, and she criticized and engaged with members and philosophers Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, and Robert Boyle. She has been claimed as an advocate for animals and as an early opponent of animal testing.