Mary Amelia Swift

Mary Amelia Swift (September 17, 1812 – November 1, 1875) was an American teacher and textbook writer. Little is known of her early life, though she was raised in western and central Connecticut. In 1833, she became the principal of the Litchfield Female Academy, leading the school for three years. That year, noting a need to teach basic science and finding no adequate textbooks, she wrote First Lessons on Natural Philosophy–Part First. It was one of the first scientific texts written by a woman and was based on her observations of teaching needs from her classroom experience. Three years later she wrote a more advanced textbook for older children, First Lessons on Natural Philosophy–Part Second.

Marrying in 1845, Swift moved to Brooklyn and raised a family. She revised her books frequently and they were republished at least thirty-five times gaining popularity thanks to their easy-to-use format. Distributed throughout the United States, Swift's books were also used in Canada and England, though the British version did not credit her as the author. The books were translated into three Asian languages — Burmese, Japanese, and S'gaw Karen — featuring among the earliest textbooks translated for use in developing countries. As one of them was used in Burma, now Myanmar, in the 1850s, many students there were introduced to elementary physics before European students. The books remained in print through the turn of the century.