I was reading about Michael Faraday yesterday in a book called 17 Equations That Changed the World. It said one of the books that inspired him as a boy was Conversations on Chemistry by Jane Marcet. A science book written by a woman in the early 19th century! That is quite interesting. According to Wikiipedia, Jane Marcet wrote several text books, including Conversations on Chemistry, Conversations on Political Economy and Conversations on Natural Philosophy. George Elliot was interested in science. I wonder if she was influenced by Marcet's books as a child.
Another link.