Verve: enthusiasm or vigor, as in literary or artistic work; spirit. Practically a perfect example of verve is Emilie du Chateley. She graced the world in the first half of the 18th century and set an example for all of us who have dreams and want to realize them in this life. Emilie thought that passion was not acquired, but something that appears naturally. At 25 she understood that the aristocratic life of Paris was not for her and literally went on a tear for the next 17 years of her life. She firmly believed that women were just as qualified as men to become highly educated and proved it by becoming a leading physicist, philosopher and mathematician, while simultaneously having three children. Her translation of Isaac Newton’s Principia is still essential for understanding Newton in French. Her writings on Leibniz were appreciated by her contemporaries as she made his views more understandable. They both concluded that we live in the “best of all possible worlds.” She championed intellectual independence and rejected superstition. However, perhaps her greatest accomplishment was proposing radical reforms to educate women to be active thinkers and participants in intellectual life!