Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718 – 1799) was an Italian mathematician and philosopher, who was notably appointed to the University of Bologna by the Pope at the time and wrote a treatise on mathematical analysis.
Women's right to education
The eldest daughter of a large family, Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan (Italy) on May 16, 1718, in a family that made a fortune in the silk industry. Lively, intelligent, she learned French from her nanny and her father, Pietro, ensured her education by providing her with tutors. She learns Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, German, philosophy, mathematics, and studies ancient authors.
At the age of nine, in August 1727, Maria presented in public a speech in Latin on the right of women to education. Some authors say she wrote it, others that the text comes from one of her tutors and that her performance is in translation and memorization. His talent for languages has earned him a certain admiration.
Analytical Institutions
When Maria Gaetana Agnesi is thirteen years old, her mother, Anna, dies. The following year, her father decided to start holding a salon, highlighting his eldest daughter and one of her sisters, Maria Teresa, who was gifted in music. Piotr invites scholars, nobles, politicians, who come to listen to the presentations of the young Maria Gaetana on philosophy and natural history. At the same time, the young girl takes care of the education of her younger brothers and sisters.
Maria Gaetana is very pious. Around twenty years old, she considered entering a convent but gave up on her father's refusal. However, she appears less publicly, devoting herself to her faith and her studies, in particular mathematics, which she particularly likes. She maintains many correspondences, asking questions related to her subjects of study or answering others.
At the same time, Maria is working on what will be her main work:Analytical Institutions . Book written in Italian and published in 1748, the Analytical Institutions resembles a school mathematics textbook, concerning:algebra, differential calculus, integral calculus and differential equations. Maria Gaetana wants to contribute with this book to the dissemination of scientific culture, believing that everyone should study mathematics and that printed resources or teachers are too rare. The book received a very good reception, as far away as France or Germany.
Honorary lecturer at the University of Bologna
In 1749, the then Pope Benedict XIV, who had read her work, appointed her honorary reader at the University of Bologna. She is one of the first women appointed to this university, just a few years after the first, Laura Bassi. Maria Gaetana Agnesi will never go to Bologna, however. The following year, Piotr died, leaving behind a family in debt. Maria Gaetana then devoted herself to theology and to the service of the poor. She stops her studies of mathematics, no longer writes, no longer responds to requests for consultations. Living in her father's house, she transformed it into a hospice for sick women and ended up renting another home for lack of space. She later became director of a hospice, and began to teach catechism.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi died at the age of 80, on January 9, 1799.