Maria Gaetana Agnesi

Maria Gaetana Agnesi
Born(1718-05-16)16 May 1718
Milan, Duchy of Milan
Died9 January 1799(1799-01-09) (aged 80)
Milan, Cisalpine Republic
NationalityItalian
Known forAuthor of Instituzioni Analitiche ad uso della gioventù italiana (English: Analytical Institutions for the use of Italian youth)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Bologna

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (UK: /ænˈjeɪzi/ an-YAY-zee,[1] US: /ɑːnˈ-/ ahn-,[2][3] Italian: [maˈriːa ɡaeˈtaːna aɲˈɲeːzi, -ɲɛːz-];[4] 16 May 1718 – 9 January 1799) was an Italian mathematician, philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian. She was the first woman to write a mathematics handbook and the first woman appointed as a mathematics professor at a university.[5]

She is credited with writing the first book discussing both differential and integral calculus and was a member of the faculty at the University of Bologna, although she never served.

She devoted the last four decades of her life to studying theology (especially patristics) and to charitable work and serving the poor. She was a devout Catholic and wrote extensively on the marriage between intellectual pursuit and mystical contemplation, most notably in her essay Il cielo mistico (The Mystic Heaven). She saw the rational contemplation of God as a complement to prayer and contemplation of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.[6]

Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, harpsichordist and composer, was her sister.

  1. ^ "Agnesi, Maria Gaetana". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Agnesi". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  3. ^ "witch of Agnesi". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  4. ^ Canepari, L. (1999, 2009) Dizionario di pronuncia italiana Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Bologna, Zanichelli.
  5. ^ WOMEN'S HISTORY CATEGORIES (archived from the original), About Education
  6. ^ Mazzotti, Massimo (December 2001). "Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Mathematics and the making of the Catholic enlightenment" (PDF). Isis. 92 (4): 657–683. doi:10.1086/385354. hdl:10036/28899. JSTOR 3080337. S2CID 143457046. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2014.