Maria Gaetana Agnesi
1718 – 1799 · aged 81
Italian mathematician and philanthropist (1718–1799)
- Born
- 16 May 1718 · Milan
- Died
- 9 Jan 1799 · Milan
Life timeline
Their life from birth to death. On the timeline, world events of the time are shown faintly.
- 16 May 1718BornBorn in Milan
- 9 Jan 1799DiedDied in Milan
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Meanwhile in the world
Major world events during their lifetime (1718 – 1799).
- 1756 – 1763Seven Years' War
- c. 1760 – 1840Industrial Revolution
- 1765 – 1783American Revolution
- 1789 – 1799French Revolution
Biography
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (16 May 1718 – 9 January 1799) was a Milanese mathematician, philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian. She was the first woman to write a mathematics handbook, the first woman appointed as a mathematics professor at a university and the second woman appointed as a professor overall.
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.
Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, harpsichordist and composer, was her sister.
Text from the Wikipedia article Maria Gaetana Agnesi, CC BY-SA 4.0
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