Laura Bassi ...Who ?

1. Laura Bassi ...Who? Lindsey Nagy Hood College Frederick, Maryland

2. Laura’s Stats • Born October 1711 in Bologna, Italy • Death 1778 • Age of 5 she was taught by Father Lorenzo Stegani • Age of 13 was privately tutored by Gaetano Tacconi • Child Prodigy

3. Patrons • Jacopo Beccari • Gabriele Manfredi • Giulio Alberoni • Prospero Lambertini • (Pope Benedict XIV)

4. The Great Year of 1732 April 17th Defended her set of 49 theses for the University of Bologna March 26th Became a voting member of the Bologna Academy of Science June 27th Defended 12 more theses May 12th Awarded a degree at the University of Bologna October 29th University of Bologna grants her a lectureship December 18th Bassi gives her first lecture

5. Early Teaching • First lecture – Newtonian physics • “De aqua corpore natuarili elemento aliorum corporum parte universi” • Taught physics at the University • Salary 500 lire annually • Did not teach regularly • Limited resources

6. Career Expansion • 1735 – Was given access to a special collection of books in the Vatican • Index Liborum Prohibitorium Spent 3 years studying advanced mathematics under Gabriele Manfredi Set-up laboratory in her own home to use conduct experiments and teach 1738 – Married Giovanni Guiseppe Veratti

7. Advancing Recognition • Full classes • 1745 – she lobbies for a position as the 25th member of the Benedettina Academy within the Academy of Science formed by Pope Benedict XIV • 1746 – Voltaire writes to Bassi requesting to be a member of the Academy of Science • “Dear Madam, I have been wishing to journey to Bologna in order to be able one day to tell my countrymen I have seen Signora Bassi? There is not a Bassi in London, and I should be more happy to be a member of the Academy of Bologna than that of the English, although it has produced a Newton. If your protection should obtain for me this title, of which I am so ambitious, the gratitude of my heart will be equal to my admiration for yourself…”

8. Dissertations

9. Why did she not publish much of her work? • Children • Married life • Did not seek recognition & fame • What she did publish was in Latin

10. 1757: “De problemate quodam hydrometrico”

11. 1757: “De problemate quodam mechanico”

12. 1745: “De aeris compressione” (presented in 1746) Boyle’s Law: P ∙ V = k 1791: “De immixto fluids aere” (presented in 1747) Poetry

13. Recognition • 1200 lire salary in 1760 • Appointed to the Chair of Experimental Physics at the Institute of Sciences in 1776 • Medal • Street in Bologna • Liceo Laura Bassi • in Bologna, founded 1860

14. Special Thanks • Hood College – Student Research Institute Advisors: Dr. Kimber Tysdal & Dr. Betty Mayfield Melissa Barrick, Laura Printz, & Chelsea Sprankle • Pi Mu Epsilon, Maryland Delta Chapter • University of Bologna

15. References • Algarotti, F.C. (1739). Il newtonianismo per le dame, ovvero Dialoghi sopra la luce, i colori, e l’attrazione. A spese di Giambatista Pasquali, libraro e stampatore di Venezia. Napoli. • Algarotti, F.C. (1739). Sir Isaac Newton’s philosophy explain’d for the use of the ladies : in six dialogues on light and colours / from the Italian of sig. Algarotti.. London. • Bassi, L. (1732). Miscellanea (M. Cavazza & P. Bertucci, Eds.). Bologna: mss. • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam hydrometrico.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 61-73. • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam mechanico.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 74-79. • Bassi, L. & Canterzani, S. (1791). “De immixto fluids aere.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 7, 44-47. • Bassi, L. & Zanotti, F.M.. (1745). “De immixto fluids aere.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii , 2(1), 347-353. • Bochner, S. (1966). The Role of Mathematics in the Rise of Science. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. • Bologna, Instiutio magistrale. (1960). Studi e inediti. Bologna: 1960. • Buell, H.S.J. (1853). “Laura Maria Caterina Bassi.” Women’s Record. London. 204-205. • Cavazza, Marta. “Laura Bassi” Bologna Science Classics Online • Ceranski, B. (1996). Und sie furchtet sich vor niemandem: Die Physikerin Laura Bassi 1711-1778. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag. • Chandrasekhar, S. (1995). Newton’s Principia for the Common Reader. NewYork: Oxford University Press. • Cieslak-Golonka, M. & Morten, B. (2000). “The Women Scientists of Bologna.” American Scientist, 88(1), 68. • Elena, A. (1991) “In lode della filosofessa di Bologna: An Introduction to Laura Bassi” Isis, 82(3), 510-518.

16. Findlen, P. (1993) “Science as a Career in Enlightenment Italy: The Strategies of Laura Bassi” Isis, 84(3), 441-469. • Findlen, P. (2003) “The Scientist’s Body: The Nature of a Woman Philosopher in Enlightenment Italy.” In L. Daston & G. Pomata (Eds.), The Faces of Nature in Enlightenment Europe (211-236). Berlin: BWV- Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. • Garelli, A. (1883). Laura Bassi, biografia. Bologna. • Goldsmith, L.T. (1987). “Girl Prodigies, Some Evidence and Some Speculations.” Roeper Review , 10(2), 74-82. • Logan, G.B. (1999). “From Learned Ladies to Teachers of Men: Doctors of Philosophy.” Chap 8 in Italian Women in Science from the Renaissance to the Nineteenth Century. Proquest Digital Theses, University of Ottowa, Canada. • Logan, G.B. (1994) “The Desire to Contribute: An Eighteenth Century Italian Women in Science.” The American Historical Review, 99(3), 758-812. • Mazzotti, Massimo. (2004) “Newton for Ladies: gentility, gender,and radical culture.” British Journal for the History of Science, 37(2), 119-146. • Nies, K.A. (1999). “Laura Bassi: A Physicist Supported by the Church.” Retrieved June 14, 2007, from Hypatia Website: http://www.hypatiamaze.org/laura/bassi.html. • Oglive, M.B. (2000) “Laura Maria Caterina Bassi.” In Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. (Vol. 1, pp.88- 89). New York. • Roero, C.S. (2004). “Gabriele Manfredi’s treatise De constructione aequationum differentialium primi gradus (1707).” Oberwolfach Report, 51, 2734-2737. • Schiebinger, L. (1993). “Women in Science: Historical Perspective.” In C.M. Urry, L. Danly, L.E. Sherbert, & S. Gonzaga (Eds.) Women at Work: A Meeting on the Status of Women in Astronomy (11-19). Maryland.

17. Images (in order of appearance) • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam hydrometrico.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 61-73. • Bassi, L. (1757). “De problemate quodam mechanico.” De bononiensi scientiarum et artium Instituto atque Academia commentarii, 4, 74-79. • [Untitled photograph of Laura Bassi]. Retrieved July 8, 2007, from: http://www.edu.linkoping.se/berzelius/ Vetenskapskvinnan/bassiutskrift.htm. • Subleyras, P.H. (18th Century). Benedictus XIV, Retrieved July 8, 2007, from: www.romancatholicism.org/beatus- andreas.htm. • Sezanne, A. (1888). University of Bologna Seal, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of- european-research-universities. • Consoli, A. (1732). Insignia, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http://www.euarchives.org/index.php3?sch=3&lng=en&pge= photo&cty=bologna&tmp=&nr=36. • Huff, L. (2000). List of annual lectures, Retrieved July 12, 2007, from: http://www.americanscientist.org/template /AssetDetail/ assetid/14707/page/2;jsessionid=aaa5LVF0. • [Untitled photograph of woman and child]. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from: http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~jmd/. • [Untitled photograph of Bassi’s bronze medal] Retrieved July 17, 2007, from:http://www.christophereimer.co.uk /images/m/9566.jpg.